Hotel industry achieves further increase in overnight stays in May

However, there was a slight decline in visitors from Gulf countries, for example. Although the outlook for the rest of the year is basically positive, the euro-franc exchange rate continues to pose a risk.

Specifically, Swiss hotel establishments recorded a total of 2.9 million overnight stays in May 2018. This represents an increase of 2.6 percent compared to the same month of the previous year. For the first five months of the current year, this results in an increase of 3.6 percent to just under 14.8 million overnight stays.

Significant increase in foreign guests

Just under half of the overnight stays came from people in Switzerland. They generated 6.9 million overnight stays in the first five months of the current year. This was 2.7 percent more than in the same period last year. However, the increase was more pronounced among foreign visitors than among locals. These provided with a plus of 4.5 percent for 7.9 million overnight stays in the first five months of the year, as the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) explained on Thursday.

In terms of individual countries of origin, almost no country escaped the upward trend. The Gulf states were the only countries to record a somewhat noticeable decline of 2.7 percent to just over 195,000 overnight stays.

On the other hand, more guests from the euro zone visited Switzerland again. The number of overnight stays by visitors from Germany, for example, increased by almost 5 percent to just under 1.6 million.

Easing on the exchange rate front

The upward trend in overnight stays has now continued for more than a year. The last time hoteliers had to accept declining overnight stays was in March 2017. "The economic recovery of the eurozone and the associated easing on the exchange rate front are making a major contribution to the recovery in European guest numbers," a spokeswoman for the Hotelleriesuisse association told AWP. However, the company is also satisfied with the growth in guests from certain distant markets in the Asian region. "In the case of Chinese, as well as Indian guests, the increased marketing activities of Switzerland Tourism contribute their part to the growth," the association's statement said. And the economic upswing in the U.S. is leading to rising numbers of guests from that country, it added.

Despite the good news, however, caution is still advisable. Margins in the Swiss hotel industry are "still very low" by international standards. A risk also continues to emanate from the foreign exchange markets. "If, for example, the euro were to get into turmoil again as a result of the events in Italy, there would be negative consequences for Swiss tourism," said the Hotelleriesuisse spokeswoman. (SDA)