A Swiss chalet, high above the clouds in canton Valais.
Keystone
The latest batch of tourism statistics show a marked rise in the number of overnight stays in Swiss holiday homes, hostels and campgrounds in 2017, boosting the overall trend of a resurgent tourism sector.
The figuresExternal link were published on Monday by the Federal Statistical Office and show that overnight stays in non-hotel accommodation rose by 6.7% in 2017 to 15.9 million.
Swiss tourists accounted for over two-thirds of the demand (10.8 million overnight stays, a rise of 7% on 2016). Of the foreign influx, over four-fifths were from European countries; non-European visitors increased at a slower rate.
Holiday homes accounted for about half of the stays in this “non-hotel” sector, where the average length of visit was just shy of a week.
Campgrounds also grew in popularity, with overnight stays increasing by 13.9% to 3.2 million.
The figures do not include platforms such as Airbnb, the statistical office said. By comparison, figures from 2016 showed some 1.35 million overnight stays made in Switzerland via Airbnb.
Combined with other recent stats on hotels, Monday’s figures bring the total increase in overnight stays to 53.3 million in 2017, an increase of 5.7% on the previous year.
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