Tourism Swiss hotel industry has fewer guests in September

Swiss hotels recorded lower occupancy rates in September than in the previous year. Looking at the year as a whole, however, the industry remains on course to beat last year's record.

In September, Swiss hotels recorded a total of 4.0 million overnight stays. This was 1.4 percent or 57,000 overnight stays less than in the same month last year, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) on Monday.

Swiss guests were responsible for the decline. Overnight stays by Swiss guests fell by almost 6 percent to 1.9 million. In contrast, overnight stays by foreign guests increased by 2.9 percent to 2.1 million.

Still on record course

This means that the positive trends of the previous months have not continued. In the summer months of June to August, hotels accommodated significantly more guests than in the previous year. From January to September, a total of 33.7 million overnight stays were recorded, which still represents an increase of 1.8 percent.

Looking at the year as a whole, however, the industry remains on course to break records even after the weak start to the fall. In the previous year, the 40 million mark was broken for the first time with 41.8 million overnight stays. Whether a new record will actually be reached this year depends to a large extent on the start of the winter season.

SDA