Tourism in Switzerland – How can the future be?

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a severe blow to the tourism business in Switzerland. Although it is a minor position in the Swiss export balance, it is nevertheless of considerable importance for those regions of the country that attract domestic and foreign visitors. As a consequence of the lockdown measures, combined with close borders and travel bans, tourism collapsed and only briefly and partly recovered in summer. Its future is uncertain and depends on people’s (future guests’) attitudes and decisions as much as on the economy, political measures and, of course, the progress of the pandemic. Will there be an ‘after’ COVID-19?.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Strategies for Sustaining Nature-Based Tourism amid Global Health Crises: A Global Perspective

“…All the tourism forms listed earlier under the ambit of NBT promote awareness, appreciation, connection to, and the conservation of natural resources, while they also contribute towards socio-economic growth and socio-cultural preservation [40,41]. The growth and sustainability of NBT are influenced mainly by economic, human, and environmental factors [37,79,90,91]. As its growth and sustainability depend mainly on human mobility, NBT is highly susceptible to severe impacts and operational disruptions when hazardous global phenomena occur [203][204][205].…”

Understanding the Heterogeneity of Swiss Alpine Summer Farms for Tailored Agricultural Policies: A Typology

“…These pastures, which are referred to as summering pastures, provide important ecosystem services such as biodiversity, replenishing groundwater, and safeguarding the population against natural hazards, such as landslides and avalanches (B€ urgi et al 2013). Through their diverse flora and typical landscape, summering pastures are integral to the visual appeal of Swiss tourism, which is a sector of considerable importance to mountainous areas, such as the Swiss cantons of Grisons and Valais (Leimgruber 2021). However, the grazing of summering pastures is threatened by challenges such as water scarcity from climate change, a lack of skilled labor, and human-wolf conflict, which have led to farm structural change (Gellrich et al 2008;Cocca et al 2012;Mink and Mann 2022).…”

A combined theory-based explanatory model for predicting tourists’ travel intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of individual’s assessment of the compliance with non-pharmaceutical interventions

“…This drop in touristic demand is likely due to a combination of legal restrictions and a ‘voluntary’ decline in demand to protect one’s health against contracting the virus. Consequently, Switzerland’s tourism collapsed in 2020 [ 32 ]. It caused a major impact on tourist service providers, such as travel agencies and tour operators who have had a loss in sales of nearly 70% from 2019 to 2020 [ 25 ].…”

“…It caused a major impact on tourist service providers, such as travel agencies and tour operators who have had a loss in sales of nearly 70% from 2019 to 2020 [ 25 ]. The Swiss tourism sector has recovered slowly mainly thanks to domestic travellers [ 32 ].…”