Tourism operators celebrate third boom year

Things are looking bright for the Swiss tourist industry, with two of the country's leading operators posting record results.

Things are looking bright for the Swiss tourist industry, with two of the country’s leading operators posting record results.

The Migros subsidiary, Hotelplan, has released figures that show a record performance for the third year in succession.

Group profit in 1999 rose by 22.9 per cent to SFr34.8 million, while turnover was up 9.4 per cent at SFr1.939 billion.

“The basis for these record results was the increase in passenger numbers in spite of increased competition,” said company chief, Claus Niederer.

The country’s biggest travel operator, Kuoni, released its results late on Wednesday, showing a 21.2 per cent increase in turnover to SFr3.51 billion.

Operating profit was at a record high, but the company’s failed merger with the British company, First Choice, depressed net profits, which fell 12.3 per cent to 90.5 million.

The cost of the failed link-up was put at nearly SFr27 million.

But the company said it was reasonably optimistic about its prospects for the current year, although it said demand was always difficult to assess in the travel sector.

swissinfo and agencies