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The Blausee is one of the most famous mountain lakes in Switzerland.
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Switzerland inspires on social media with its Alpine panoramas, clear lakes and golden sunsets. Will it now become the next travel hotspot?
Videos of influencers and tourists traveling to Switzerland are appearing more and more frequently on social media. In them, they share their most beautiful moments from their vacation - hikes through the mighty Alps, swimming in deep blue lakes and evenings when the sun paints the sky over the mountains in warm shades of gold and pink.
In the videos, they describe how incredibly beautiful Switzerland is. In the comments below, people agree with them.
Will Switzerland now become the next hype destination?
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"Switzerland has increased in popularity as a vacation and travel destination," writes a spokeswoman for Switzerland Tourism in response to an inquiry from blue News. "This is confirmed by the number of overnight hotel stays recorded by the Federal Statistical Office," she continues.
However, this includes not only guests from abroad, but also locals. "The increase since the pandemic has been particularly strong among domestic guests, who account for almost 50 percent of all hotel overnight stays," says the spokesperson.
"Since 2019, the number of overnight hotel stays by this guest group has risen by 16.3 percent to a total of 20.85 million in 2024."
Figures for June 2025 are also already available: at 4.15 million overnight stays in June, this was 1.8% more than a year ago, according to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). This does not come as a surprise - initial provisional estimates by the FSO had already announced the increase.
Swiss guests accounted for 1.89 million overnight stays, which corresponds to an increase of 3 percent. Guests from abroad accounted for 2.26 million overnight stays, an increase of 0.9% compared to June 2024.
The USA remained the most important country of origin in the first summer month. With almost 477,500 overnight stays, US tourists recorded 3.6% more overnight stays in June than in the previous year. Compared to the last pre-corona year 2019, this is even 47% more.
Germany remained the second-largest source market. With just under 354,000 overnight stays, the increase was 8.3% compared to 2024. With regard to Asia, India remained the most important country of origin with around 116,000 overnight stays (+0.2%).
However, an increasing number of visitors also brings challenges - because the growing rush is pushing many locations to their limits.
"Swiss destinations and tourist regions have implemented various measures that take into account the needs of the local population and guests, even with higher volumes on certain days," Switzerland Tourism told blue News.
The best-known example of these measures: Iseltwald BE. The small village on Lake Brienz served as the backdrop for the South Korean series "Crash Landing on You".
Since then, fans have traveled from all over Asia to visit the small community. To limit the influx of tourists to the village, the authorities decided in May 2023 to restrict the number of coaches per day to ten. A turnstile was also installed and since then, visitors have had to pay five francs to take a selfie on it.
Another example: Lac de Taney in Valais. This is very popular with walkers. On 1 May, the municipality of Vouvry announced that it would be taking measures to "protect the delicate balance of this symbolic place". The lake is located in an important nature conservation and amphibian area.
As a measure, a parking lot with 140 spaces was closed. In summer, a single parking lot with 90 paid spaces will remain open. At the same time, the Postbus service is being expanded and a ranger has been on site since 2020.
Switzerland Tourism is also focusing on better distributing visitor flows in terms of time and space. Since 2018, they have been focusing on the fall off-season with campaigns together with Roger Federer, Michelle Hunziker and Yann Sommer. They are also promoting destinations off the beaten track.
