Swiss Review 4/2020

Swiss Review / July 2020 / No.4 16 THEODORA PETER The spectacular high-alpine glacier view from Jungfraujoch is breathtak- ing, not least due to the thin air almost 3,500metres above sea level. Europe’s highest railway station – successfully branded and advertised as the ‘Top of Europe’ – attracted over a million vis- itors last year, of whom 70 per cent had travelled from Asia. Then the lockdown came in mid-March, bring- ing tourism to a standstill for almost threemonths. “For the first time since the First WorldWar, our trains stood still for longer than the duration of an alpine storm,” says Jungfrau Railways CEO Urs Kessler. The 58-year-old from the Bernese Oberland has worked at Jungfrau Railways for over 30 years and expe- rienced many crises along the way. “9/11, SARS, swine flu, and the 2008 fi- nancial crash – all thesewere nothing compared to COVID-19,” he says. Kes- sler broke off an advertising trip to Asia at the end of February to return to Switzerland – just in time. Two weeks later and everything had shut down. “2020 is turning into a really bad year,” he says. The virus and its consequences have had a severe impact across the entire tourism sector. Swiss hotels were excluded from the lockdown, but could not keep going after all other types of tourist infrastructure, including restaurants, were forced to close. “The situation has never been so alarming,” concurs Martin Nydeg- ger, CEO of the Swiss tourist board Switzerland Tourism. His organisa- tion predicts that the Swiss tourism sector will have lost up to 35 per cent in revenue by the end of the year. Not COVID-19 has turned tourism on its head “ Go on holiday in Switzerland ” Tourism in Switzerland was booming only last year. Overtourism became a thing. Yet many hotel rooms lie vacant this summer. The hospitality sector is pinning its hopes on domestic holidaymakers to alleviate some if not all of the shortfall. Lingering images of the lockdown: the Swiss airline fleet vir­ tually grounded; no tourists in the tourist magnet of Lucerne; Switzerland’s corona­ virus bike boom; and memories of sunny days spent on the balcony. Photo: Keystone all hotels and tour operators will sur- vive the crisis. A quarter of all busi- nesses could go under, he fears. Revenue down by a third The Swiss Economic Institute (KOF) at ETH Zurich expects overnight stays to fall by around 30 per cent, with the absence of visitors from other conti- nents of particular concern. More than half of last year’s 40 million overnight stays were booked by for- eign guests. Domestic guests can only partially offset the shortfall, even though the KOF expect ‘staycations’ to account for 10 to 15 per cent more overnight stays than they usually would in July and August. This in- crease will mainly benefit the moun- tain regions and Ticino. Urban tour- ismwill lose out. Focus