The appreciation of the national currency,
which started a couple of years ago, has made travelling to Switzerland
rather expensive, and European tourists prefer other areas now. According to
the report of Switzerland’s
Federal statistics office, this year the outflow of tourists has preserved. For
the period from May to October, the number of nights spent in local hotels
decreased by almost half a million and amounted to 19 million (-2.5%). July was
the most unsuccessful month for the tourist sector: at this period the decline
amounted to 7%. More often citizens of Germany,
Great Britain, Holland and France
refuse to travel to Switzerland.
13 Swiss regions where tourism is well
developed have worsened their results if compared to 2011. Among them are well
known to Russians Lake Geneva’s regions and Ticino.
According to local tourist office, for the seven months of 2012 Geneva accepted 916
thousand tourists (-0.4%). The number of overnight stays made by Russians for
the same period has decreased by 5% and reached to 151 thousand. At the same
time Zurich,
Fribourg and Valais have positive indicators.
According to the forecasts, total amount of
overnight stays in Switzerland
within the winter season will decrease by 0.9%. However, in spite of the
negative statistics, experts still believe the situation may stabilize due to
the growth of internal tourism and Asian guests. Within the reviewed period the
number of Chinese tourists’ overnight stays has grown by 25%, Japanese – by 7%.
As in the previous year, Russia
has put in as well: this year our compatriots stayed in Swiss hotels by 12% more
often than in the previous year.
“Indeed, Switzerland didn’t love Russian
tourists, however we can’t say that the situation in the country didn’t
influence Russian tourist flow”, - believes Oksana Khromochkina, the Head of
Swiss Departments of the Roza Vetrov Mir Company. According to RATA news’ interlocutor’s
examination, lately exactly the reasonable segment gave under. About five years
ago 80% of all bookings accrued to group tours, but today it’s 50x50 with
individual travelers. “On the other hand, it might be that those who wanted to
get to know the country have already done it. And the adherents who appreciate
high level of service and the unforgettable local color still travel to Switzerland”, -
said Mrs. Khromochkina.
According to the experts, hotel prices in Switzerland can
hardly be called very high, however, due to some components of the trip,
including flight tickets, meals and other expenses, the country remains
expensive for Russians. For example, an excursion trip within an organized
group will cost more than one thousand euro per person. This explains why
tourists with income above average choose Switzerland more often. Especially
popular among this category of travelers are vacations in the mountains – both
in winter and summer. Among business tourists the country is in demand as well.
Product manager on the Swiss destination of
Ascent Travel Company Anastasia Sologub is sure that the inner Eurozone’s
crisis influences the tourist flow much more than the Swiss’ currency. All the
more so the decrease was not only on the Swiss destination, other countries
have similar situation. “We still note annual increase of the tourist flow from
Russia to Switzerland,
thought its pace have slightly decreased in the latest years. Now the increase
doesn’t overcome 10-20% per year”, - continued Mrs. Sologub. Another problem
she considers to be the growth of the percentage of individual tourists who
book hotels thought internet, and Switzerland is not an exception. In
this situation tour operators can gain only by having guaranteed places in
hotels, which is especially important in the peak season.
In the opinion of the General Director of
Bureau-3-Visa Company Tatyana Molodtsova, Eurozone’s crisis doesn’t affect
Russian tourist flow so much because having started travelling not long ago,
our compatriots didn’t lose interest to travelling. The expert also noted the
competent information support of Switzerland Tourism Office, which does its
best to attract tourists from Russia.
In particular Mrs. Molodtsova noted that summer season sales to Switzerland
grew by 15%. “It’s a very good rate if we take in consideration that several
years ago summer in Switzerland
was a low season. However, now the division has almost disappeared”, - believes
Tatyana Molodtsova. At the same time she believes the results of winter sales
can be estimated only in March. According to her data, the demand for winter Switzerland has
just started to grow.
