Foreign tourist stays up 3.8%
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss federal authorities say tourism rose 6 percent in February compared to a year earlier. The latest figures ease some fears about the immediate impact of the higher Swiss franc on the ski season. The month had an additional 176,000 overnight stays, of which foreign demand was responsible for 57,000 additional stays, a 3.8 percent increase.
CPI, inflation shifting
The federal statistical office shows that inflation inched down in March, -0.9 percent compared to March 2014. The Swiss Consumer Price Index rose, however, by 0.3 percent compared to February.
Road traffic, traffic jams rose in 2014
Vehicles covered 26,890 billion kilometres in 2014, a 1.9 percent increase over 2013. Not surprisingly traffic jams also saw an increase: 21,509 hours, up 4.6 percent compared to 3.4 percent in 2013. The federal highway office says that 85 percent of traffic jam hours are the result of traffic overloads – 18,395 hours – and that the hours spent in traffic jams due to accidents and roadworks continued to fall last year, down 32 percent.
The federal government is investing CHF1.95 billion in the national highway system in 2015, of which CHF1.24b is for maintenance of the existing system, CHF630 million to build new stretches of highway and CHF75 million for projects, notably to the north of Zurich, to reduce traffic jams.
Zurich customs uncover 4,442 kg of dried khat
Customs officials at Zurich airport found 4,442 kg of dried khat in more than 400 packages sent through the postal system, in 14 days. It is the largest drug haul on record for Zurich.
Khat is chewed fresh, but when dried it is mixed with tobacco or marijuana as a drug or mixed for injections, say customs officials; it has been listed in Switzerland as an illegal drug since 1992.
The packages found were almost entirely in transit from Kenya and Tanzania to other European countries and North America. They were marked as containing tea, herbs, spices and tobacco.