Strong winter tourism season expected in Switzerland

Tourists in the Swiss mountains © Keystone / Christian Beutler

Swiss tourism can look forward to good winter business. The number of overnight stays in the 2023/24 winter season will rise by 1.6% to 17.7 million, according to a forecast by the KOF Swiss Economic Institute.

As in the previous winter, this would be well above the pre-Covid level.

The expected growth compared to the previous season is primarily based on the hope that March 2024 will not be as snow-poor as last year, the KOF announced on Thursday. More European guests are expected again, particularly from Germany, the most important country of origin.

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Last winter they were increasingly reluctant to visit due to the gloomy consumer sentiment. According to the forecasts, European guests are likely to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Chinese guests are also expected to have a positive effect. These remain well below the pre-Covid level. However, based on the very low comparative basis from the previous season, an increase is nevertheless expected.

Positive impetus is also expected from other Asian markets. In particular, guests from the US are also likely to show strong growth rates in the winter season, as was the case in the summer.

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Meanwhile, a slight decline is forecast for Swiss guests following the high figures in the previous year. After the pandemic, the Swiss are increasingly travelling abroad again. In a historical comparison, however, the level of Swiss guests remains very high, as it was in the pandemic years.

All in all, Swiss tourism is expected to reach 106% of the level of the last pre-pandemic winter of 2018/19 in terms of overnight stays. At 104%, this was already exceeded last year for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic.

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