In 2020, the number of overnight stays in Swiss hotels fell by 40% to 23.7 million, a fall of 15.8 million nights compared to 2019. © Tanya Keisha | Dreamstime.comThe fall, driven by Covid-19, is the largest fall in overnight stays in Switzerland since the end of the 1950s, according to Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office. Plummeting hotel stays were driven mainly by a large slump in foreign visitors. Hotel nights spent by Swiss tourists dropped by only 8.6% (-1.5 million). However, nights spent by foreign visitors plummeted by 66.1% (-14.3 million). Overall, the worst month was April 2020. Compared to April 2019, 96.2% fewer nights were spent during April 2020. March (-68.2%), May (-95.3%), June (-88.4%), July (-70.1%), August (-60.9%), September (-69%), October (-78.1%),
Topics:
Investec considers the following as important: Business & Economy, Covid-19 Switzerland, Editor's Choice, health, Swiss tourism, Swiss tourism 2020
This could be interesting, too:
Investec writes Switzerland ranked second in digital competitiveness
Investec writes Swiss wages set to rise in 2025
Investec writes Federal Council hopes to boost savings with pension change
Investec writes Switzerland’s cross border workers reach record level
In 2020, the number of overnight stays in Swiss hotels fell by 40% to 23.7 million, a fall of 15.8 million nights compared to 2019.
The fall, driven by Covid-19, is the largest fall in overnight stays in Switzerland since the end of the 1950s, according to Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office.
Plummeting hotel stays were driven mainly by a large slump in foreign visitors. Hotel nights spent by Swiss tourists dropped by only 8.6% (-1.5 million). However, nights spent by foreign visitors plummeted by 66.1% (-14.3 million).
Overall, the worst month was April 2020. Compared to April 2019, 96.2% fewer nights were spent during April 2020. March (-68.2%), May (-95.3%), June (-88.4%), July (-70.1%), August (-60.9%), September (-69%), October (-78.1%), November (-83%) and December (78.4%) were all significantly down on 2019. Only January (+5.7%) and February (+5.4%) were ahead of 2019.
The hardest hit places were the urban cantons of Geneva (-67.5%), Zurich (-65.4%) and Basel (-58.8%). Graubunden (-9.2%) and Ticino (-16.3%) were two of the least hit cantons, although resort areas within Graubunden (-42.8%) were hard hit. In the canton of Valais overnight stays were down 24.2%. Only the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden (+4.2%) bucked the negative trend.
Over the summer of 2020, Swiss visitors filled some of the gap caused by falling foreign visitors. During July (+35.0%), August (+18.4%), September (+22.5%) and October (+16.4%), Swiss residents spent significantly more nights in Swiss hotels than in 2019.
More on this:
Federal statistical office data (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
For more stories like this on Switzerland follow us on Facebook and Twitter.