Swiss officialdom squeezed by high-priced Davos hotel rooms

© Keystone / Christian Beutler

The price of hotel room prices in Davos during the World Economic Forum (WEF) exceeds what is authorised by government regulations.

On Sunday, the NZZ am Sonntag reported on belt tightening by Swiss government departments, citing a report by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs. Depending on the security zones in which the hotels are located, room expenses in Davos during WEF exceed the accepted threshold for expenses by 140% to 408%.

Last year, the government spent CHF116,065 ($136,140) on overnight stays for its official delegation. From now on, the delegation must be as small as possible. Some members will be spending the night in Chur, 50 kilometres from Davos, for the first time. In addition, some of the senior officials will be sharing rooms in Davos.

Fewer side events

While the WEF organisers were threatening to leave Davos in 2020 because of the growing number of side events, this is no longer an issue. The municipality has amended its regulations, according to the WEF’s managing director Alois Zwinggi.

For several years now, the organisers of WEF have been complaining about the ever-increasing number of organisations staging events parallel to the WEF, but which have nothing to do with the World Economic Forum. This situation has also angered holidaymakers, according to Zwinggi in an interview published on Sunday in the SonntagsZeitung.

“Last year, things went rather badly, but this year we were able to make the Davos residents understand that we wouldn’t be able to stay in Davos in the long term if the situation didn’t improve,” he added. “Clearly, things are back to normal and we’re on the right track with the hotels.”

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