Restaurant goers spend less on drink and food
The hotel and restaurant association has warned the strong Swiss franc and increasing legislation are having an adverse effect on the catering industry.
Gastrosuisse President Bernhard Kuster said sales dropped by seven per cent to SFr24.2 billion ($26.4 billion) last year compared with 2010.
Guests spent significantly less money on drinks, he told a news conference.
Kuster said restaurants and hotels in the eastern canton of Graubünden were particularly hard hit, while another traditional holiday region, in central Switzerland, was able to overcome the franc-euro disadvantage with more guests from Asia.
He added that the number of staff had decreased by more than 8,700, including part-time employees.
Gastrosuisse called for tax breaks for the sector and criticised moves to tighten laws on passive smoking and alcohol consumption.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
Contributions under this article have been turned off. You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.