Bright news is that 2013 should be better

BERN, SWITZERLAND – Glum news out of Bern for the Swiss tourism industry Tuesday 22 May won’t surprise anyone: the strong franc and weak euro are hurting the tourism industry this year. The latest forecast for the summer season is a drop of 1.7 percent overall, but 3.4 percent for tourists from abroad.

Two factors that are saving the situation somewhat are strong demand at home, with the Swiss visiting their own country, and continuing strong demand from Asia. Seco, the economics ministry, notes that while strong demand from Asia’s emerging economies helps, they remain too small a share of overall tourism to make up for significant losses from neighbours France, Italy and Germany.

The glum outlook follows a morose winter season, down 3.4 percent compared to the previous year, but with Swiss resorts showing a 6 percent drop despite wonderful snowfalls, due to poor weather in December followed by bitter cold in February.

The forecast for 2013 is brighter, expected to rise 1 percent with a 2.7 percent for 2014.