The first semester was catastrophic for the hotel industry in Switzerland, due to the pandemic.
The Swiss establishments have been largely deserted since the outbreak of the pandemic in mid-March. (archive)
KEYSTONE/JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BOTT
Never in the history of Switzerland have hotel nights fallen so much: -47.5%, or -8.9 million, in the first half of the year compared to the same period a year earlier. In total, Switzerland recorded 9.9 million hotel stays during the period under review, according to the latest figures from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) released on Tuesday.
If we take into account only the overnight stays of foreigners, the downturn is even more dizzying, reaching 60.1%, which corresponds to 6.1 million fewer overnight stays. Swiss citizens, for their part, spent 5.8 million nights in hotels, which corresponds to a decline of 32.4% or 2.8 million fewer nights.
Graubünden (-46.4%), as well as Jura and the Three-Lakes region (-49.5%) are the tourist areas that have resisted the best in May (compared to the same period in 2019 ), while the first deconfinement measures were taken.
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