Swiss spend more money on foreign trips – foreign tourists spend less in Switzerland

Swiss tourists spent more money on foreign travel in 1998 than in the previous year, according to the Federal Statistics Office. However, foreign visitors to Switzerland spent less money in the same period.

Figures released by the Federal Statistics Office show that Swiss tourists spent more money on travelling abroad in 1998 than in the previous year. Expenditure on foreign travel rose by 3 percent SFr 10.5 billion.

The Statistics Office attributed the increase to a greater number of nights spent abroad. It said the Swiss also made more day-trips to neighbouring countries, where they spent more than SFr 1 billion.

Foreign tourists travelling to Switzerland, however, spent less money than in 1997, the figures show. Expenditure dropped by 0.3 percent to SFr11.4 billion. Overnight stays and the cost of meals accounted for the biggest proportion of income (71 percent, or SFr 6.7 billion, a slight increase on the previous year).

People passing through Switzerland, on the other hand, spent 4.5 percent less than in the previous year. The Statistics Office attributed this decrease to a decline in day-trippers as well as a drop in various costs such as petrol.