Ski lifts will bounce back in 2013 due to high demand for day passes

High demand from internal tourists, especially for day passes, will gradually help Swiss ski lifts bounce back, post-global economic crisis

BERN, SWITZERLAND – The high Swiss franc continues to hurt the Swiss tourism industry, but the worst may be behind it, a key new forecast indicates.

Bakbasel, an economic research group, and Seco, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, expect tourism for the 2012-2013 winter season to dip by 0.9 percent, with a 1.8 percent drop in foreign tourism offset somewhat by the continuing strength of internal tourism.

Starting from a relatively low level, with declines in the number of overnight stays since the 2008 global economic crisis, Bakbasel’s figures show a shift to growth in the second half of 2013, with 2014 expected to see 1.8 percent growth and by 2015, it should reach 2.8 percent.

Swiss ski lift companies have also suffered from the tourism downturn, and for 2012-13 their turnover will fall yet again, by 2.2 percent. The following winter, however, growth in tourism from abroad and notably outside Europe, should bring higher revenues, up 2.2 percent.

Source: BAKBASEL, SECO, October 2012