Most Swiss hoteliers are cautiously optimistic about the coming winter season. Especially in the Alpine regions, businesses are confident. However, increased costs are likely to weigh on margins.
+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
Around 56% of Swiss hoteliers expect turnover in the 2024/25 winter season to be the same as in the previous year, according to a statement issued by the Hotelleriesuisse association on Monday. However, this would represent stagnation at a high level, especially as the number of overnight stays reached a high of 18 million in the previous year. Around a quarter of those surveyed expect a further increase.
Confidence is particularly high in the Alpine regions, where one in three businesses is expecting higher turnover. This forecast is supported by the hope of good weather and snow conditions. In contrast, businesses in urban and rural regions are comparatively cautious.
Cost pressure
High costs are causing problems for the industry. Looking back, 55% of those surveyed reported lower margins during the last summer season. The majority of establishments were therefore only able to pass on some of the increased costs to guests. Hoteliers cited higher staff costs as the most important cost driver, followed by higher energy prices and inflation in general.
More
More
Swiss hotels set record for overnight stays in 2023
This coming winter only a minority are likely to succeed in adjusting prices to the higher cost base: only just under a third of establishments intend to increase prices, compared to half of them in the last survey.
Now half are planning to keep prices the same and around 15% want to reduce prices. According to the study, price adjustments due to demand play a secondary role in the increases, while they are the main reason for planned reductions.
Lack of staff
According to the association, another major problem for hoteliers is the continuing shortage of staff. A clear majority of respondents named this as the biggest challenge for the industry.
Changes in the composition of guests and the short-term nature of bookings, which had a negative impact on planning reliability, were also high on the barometer of concerns. According to the survey, climate change also poses major challenges for the industry.
According to the press release, around 160 members of the Hotelleriesuisse association took part in the annual survey. They were surveyed between October 25 and 31, 2024.
Translated from German by DeepL/jdp
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to [email protected].
You Might Also Like
Swiss nerves jangle after Trump victory
2024-11-06
Trump supporters celebrate victory in the US
Afp Or Licensors
Listen to the article
Listening the article
Toggle language selector
English (US)
Swiss study identifies humour as workplace stress reliever
2024-10-25
Humor as a tool for stress relief in the workplace
Keystone-SDA
Listen to the article
Listening the article
Toggle language selector
English (US)
IMF lowers Switzerland’s 2025 growth forecast
2024-10-23
IMF lowers growth forecast for Switzerland for 2025 slightly
Keystone-SDA
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has slightly lowered its forecast for Switzerland’s economic growth next year. The organisation now anticipates a growth rate of 1.3% in 2025.
This content was published on
October 23, 2024 – 09:17
This comes from the World Economic Outlook report released on Tuesday. In March, IMF economists had projected a growth rate of 1.4%.
+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
For 2024, the IMF still expects the Swiss economy to grow by 1.3%, according to the report. Regarding consumer
Swiss workers say flexible working hours would lead to less stress
2024-10-21
According to the study, 28% of part-time employees in Switzerland could also imagine increasing their workload if they had more flexible working hours.
Keystone-SDA
Listen to the article
Listening the article
Toggle language selector
English (US)
Switzerland breaks medal record at 2024 Paralympics
2024-09-09
More
Swiss Federal Railways reports lower profit, higher punctuality
This content was published on
Sep 9, 2024
Swiss Federal Railways made only half as much profit in the first half of 2024 as in the same period of the previous year.
Read more: Swiss Federal Railways reports lower profit, higher punctuality
More
Swiss Re sees demand for reinsurance rise amid natural disasters
Swiss insurers significantly increased profit in 2023
2024-09-04
Improved results were driven by the increase in profit at industry leader Swiss Re.
Keystone-SDA
Listen to the article
Listening the article
Toggle language selector
English (US)
Top Swiss CEOs earn 143 times more than lowest paid staff
2024-08-26
Unia: Gap between highest and lowest wages is widening
Keystone-SDA
Listen to the article
Listening the article
Toggle language selector
English (US)
‘Balancing growth and sustainability is the challenge of the century for the tourism sector’
2024-06-24
In 2024, the tourism and travel industry is expected to reach, or even exceed, pre-pandemic levels. Francisco Betti is the co-author of a report on world tourism for the World Economic Forum (WEF). He believes firmly in the key role of technological progress in making the sector sustainable in the next 20 years.
Tags: Featured,newsletter
