Swiss tourism sector sees no upturn until 2011

Swiss tourist officials expect to see sluggish business in the New Year as the worst slump in more than 50 years hits the nation's hotel industry.

“We are concerned for 2010, as we don’t see a speedy recovery,” Switzerland Tourism spokeswoman Veronique Kanel told Swisster in a telephone interview.

“And we’ll have to recover the terrain we have lost,” she said.

The industry is on track to record in 2009 the biggest drop in business since the Second World War.

The federal statistics department last month said overnight stays at Swiss hotels for the first 10 months of 2009 dropped 5.4 percent to 31.3 million from the same year earlier period.

But visits from foreign tourists fell even further by 7.1 percent to 17.7 million.

Tourism from the UK dropped nearly 20 percent, a fall expected to continue into 2010, as the recession and an unfavourable exchange rate with the pound continue to stunt sales.

Kanel described this drop as “huge” but explained that the market has grown by a fifth in the last decade.

“We’re now back to how we were five or six years ago,” she explained.

After Germany, the UK is the second largest market for foreign tourists, followed by France, then the USA.

Kanel said Tourism Switzerland will not be expanding its marketing in the UK. Rather it is switching its focus to other markets in neighbouring countries, France, Italy and Germany.

It is also paying more attention to domestic tourists. "These markets offer the best opportunities for gorwth or stability," Kanel said.

Kanel noted the economic research firm BAK Basel predicts business from foreign tourism is set to decrease by three percent next year, although it should recover in 2011.

Between January and October, overnight stays in hotels by tourists from the United States fell 10 percent from the same period in 2008.

“This is an important decrease because the US is a key market, but we are already seeing a recovery,” said Kanel.

The fall was more important during the first months of the year, and stabilised in the second half of 2009, she said.

On the bright side, business from China is in good shape and the industry is expecting a growth of 15-20 percent next year, provided there are no “unexpected events”, such as problems from swine flu, Kanel said.

In 2009, Chinese business (excluding Hong Kong) jumped by 23 percent from the previous year.

However, tourism from China was exceptionally lower in 2008 because of the Beijing Olympics and the deadly earthquake in the province of Sichuan, Kanel said.

Overall, however, 2008 was the best year in Switzerland since 1990 for hotel bookings, she said.

The world economy had not yet gone into recession and business was aided by an influx of football fans due to Euro 2008 in the summer, plus a heavy snowfall leading to a successful ski season, Kanel said.

So far the winter season has started off well, with many ski destinations fully booked for the Christmas holidays, she said.

But continued success will depend on the snowfall, which is a “key factor”, according to Kanel.

While figures from the Federal statistics department take into account hotel stays, Kanel said they do not include other types of accommodation such as short-term apartment lets, bed and breakfasts, and youth hostels.

This is a relatively small but growing sector of the market, with a turnover of 42.5 million francs this year, that is bucking the trend by attracting more visitors from outside the country.

According to Swiss accommodation specialist Interhome, 33,000 foreign tourists made reservations for this  type of accommodation in 2009, up six percent from the previous year.