Tourism: Swiss hotel industry on record course even after seven months

The Swiss hotel industry recorded slightly more overnight stays in July than in the previous year. This means that the momentum has weakened somewhat.

Growth was significantly stronger from January to June. Nevertheless, after seven months the number of overnight stays is higher than ever before.

Specifically, the number of overnight stays in July rose by 0.3 percent to 4.8 million, as the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) announced on Thursday. The increase is once again thanks to foreign guests. Here, the number of overnight stays increased by 3.1 percent to 2.6 million.

The Swiss, on the other hand, were increasingly drawn abroad, as they had been in the previous months after the pandemic. The number of overnight stays by domestic guests in July was 2.2 million, 2.8 percent lower than in the same month last year.

More overnight stays than ever before

This means that the positive momentum in the Swiss hotel industry weakened significantly in July. In the first half of the year, there was still an increase of 2.4 percent compared to the same period last year.

Nevertheless, the hotel industry recorded 2.0 percent (24.8 million) more overnight stays from January to July than in the corresponding period of the previous year, more than ever before in the first seven months of a year.

Of these, 12.7 million overnight stays were by foreign guests, which corresponds to an increase of 4.7 percent. The number of overnight stays by guests from Switzerland, however, fell by 0.6 percent to 12.2 million.

US guests at record levels

This confirms once again the trend that has been emerging since the end of the Corona pandemic: more foreign guests are coming to Switzerland again. Conversely, Swiss people are increasingly moving abroad again.

Nevertheless, fewer foreign guests are still visiting Switzerland than in the last pre-Corona year of 2019. Significantly fewer tourists are still coming from China in particular. But there are also still fewer guests from India and some European countries than before Corona – including from Germany, which is still the most important market of origin.

Contrary to the positive trend, the number of guests from the USA has not broken. This year, more US guests have come than ever before. However, they cannot fully compensate for the declines in other countries of origin compared to 2019. From January to July, 1.2 percent fewer guests came from abroad than in the previous year before Corona.

The fact that the industry continues to operate at record levels is not least due to the fact that the Swiss continue to spend significantly more holidays in Switzerland than before the pandemic. Despite a downward trend, Swiss guests have still accounted for a good 15 percent more overnight stays this year than in 2019.

Record number of overnight stays remains in sight

The Swiss hotel industry also still has last year’s overnight stay record firmly in its sights. In 2023, the 40 million mark was exceeded for the first time with 41.8 million overnight stays.

Whether the record is actually broken now also depends on whether the historically strong autumn tourism of the previous year can be surpassed. The start of the winter season and the Christmas business, which are important for the industry, will also be decisive.

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