Tourism boss expects a strong summer
Published: Thursday, Jun 13th 2024, 16:20
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Shortly before the peak summer tourist season, Switzerland Tourism Director Martin Nydegger senses a great deal of optimism in the industry. The large tourism businesses in particular are expecting significantly more visitors and overnight stays in the summer. He does not see a general overtourism problem, despite selective consolidations.
"I expect a strong start to the summer," said the tourism boss in an interview with the news agency AWP. His statement is supported by the latest survey by Switzerland Tourism. According to the survey, businesses are expecting up to 12 percent more overnight stays and frequencies for the key months of July and August than in the previous year.
However, this is only an estimate and the figure should therefore "not be put on the gold scale", emphasized Nydegger. "Nevertheless, we take a lot of optimism from the survey and expect double-digit growth in some cases."
The Swiss have fallen in love with the country again
According to the tourism boss, foreign tourists are the main drivers. They are coming back in greater numbers after the pandemic, while Swiss guests are once again more drawn to faraway places.
According to Nydegger, however, the Swiss are still likely to spend more vacations in Switzerland than before coronavirus. "They rediscovered their country during the pandemic and fell in love with it again," he said.
However, the general optimism in the industry relates primarily to the peak season and well-known vacation destinations, the tourism boss qualifies the outlook. Outside the peak periods and at smaller destinations, he says, there is more restraint.
Record number of overnight stays possible
Growth in summer is therefore likely to be concentrated in the peak season in July and August as well as in particularly popular vacation resorts. "There may therefore be local and temporal concentrations, such as recently in Lauterbrunnen," continues Nydegger. However, he does not believe there is a general problem of overtourism in Switzerland. Condensations only affect very few places.
For example, hotels in Switzerland only have an occupancy rate of around 50 percent throughout the year, albeit with large seasonal and geographical differences. This is one of the reasons why Switzerland Tourism has long been committed to achieving greater balance, as Nydegger explains.
Looking ahead to 2024 as a whole, he believes that another record number of overnight stays is possible. In 2023, the Swiss hotel industry broke the 40 million mark for the first time with 41.8 million overnight stays.
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