OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2024

Switzerland

Tourism in the economy and outlook 

Tourism is an important contributor to the Swiss economy, directly accounting for 2.6% of Swiss GVA and employing 166 627 people (full-time equivalents), or 3.9% of the total workforce in 2022. Travel exports represented 11.4% of total service exports in 2022, recovering from 7.9% in 2020. From an economic perspective, the tourism sector has yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels, when it accounted for 2.9% of total GVA, 4.2% of employment and 13.7% of services exports.

International tourism continues to recover towards pre-pandemic levels in Switzerland. International tourist arrivals at commercial accommodation establishments rose to 9.2 million in 2022, double the number of arrivals in 2021, and 87.5% of 2019 levels. Data for 2023 shows an increase of 19.2% compared to 2022, a historic high.

In 2023, Switzerland’s top three source markets were Germany (22%), United States (13%) and Great Britain (9%). European visitors accounted for 16.8 million overnight stays, which represented an 8.3% increase compared to 2022. Demand from the United States was high while demand from Asia is starting to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Domestic demand was down slightly in 2023 with domestic visitors staying more than 30 million nights in hotels and similar establishments yearly. This represents a significant increase compared to pre-pandemic levels, 11.8% above 2019.

Switzerland expects the total number of overnight stays in Summer 2024 to be above 2019 levels by 24.2 million. This is attributed to the recovery in overseas markets, particularly the United States and Asian countries, and domestic demand, which is expected to decline slightly but is still above pre-pandemic levels.

Tourism governance 

The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), in collaboration with numerous national and regional level political bodies, is responsible for designing and implementing Switzerland’s tourism policy. SECO enforces the Federal Act on the Promotion of Innovation, Co-operation and Knowledge Building in Tourism (Innotour) and supervises two organisations tasked with implementing tourism-related measures: Switzerland Tourism carries out marketing activities, and the Swiss Society for Hotel Credit supports investment in the accommodation sector. 

Each canton has a tourism office which carries out cantonal level promotion. The Swiss Tourism Forum facilitates a close exchange between the central government, the cantons and tourism stakeholders. The central government and the cantons promote the mountain region, urban and rural areas and the border regions. 

For the years 2024-27, the overall federal contribution to Switzerland Tourism will be CHF 233 million. CHF 45 million in regular funds are available over the same period via Innotour to promote innovation in tourism, of which CHF 15 million will be used as part of a COVID-19 recovery programme. The promotional activities of the Swiss Society for Hotel Credit are based on a federal loan of CHF 236 million and the New Regional Policy framework provides around CHF 200 million in loans for investment and CHF 200 million for contributions (subsidies) to projects with regional economic impact. 

Switzerland: Organisational chart of tourism bodies

Source: OECD, adapted from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, 2024.

Tourism policies and programmes

The Tourism Strategy of the Swiss Confederation was published in 2021 as the government’s long-term vision for tourism in Switzerland. The main objectives of the strategy are to improve the framework conditions, promote entrepreneurship, take advantage of opportunities offered by digitalisation, and enhance the attractiveness of tourism products and Switzerland's market presence. The next report on the implementation and the strategic orientation of the Swiss Confederation’s tourism policy will be published in 2026.

Each objective is supplemented by three action items, with 15 action items in total. Unlike objectives, action items are not final and can be amended and extended as needed to achieve the objectives. This aims to ensure that the Federal Government’s Tourism Strategy is agile and capable of both action and reaction. Action items have a medium to long-term horizon but may run indefinitely. Some action items tackle ongoing tasks under the Tourism Strategy.

Sustainable development and employment are two of the top priorities of Switzerland’s tourism strategy:

• Sustainable development: As part of the Federal Government’s Tourism Strategy, the Swiss Tourism Federation launched the Competence Center for Sustainability in Swiss Tourism (KONA) with the support of Switzerland Tourism and the Innotour funding instrument in 2022. KONA aims to make Swiss tourism a leader in sustainability by initiating and implementing projects and providing a central contact point for sustainability issues in Swiss tourism. New funding guidelines for tourist accommodation SMEs are prepared (see box below).

• Labour market: A study was conducted to investigate labour market movements in tourism before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic and found that the labour market in the tourism sector is very flexible (and recovered quickly from the COVID-19 downturn). However, many of the concerns prior to COVID-19 were still inhibiting the sector from attracting workers (e.g. the impact of shift work on family life, negative image of the sector, lack of attractive salary, lack of contemporary leadership culture). The study concluded that there was a higher-than-average probability of workers leaving the sector and retaining workers remains a major challenge. To counteract this problem, the 5 Punkte Plan by GastroSuisse was launched as part of the promotional programme Innotour, with the aim of having a significant positive impact on the image of the sector and attracting new talent to the sector.

Additional policy initiatives include the Motion 21.3743 Stöckli which aims to strengthen Innotour and instructs the Federal Council to prioritise funding for projects that promote digitisation and sustainability and the Motion 21.4426 Gmür-Schönenberger which instructs the Federal Council to support the implementation of a digital reporting to government on commercial accommodation of guests.

New funding guidelines for Swiss accommodation facilities: Sustainability bonus

Motion 19.3234 Stöckli aims to create a modern act for tourist accommodation across Switzerland that will be implemented by the Swiss Society for Hotel Credit. The programme will support the renovation of accommodation facilities in the Alpine region and seasonal tourist areas. This motion is set to address the prioritisation of renovating and modernising guest accommodation, with a focus on energy efficiency.

Funding will be limited to accommodation upgrades that meet strict energy efficiency standards and is restricted to existing accommodation, with new construction excluded. Accommodation facilities that have met energy efficiency standards will receive a subsidy towards their next tourism investment within a ten-year period, reflecting investment cycles in the building industry.

A public consultation was conducted on the revision of the law in 2024. Implementation is expected to begin in 2026 and will have a budget of approximately CHF 195 million, subject to funding approval.

Statistical Profile

Switzerland: Domestic, inbound and outbound tourism

	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
TOURISM FLOWS, THOUSAND
Domestic tourism1
Total domestic trips	80 020	78 317	62 951 |	88 996	67 473
Overnight visitors (tourists)	8 201	7 765	8 319 |	9 077	8 513
Same-day visitors (excursionists)	71 819	70 551	54 632 |	79 919	58 960
Nights in all types of accommodation	28 610	29 391	28 293	34 344	33 446
Hotels and similar establishments	26 198	26 841	24 880	29 949	30 165
Other collective establishments	2 412	2 550	3 413	4 394	3 281
Private accommodation	..	..	..	..	..
Inbound tourism
Total international arrivals	..	..	..	..	..
Overnight visitors (tourists)	11 715	11 818	3 690	4 390	9 160
Same-day visitors (excursionists)	..	..	..	..	..
Top markets
Germany	2 216	2 220	1 219	1 455	2 128
China (People’s Republic of) and Hong Kong (China)	1 135	1 141	77	17	87
United States	1 118	1 219	167	279	1 145
France	826	831	489	627	866
United Kingdom	820	818	224	140	653
Nights in all types of accommodation	26 748	26 843	10 221	11 541	22 194
Hotels and similar establishments	25 579	25 636	9 460	10 521	20 639
Other collective establishments	1 168	1 207	761	1 019	1 555
Private accommodation	..	..	..	..	..
Outbound tourism
Total international departures	26 397	21 360	8 319 |	11 127	17 943
Overnight visitors (tourists)	16 735	14 622	6 813 |	7 188	12 539
Same-day visitors (excursionists)	9 662	6 737	1 506 |	3 940	5 404
Top destinations
Germany	3 135	2 816	1 474 |	1 197	2 075
Italy	2 964	2 594	1 487 |	1 439	2 730
France	2 441	1 885	1 178 |	1 014	1 653
Austria	1 078	940	629 |	351	923
..	..	..	..	..	..
TOURISM RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURE, MILLION CHF
Inbound tourism
Total international receipts	20 820	21 118	9 416	11 054	..
International travel receipts	17 592	17 837	8 511	10 070	16 564
International passenger transport receipts	3 229	3 280	906	984	..
Outbound tourism
Total international expenditure	20 985	20 963	9 751	11 578	..
International travel expenditure	18 650	18 635	8 974	10 675	16 771
International passenger transport expenditure	2 334	2 328	776	903	..

.. Not available; | Break in series

1. Trips from demand side surveys; Nights from supply side surveys.

Source: OECD Tourism Statistics (Database).

Statlink

Switzerland: Enterprises and employment in tourism

	Number of establishments	Number of persons employed
	2022	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022 p
Total	..	174 514	174 220	149 903	161 524	166 627
Tourism industries	..	141 772	141 065	116 643	128 285	132 772
Accommodation services for visitors	35 662	36 409	35 747	30 573	34 967	38 711
Hotels and similar establishments	4 498	32 962	32 185	27 074	31 352	34 769
Food and beverage serving industry	..	46 384	45 061	30 860	39 129	37 239
Passenger transport	..	26 820	27 950	27 449	26 821	27 684
Air passenger transport	..	8 677	9 082	8 463	7 571	7 678
Railways passenger transport	..	13 037	13 414	13 538	13 656	14 251
Road passenger transport	..	4 212	4 427	4 373	4 429	4 574
Water passenger transport	..	894	1 027	1 075	1 165	1 182
Passenger transport supporting services	..	6 044	6 157	5 737	5 273	5 589
Transport equipment rental	..	644	583	524	528	543
Travel agencies and other reservation services industry	..	13 555	13 435	10 672	10 121	10 408
Cultural industry	..	3 953	3 987	3 872	3 917	4 290
Sports and recreation industry	..	5 774	5 903	5 773	5 980	6 333
Retail trade of country-specific tourism characteristic goods	..	..	..	..	..
Other country-specific tourism industries	..	2 190	2 242	1 182	1 549	1 974
Other industries	..	32 742	33 155	33 259	33 239	33 855

.. Not available; p Provisional data

Source: OECD Tourism Statistics (Database).

Statlink

Switzerland: Internal tourism consumption

Million CHF

	2017
	Domestic tourism expenditure	Inbound tourism expenditure	Internal tourism consumption
Total	23 827	17 156	46 072
Consumption products	18 999	14 281	38 369
Tourism characteristic products	16 483	12 249	33 420
Accommodation services for visitors	2 684	2 856	9 567
Food and beverage serving services	3 318	3 147	6 465
Passenger transport services	5 911	4 220	10 424
Air passenger transport services	3 845	2 792	6 637
Railways passenger transport services	1 361	851	2 504
Road passenger transport services	623	519	1 142
Water passenger transport services	82	59	141
Passenger transport supporting services	453	371	824
Transport equipment rental services	220	210	430
Travel agencies and other reservation services industry	1 254	186	1 592
Cultural services	473	169	858
Sports and recreation services	1 630	987	2 617
Country-specific tourism characteristic goods	..	..	..
Country-specific tourism characteristic services	540	103	643
Other consumption products	7 345	4 907	12 653
Tourism connected products	2 517	2 032	4 950
Non-tourism related consumption products	4 828	2 875	7 703
Non-consumption products	..	..	..

.. Not available

Source: OECD Tourism Statistics (Database).

Statlink