City tourism ‘to suffer the most’ over corona crisis 

The Swiss are expected to holiday within national borders this summer and to head for the mountains. Keystone

Urban tourism in Switzerland is likely to suffer from the lack of foreign tourists this summer, but mountainous cantons should benefit from the Swiss holidaying at home as a result of coronavirus, says a Credit Suisse survey.  

People in Switzerland will generally have to spend their summer holidays within national borders because of coronavirus confinement and slow deconfinement measures. They are mostly drawn to the mountains and not to urban centres, according to the study published on Friday.   

This means that cities like Geneva, Basel, and Bern, which are highly dependent on foreign tourists but are shunned by the Swiss, will be facing what Credit Suisse describes as a “difficult period”.  

A notable exception is Zurich and the surrounding region, which is likely to see both tourist and business visits. As well as being an important business location, Zurich attracts many Swiss people for short stays because of its airport and its wide range of cultural activities, the study noted.  

SWISS: normality will ‘take time’  

Meanwhile, Swiss International Airlines says it is expecting several difficult years as a result of the coronavirus. It does not expect to get back to revenue like last year’s until 2023, according to its commercial director Tamur Goudarzi.   

Having cut its flight plan to a strict minimum during the Covid-19 crisis, SWISS will in June raise its capacities from 15% to 20%.  Goudarzi hopes to present a flight plan in the coming weeks that will increase capacity to 50% by the end of the year.