Eastern Switzerland Tourism of minor importance in the canton of St. Gallen
An alleged quote from St. Gallen cantonal councillor Beat Tinner (FDP) has prompted two centrist cantonal councillors to table a motion. It concerns the question of how important tourism is for the canton of St. Gallen and whether cuts are planned for its promotion.
20.08.2024, 13:06
SDA
"The money for tourism is useless anyway." This sentence is attributed to cantonal councillor Beat Tinner (FDP), according to a motion tabled by two centrist cantonal councillors at the beginning of June. They want to know from the government what prompted the head of the Department of Economic Affairs to make such statements.
The sentence is not explicitly denied in the government's response. Tinner's statements were aimed at ensuring the careful use of funds and directing investments into sectors "that promise a higher direct and indirect added value", according to the response.
In the initiative, Daniel Grünenfelder and Boris Tschirky wanted to know whether the funds for tourism would be cut. They also asked the government to explain the importance of tourism for the canton. They asked for a comparison of value creation with other cantons.
Not a tourism canton
"No," was the government's answer to the question about cuts. However, it reserves the right to "regularly review" the targeted use of cantonal funds, including in the area of tourism promotion.
When comparing gross value added, St. Gallen falls behind. The economic importance of tourism is "rather low in absolute terms" compared to traditional tourism cantons, the government wrote. The value in 2021 was 1.8 percent of the gross domestic product. The Swiss average is 2.1 percent.
The proportion of people employed in tourism in the canton is 3.0 percent, compared to 3.8 percent for Switzerland as a whole. The St. Gallen figures can be compared with Zurich, the government explained. There, the added value from tourism amounts to 1.6 percent, while the employment share is 3.2 percent.
In contrast, the actual tourism cantons have completely different figures: in Graubünden, 14.8 percent of employees work in tourism and the added value is 9.4 percent.
