Swiss tourism industry ‘must be friendlier’
In terms of friendliness and helpfulness, a holiday review portal has rated Switzerland just fourth – after Austria, Germany and Italy. When it comes to welcoming guests, Switzerland is still trying to catch up. (SRF, swissinfo.ch)
The latest forecast by Zurich’s KOF Swiss Economic Institute predicts that this summer, overnight stays in Swiss hotels will rise by 1.4% compared with 2015, with 1.3% more Swiss guests and 1.5% more foreign visitors.
Despite the positive projections in the face of the strong franc, a survey by hotel review portal Holidaycheck shows that Switzerland isn’t doing so well when it comes to friendliness while hosting guests.
In the survey, Switzerland ranked fourth behind Austria, Italy and Germany. Georg Ziegler, head of hotel reviews at HolidayCheck, sees Switzerland’s trademark politeness and efficiency being misinterpreted as aloofness.
On the other hand, the president of the Swiss Hotel Association, Andreas Züllig, correlates the bad reviews to a higher share of local guests and in general higher prices – which can contribute to more critical clients.
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.