Summer holidays will be sourced locally this year

Summer 2020 is the time to rediscover your own country. With many travel restrictions and planes stuck on the ground, the tourism sector is now focusing on local guests.

Reservations by Swiss residents already made up over 45% of overnight stays in 2019. The proportion could increase this year, as a third of Swiss have already changed their holiday plans.

“This could be interesting for the tourism sector, as local guests are usually more spread out than the international tourists, who usually focus on famous locations,” said Switzerland Tourism spokeswoman Véronique Kanel.

During a press conference held on Monday, Eric Scheidegger, head of the economic policy directorate at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), said that demand and sales development in the tourism sector could only be expected to completely return to normal in 2022.