Switzerland has best winter for 11 years

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The Swiss Hotel Association recorded a 0.7% increase in overnight stays during the 2018/2019 winter season.

From November to April, 16.7 million overnight stays were recorded in Switzerland, 8.8 million by foreign visitors and 7.9 million by Swiss travelers.

The increase was highest among foreign visitors. Nights spent by foreign visitors rose 1% to 8.8 million nights. The steepest rise was among Americans who spent an extra 71,000 nights in Swiss hotels, a rise of 7% compared to the season before. The number of Asian visitors also rose by 41,000 nights, a rise of 2.5%. French (+9,200 nights) and Belgian (+7,200 nights) visitor numbers were up too.

However, the rise was not universal and visits by some nationalities were lower. The British led the way here with a drop of 15,000 nights, 1.9% lower than the season before.

Nights spent by Swiss in Swiss hotels rose by 0.4% over the winter season.

There were regional gainers and losers. The Alpine canton of Graubunden, which contains Davos and St-Moritz, was the biggest gainer attracting an extra 51,000 nights (+1.8%), followed by Bern (+37,000), the Luzern region (+25,000), Ticino (+12,000), Valais (+11,000) and Zurich (+8,000). By contrast Basel (-26,000), western Switzerland (-16,000) and Jura (-11,000) saw numbers decline.

Over the 12 months to April 2019, Swiss hotels welcomed 19 million visitors, 10 million from abroad and 9 million from Switzerland.