Tourism in Switzerland

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hikers in the Leventina

The tourism is in Switzerland is an important industry . As a destination , it is favored by the Alps , the great beauty of many parts of the country, the good infrastructure and the central location in Europe . A nature and landscape that appeared hostile and difficult to access just 200 years ago forms the basis of Swiss tourism today.

In the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017 of the World Economic Forum, the country ranks 10th out of 136 countries, the only weakness is the high price level in Switzerland.

Economical meaning

Economic performance and value creation

Origin of tourists in Switzerland in 2017
Country of origin Percentage
Switzerland 56.8
Germany 12.5
Great Britain 3.0
United States 3.0
Netherlands 2.9
France 2.8
China 2.4
Italy 1.9
Belgium 1.7
India 1.1

The industry's turnover in 2013 was almost CHF 35 billion , with traditional tourism - accommodation and catering in restaurants and hotels ( catering and hotel business ) - generating two thirds of turnover.

In 2011, guests from abroad spent CHF 15.6 billion in Switzerland. With 5.2% of total export income in 2011, tourism is the fourth largest source of export income in Switzerland, directly behind the chemical industry , the metal and machine industries and the watch industry . For years, the tourism balance has also shown an active balance (e.g. 3.2 billion francs in 2011), which means that foreign travelers in Switzerland spend more than Swiss travelers abroad. In 2016, 65.4% of all hotels and restaurants posted losses; and the tourism balance was negative for the first time in a long time at 300 million Swiss francs. In 2017, the deficit was CHF 122 million.

Overall, tourism is currently decreasing in importance, in 2012 the direct share of the gross domestic product  (GDP) was only 2.6% (with around 200,000 employees), in the total value added with consequential effects around 8%. The proportion of employees fell from 5.7% in 2003 (hotels and restaurants) to 4.4% in 2012. However, tourism is still of central importance, especially for the structurally weaker Alpine cantons. Forecasts see the sector rising again in the medium term.

Accommodations

The most popular holiday destinations include Zurich , Geneva , Zermatt , Lucerne , Basel , Davos , Lausanne , St. Moritz , Bern , Interlaken , Lugano and Grindelwald . In 2012, 34.8 million hotel overnight stays were recorded in 4,742 establishments. There were 246,951 guest beds available. In 2012, hotel overnight stays fell by 2% compared to 2011. Domestic demand was 15.7 million overnight stays. The foreign guests generated 19.1 million overnight stays, which corresponds to a decrease of 3.3%. The greatest foreign demand was recorded by German guests with 4.6 million overnight stays (-11% compared to 2011). It is followed by the United Kingdom with 1.5 million overnight stays (−9.1%) and the United States with 1.5 million units (+ 2.2%). 3.3 million overnight stays were generated by guests from Asia, especially from China, Japan and India. Between 2008 and 2012, there was a strong increase in hotel demand from visitors from Asia and the Arab countries. Arab tourists spend an average of 410 euros a day, Chinese 290 euros, Germans 120 euros.

Overnight stays in 2014 and arrivals in 2013
Canton / region Overnight stays Arrivals
Grisons 5,052,225 1,770,000
Bern 4,963,424 2,470,000
Zurich 4,812,869 3,080,000
Valais 3,887,345 1,480,000
Geneva 2,939,168 1,430,000
Vaud 2,655,696 1,220,000
Ticino 2,313,039 1,100,000
Lucerne 1,919,902 1,880,000
Basel city 1,662,938
St. Gallen / Eastern Switzerland 1,030,646 910,000

history

Beginnings in the 19th century

«The Gotthard Post»; Painting by Rudolf Koller , 1873
Hotel Badrutt's Palace
Pilatusbahn , around 1910

The history of Swiss tourism begins at the end of the 18th century and is closely linked to the discovery and development of the Alps. At that time it was common for sons of the English nobility to continue their education on the so-called Grand Tour through Europe. The trips also led through Switzerland. This increased the awareness and popularity of the Alps and Switzerland. The stories of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , who inspired Friedrich Schiller to write his Wilhelm Tell after his trip to Switzerland , did the rest. From the end of the 18th century it was common to equate tourism with enthusiasm for the Alps. For the time being, the desire to travel was reserved for a small but wealthy elite. At that time, the traffic routes were still unsafe and arduous, and hotels were still unknown. The turmoil of the revolution during the Napoleonic wars made long journeys difficult.

With the advent of the railway (→ History of the Swiss Railways ) and the expansion of the road network, especially the Alpine passes (→  List of passes in Switzerland ), traveling from abroad to the Swiss Alps has become significantly easier. With the launch of package tours through Switzerland in 1863 , Thomas Cook pioneered Swiss tourism. Numerous hotels were opened in Switzerland during this period, such as the Hôtel des Bergues in Geneva in 1834, the Hotel Schwanen in Lucerne in 1835, the Baur en Ville in Zurich in 1838, the Hotel Drei Könige in Basel in 1842 , the Schweizerhof in Bern in 1859 and in 1865 the Euler in Basel.

Compared to Interlaken or Lucerne, St. Moritz in the Engadin was remote and difficult to reach. In order to win guests in winter for his “Engadiner Kulm”, built in 1856, the hotelier Johannes Badrutt made a bet with six English guests in autumn 1864: He invited them to spend Christmas in his hotel and promised that they would be in the sunshine could sit on his terrace shirt-sleeved. Should he be wrong, he would also cover the travel expenses from London to St. Moritz. The English came, sunbathed and did not return home until Easter. The word of mouth attracted more tourists. Winter tourism was launched.

Because of the healing effects of the high mountain climate, an institution for children with throat gland disease and consumption was opened in Davos in 1841, and from 1853 the healing climate in Davos was considered a safe remedy for tuberculosis. As a result, a large number of sanatoriums were built in the Swiss mountain villages, which have now applied as climatic health resorts.

Emerging alpinism

Daring alpinists began to conquer the Swiss high mountains from 1800. After the first ascent of the Jungfrau , many other first ascent followed. A dramatic and tragic climax was the first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865 by the British Edward Whymper . The years between 1854 and 1865, which were shaped by wealthy British mountaineers, are known as the "golden years of mountaineering". The Swiss Alpine Club (SAC) was founded in 1863 .

Belle Époque

The Gotthard Railway Tunnel, opened in 1882, further shortened travel times from the entire continent up to the peaks. As a result, 40 cable cars and 13 rack and pinion railways were built between 1888 and 1914. B. the Pilatusbahn , the Gornergratbahn and the Jungfrau Railway . The number of hotels, especially the grand hotels, doubled from around 1700 to over 3500 and places such as Lucerne, Montreux , Interlaken, Zermatt and St. Moritz developed into world-famous travel destinations. During this time, the so-called Belle Époque , Swiss tourism experienced its first high point. The outbreak of the First World War brought the heyday to an abrupt end.

20th century

Until 1950 numerous factors such as the poor economic situation, falling incomes, exchange rates and border formalities inhibited tourism. As soon as the economy improved, tourism picked up again, for example in 1923, 1926–29, 1936–39 and 1944–48. In the interwar period, winter sports found more and more fans. This enabled the hoteliers to extend the season, which was previously limited to around four months. The Winter Olympics, which took place in St. Moritz in 1928 and 1948 , continued to promote winter tourism.

Due to the unprecedented economic boom that started after the Second World War, Switzerland was also able to benefit from growing mass tourism . Tourism in Switzerland suffered minor downturns from 1973 onwards, but it developed positively overall. Phases of decline alternated with phases of upswing.

The cable car to the Kleine Matterhorn

Particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, the ski areas in the Alps were opened up with new cable cars and lifts (→  List of ski areas in Switzerland ). B. also the train to the Kleine Matterhorn ( 3883  m above sea level ). The Kleine Matterhorn is part of the Zermatt summer ski area , the largest and highest of its kind in Europe. The foothills of the Alps and the Alps are now very well developed for mass tourism in both summer and winter. In many peaks lead mountain railways , lakes and rivers run excursion boats and motorized traffic (walkers, cyclists and mountain bikers) is a comprehensive, well-developed network of trails are available.

However, towards the end of the millennium, Swiss tourism increasingly had to assert itself against strong competition abroad. That is why more solvent tourists from Asian countries such as Japan, China and India were recruited and special offers were developed for this clientele. The range of offers has been expanded with new fun sports - from snowboarding to nature and extreme sports activities . This trend gave new impetus to many mountain sports locations.

Many hotels, especially in urban areas, have focused on profitable business tourism.

21st century

Logo of the Grand Tour of Switzerland

Even if Switzerland remained a popular travel destination, at the beginning of the 21st century the industry had to assert itself more and more against cheaper foreign competition. Many Swiss people went abroad for their holidays. The tourism industry is still an important branch of the Swiss economy. The inhabitants of whole valleys are directly or indirectly dependent on tourism. The industry has suffered from the comparatively strong Swiss franc since the financial crisis and especially since the euro crisis. Holidays in Switzerland are more expensive for foreign tourists, and travel to distant destinations has become more affordable for the Swiss. In order to be less dependent on tourists from the euro and dollar areas, tourists from emerging countries such as India or China continue to be courted at great expense.

Climate change is also posing serious problems for winter tourism: Lower-lying ski areas are already suffering from winters with little snow .

Based on the Grand Tour of the 18th century, Switzerland Tourism and a private sponsoring association launched the Grand Tour of Switzerland holiday route in 2015 .

In 2016, according to the Global Peace Index, Switzerland was ranked seventh among the safest countries in the world. With almost 37 million hotel overnight stays, an all-time high was reached in 2019. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic presented Swiss tourism with new challenges. To combat the pandemic, all ski areas were closed in mid-March 2020. Switzerland Tourism wants to promote international tourism again as quickly as possible and has already applied for 40 million francs to the federal government.

Tourist regions and sights

The Swiss Alps are one of the main attractions of global tourism, with the Matterhorn in the canton of Valais being the most famous mountain in the Alps. There are numerous winter sports areas (see list of ski areas in Switzerland ). In the Engadin in the canton of Graubünden , which is located in southeastern Switzerland, there has been a Swiss national park since 1914 . In addition, in 2001 the area was virgin - Aletsch - Bietschhorn in the cantons of Bern and Valais in the list of UNESCO - World Heritage listed.

Swiss cities such as Zurich , Geneva , Basel , Bern , Lausanne , Lucerne and St. Gallen with international significance and a large cultural offer are increasingly attracting tourists from all over the world.

The most visited attractions in Switzerland with admission in 2013 were:

SwitzerlandMobility

Standardized signposts for hikers (yellow) and cyclists (wine red)

With SchweizMobil , Switzerland has a uniformly signaled, dense network of routes for hikers, cyclists, mountain bikers, inline skaters, canoeists, snowshoeers, cross-country skiers and tobogganists that is unique in the world.

SwitzerlandMobility consists of the respective theme countries:

summer

winter

  • Winter hiking
  • Snowshoeing
  • Cross-country skiing
  • Sledging

marketing

Switzerland Tourism and Swiss Tourism Association

As an umbrella organization, the Swiss Tourism Association represents the interests and objectives of tourism policy at all political levels, as well as a dynamic and future-oriented image of the tourism destination and its service providers. The mission of Switzerland Tourism , a federal company under public law, is to promote tourist demand for Switzerland as a travel, vacation and congress destination both at home and abroad, for example through national and international advertising campaigns.

Presence Switzerland

The official Swiss pavilion at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai

Presence Switzerland is an organizational unit in the General Secretariat of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and deals with issues of public diplomacy and nation branding . She is responsible for Switzerland's presence abroad in these areas. The statutory permanent tasks of national communication include promoting Switzerland's visibility abroad.

Presence Switzerland realizes this order, for example, with Swiss appearances at major international events such as the world exhibitions (most recently with the Swiss pavilion Expo 2012 Yeosu , next at Expo 2015 in Milan) or the Olympic Games ( House of Switzerland ).

Cantons

Appropriate tourism policy is also in place at the cantonal level . For example, BE! Tourism, as the umbrella marketing organization of the Canton of Bern, has been awarded an annual funding contribution of CHF 2.5 million for the years 2020 to 2023. In addition, additional contributions have been approved for Bern Welcome and Tourism Jura Drei Seen Land / Jura bernois Tourisme . The canton of Solothurn (Solothurn Tourismus) will increasingly join forces with the canton of Aargau (Aargau Tourismus) from 2021 .

Swiss travel fund REKA

Reka holiday development Rustici della Verzasca in Berzona / Vogorno

The Swiss Travel Fund , founded in 1939 by trade unions and the Tourist Association as a non-profit organization in the legal form of a cooperative, is the most important organization for social tourism in Switzerland. It is one of the leading landlords of holiday apartments ( additional accommodation ), camping accommodation and hotels in Germany and abroad.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Tourism in Switzerland  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Peter Grunder: Tourism Monitor Switzerland 2017 - The comprehensive picture of the guest, Gastro Journal, Zurich May 17, 2018, p. 7.
  3. ↑ a b c Switzerland draws a lot of value from tourism. Page with current data from the Swiss Tourism Association (swisstourfed.ch); with further links to economic statistical material.
  4. ↑ Statistics Switzerland - Panorama. ( Memento from February 9, 2014 in the archive.today web archive ) at: www.bfs.admin.ch
  5. ↑ Peter Grunder: Good numbers, bad location , GastroJournal, Zurich July 26, 2018, p. 8
  6. ↑ a b Switzerland - Share of the travel and tourism sector in GDP - Total contribution of the travel and tourism sector to GDP -% share . knoema.de: weltdatenatlas (accessed June 20, 2015).
  7. ↑ Gerhard Lob: In Ticino, almost 10 percent of the gross domestic product is generated by tourism. This added value is above the Swiss average, but below the Graubünden and Valais reference value. In: Ticino newspaper . February 20, 2015, p. 3.
  8. ↑ Samiha Shafy: Dear guests . In: Der Spiegel . No. 11 , 2014, p. 99 ( online ).
  9. ^ Gastro Journal. May 15, 2015, p. 11.
  10. ^ Reto E. Wild: Travel destination Switzerland. In: Migros Magazin. July 13, 2015.
  11. ↑ Summer skiing: expensive, but almost unaffordable as an advertising medium. In: Berner Zeitung . 11th August 2016.
  12. ↑ The big Swiss group reinvented. on: www.nzz.ch
  13. ↑ Grand Tour of Switzerland. on: www.myswiterzland.com
  14. ↑ Grand Tour of Switzerland. on: www.stnet.ch
  15. ^ Vision of Humanity - Global Peace Index
  16. ↑ The ten most peaceful travel destinations in 20 minutes from June 22, 2016.
  17. ↑ 2019 was a record year for Swiss tourism . In: luzernerzeitung.ch , February 27, 2020, accessed on March 13, 2020.
  18. ↑ Consequences of Trump's flight ban - "A grounding for tourism from the USA" . In: srf.ch , March 12, 2020, accessed on March 13, 2020.
  19. ↑ Weekly report March 13-19, 2020 . Abrupt end of the ski season due to the corona pandemic. In: slf.ch , accessed on March 19, 2020.
  20. ↑ Annik Ott: Big losses in tourism - The way out of the tourism crisis . In: srf.ch , April 15, 2020, accessed on April 18, 2020.
  21. ↑ Tourism crisis due to Corona - "Intercontinental tourism will hardly start before 2021" . In: srf.ch , April 18, 2020, accessed on April 18, 2020.
  22. ^ Reto E. Wild: Travel destination Switzerland. In: Migros Magazin. July 13, 2015, p. 8.
  23. ↑ Homepage: SwitzerlandMobility Summer
  24. ↑ Homepage: SwitzerlandMobility Winter
  25. ↑ Bern Government Council approves framework loans for tourism. In: htr.ch . November 1, 2019, accessed November 3, 2019 .
  26. ↑ Fabian Muster: Canton Solothurn cooperates with Aargau Tourism - “that will strengthen the Olten location”. In: oltnertagblatt.ch . January 28, 2020, accessed January 28, 2020 .