Millions for WEF visit Where Trump's officials leave the most money in Switzerland
When the American power elite rolls into Davos, the cash registers ring in Switzerland. Because every visit from Washington brings with it an entourage that buys luxury beds, limousines and logistics on a grand scale.
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- When US presidents come to Davos for the WEF, they spend a lot of money in Switzerland - on hotels, security and transportation.
- US data shows: Millions flow to companies like Sixt and hotels. The data also reveals where officials stayed overnight.
- There is no precise research into how much the WEF generates overall, but an estimated turnover of around 94 million francs was estimated for 2017.
When US presidents such as Donald Trump or his predecessors travel to the World Economic Forum in Davos, it's not just about autocratic power games and handshakes at the highest level. Nor is it just about the immense expense for the federal and cantonal security authorities.
From the point of view of local companies, such a visit means many millions for the Swiss economy. After all, bodyguards, officials and diplomatic experts have to stay somewhere overnight - and they want to be mobile.
This can be substantiated with data from the US government website USASpending.gov. Unlike Switzerland, the United States has been considered comparatively transparent in many areas for decades. In some cases, the principle of publicity is practiced so consistently by the authorities that a great deal of information is published automatically: Which contracts were awarded and when? And where did how much tax money go?
Millions for rental cars
Since December 2025, there have been numerous items that have benefited companies in Switzerland. Unsurprisingly, a considerable amount of the money went on rental cars. Sixt Rent-A-Car AG stands out as a major profiteer.
After 2024, Sixt was once again able to conclude several contracts with the US government - worth several million US dollars. However, it is not possible to break down in detail how much of this is actually due to a rental car in connection with the WEF. In the case of the most financially lucrative individual contract, the US State Department undertook to pay Sixt USD 1.2 million. A hotel bill can also be found for the current year: around 9,000 francs went to the Hyatt Regency in Zurich.
US officials sleep in luxury hotels
Earlier data sets were more detailed - and in some cases show exactly how much money was spent in this country, right down to the hotel. One example is the WEF 2024: the transparency platform shows that 450,000 US dollars alone went to the Grand Resort in Bad Ragaz, St. Gallen - for the overnight stay of "SECSTATE". This refers to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who spent the night at the luxury resort in 2024 under President Joe Biden.
In other years, the bill looked much more modest. In 2017, for example, when Donald Trump attended the WEF for the first time as US President, the Grand Resort was only able to bill CHF 76,000 according to the expenses platform. Davos itself was all the more lucrative: the Das Inn hotel received around 110,000 francs, while the Supercontinental paid 270,000 francs.
Little-known company supplied cars for Trump's protection
By contrast, 2017 was a particularly profitable year for a little-known company at the time: Allen-Latley Embassy Services AG, based in Glattfelden ZH. It organized vehicles for various US ministries as well as personal protection for Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Cost: 2.6 million francs. Further orders followed in the following year: at the WEF 2018, this company collected around CHF 980,000 to provide vehicles for Donald Trump's personal security.
No study has yet examined in depth what the WEF means for the Swiss economy in terms of the bottom line. However, the WEF itself published a paid study by the University of St. Gallen (HSG), which estimates a total Swiss turnover of around CHF 94 million for 2017. A large proportion of this - around CHF 60 million - was generated in Davos alone. If a US president such as Donald Trump and his entourage come to Switzerland, this amount is likely to be correspondingly higher.