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KEYSTONE
The war in Ukraine cannot slow down the recovery of Swiss tourism. While domestic tourism was at an all-time high in March, many foreign guests also returned.
The Swiss tourism industry is regaining its footing: in March 2022, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) counted 3.0 million overnight stays. That is a good 60 percent or around 1.1 million more than in the same month last year, according to data published on Monday. The pre-crisis value of March 2019 is only around 10 percent away.
At 1.82 million, local guests continued to account for the largest share of hotel overnight stays in March. Compared to the previous year, this means a significant increase of almost 25 percent. But even compared to the previous high of 2019, there is an increase of around 13 percent.
In addition, the local hoteliers were also able to look forward to an increasing number of European guests returning in March. Compared to the previous year, the number of overnight stays booked by foreigners tripled to 1.2 million. Despite the recovery, the most important countries of origin, Germany, Great Britain and France, remained between 20 and 25 percent below the pre-crisis level.
Remote markets different
In contrast, remote markets such as China and India are still a long way from full recovery. While almost 95 percent of the Chinese guests stayed away compared to March 2019, a third of the tourists returned from India.
Other non-European markets recovered faster. The Gulf region with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in particular recorded high growth rates. However, more than 100,000 overnight stays in Switzerland were also booked from the United States in March: that is almost 15 times more than a year ago. The USA thus regained fifth place among the most important countries of origin, ahead of Italy and the Netherlands.
Russian guests only slightly below the previous year
With a view to the war in Ukraine, the development of the number of guests from Russia should also be considered in the evaluation. These remained around 10 percent below the previous year, with the decline primarily being due to the tourist regions of Graubünden and Valais. In the cities of Geneva and Zurich, on the other hand, the number of overnight stays from Russia rose compared to the previous year.
Overall, however, Russian tourists have lost some of their importance for Swiss tourism. In March 2022, the Russians still accounted for 0.54 percent of all hotel overnight stays from abroad. In 2021 as a whole, they were still responsible for 1.2 percent of all overnight stays abroad.
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