Swiss hotels with record summer
Published: Tuesday, Dec 5th 2023, 10:50
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Swiss hotels were better booked than ever during the past summer season. The strong growth in foreign tourists more than compensated for the decline in domestic tourism. This means that the industry remains on course for a record year.
In the summer season from May to October, the number of overnight stays rose by 6.3% year-on-year to 23.9 million, according to figures published by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) on Tuesday. The previous record figure from the 2019 summer season was thus also exceeded by 1.3 million.
High demand from abroad
International tourists were once again responsible for the increase in the summer months. The number of foreign guests rose by 17% to 12.4 million. This was just over 3% or half a million overnight stays short of the pre-corona level of 2019.
Demand increased from all continents. Asia accounted for the largest increase (+47%), although the number of guests from China was still two thirds below the pre-crisis figure. Significantly more guests also came from the Americas (+25%), and European tourists were also more numerous than in the previous year (+4.5%).
Decline in domestic guests
Domestic guests did not quite reach the level of the "exceptional" summer of 2022, with a decline of 3.4% to 11.5 million. Despite this decline, according to the FSO, this is the second-highest figure ever recorded and almost 2 million more overnight stays than in 2019.
Broken down by tourism region, a total of 10 out of 13 recorded an increase in overnight stays compared to the same period in the previous year. Overnight stays rose particularly strongly in the Bern region with an increase of 13%, while Ticino and Graubünden suffered slight losses.
Record year within reach
Overall, the local hotel industry remains on course for new record highs in the current year. From January to October, 36.2 million overnight stays were recorded. This is 9.2 percent more than a year ago. Exceeding the 40 million mark for the first time this year therefore appears to be a mere formality (2019: 39.6 million).
According to a survey published by Switzerland Tourism on Tuesday, the industry is also confident about the winter season: an increase of 3 percent is expected in the 2023/24 season compared to the previous season.
©Keystone/SDA
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