Tourism industry records double-digit decline over the festive season
As indicated by the Swiss tourism industry in a national survey conducted by Switzerland Tourism, weighty declines were recorded over the festive season in winter sports resorts - both in terms of overnight hotel stays and day visitors.
Switzerland Tourism (ST) drew the only national balance of the festive season (Christmas to and including January 3, 2021). In it, tourism businesses in the Alps report many enthusiastic Swiss guests on the slopes and in the vacation destinations. Nevertheless, the mountain regions expect a drop of 11 percent in hotel room nights and 26 percent in visitor frequencies, such as day visitors for winter sports.
Large minus despite numerous local guests
Many mountain regions report numerous local tourists, in German-speaking Switzerland often also from French-speaking Switzerland. In French-speaking Switzerland, on the other hand, it was mainly guests from their own language region and the surrounding area. As in the summer, the establishments in many places recorded Swiss guests who were vacationing in Switzerland for the first time.
Guests conspicuously often spent their time away from the ski slopes on hiking trails, snowshoe trails and cross-country skiing trails. According to information from the sporting goods trade and sporting goods rental, cross-country skiing experienced a real boom. In addition, more families than usual were out and about. All of them - especially in the current situation - did not want to miss the beneficial effect on body and mind of a winter day in the snow.
The most striking change in booking behavior for these holidays was the numerous cancellations and rebookings, often at very short notice. The majority of bookings were also made at very short notice and often only for shorter stays.
Very good and broad acceptance of the protective measures
According to information from the industry, the extraordinary measures and restrictions in the context of the pandemic were mostly well received by guests: 83 percent of those surveyed said that their guests reacted positively to the protection concepts.
However, it was often necessary to appeal to the guests' discipline, which was only possible with additional personnel. This and the implementation of the protective measures led to not inconsiderable additional costs for the tourism service providers.
Appreciated the new Switzerland Tourism Website with its overview of open restaurants, leisure facilities and ski resorts in the cantons. It was ST's most-visited website over the festive period and played a key role in helping guests make plans for excursions in the Swiss winter, even at short notice.
Little optimism for the sports vacations
The outlook for the sports vacations gives little cause for optimism. In the mountain regions, the current booking level for hotel room nights in February 2021 is -38 percent compared to the previous year. Operators of tourist destinations and attractions in the mountains also expect frequencies to be one-third lower than in the same period last year. In particular, the absence of events, group excursions and school camps is likely to have an impact here.
