Swiss resorts miss tourism revenue from Asia

Switzerland's tourism industry has been hit hard by the novel coronavirus pandemic, with virus-related travel restrictions effectively ending visits from Asia.

The mountainous, landlocked European nation has aggressively marketed itself in Asia in recent years, after its strong currency made it less attractive to fellow Europeans. The campaign led to it selling 1.8 million nights of accommodation to Chinese tourists in 2019, which was 400 percent up from a decade earlier.

However, Switzerland has become a victim of its own success. In a Financial Times report, it said destinations that recently drew 70 percent of their visitors from Asia now sit largely empty.

"It has been a very challenging time. We have gone from our best ever year in 2019 to the most severe crisis," said Urs Kessler, chief executive of Jungfraubahn, to the Financial Times. Jungfraubahn oversees the gondolas and railways around the Jungfrau mountain resort.

Despite the downturn, Switzerland has still fared better than many nations economically and its gross domestic product is expected to grow by 3.5 percent this year, following a 3 percent contraction last year, according to the Swiss National Bank.

However, tourism is a major employer in the nation of 8.5 million and accounts for 4.4 percent of jobs. The fact that the sector shrank by 40 percent last year, back to its size during World War II, is worrying officials.

"The first year of the pandemic will be remembered as an annus horribilis (horrible year) for the Swiss tourism industry," said Martin Nydegger, chief executive of Switzerland Tourism, to the Financial Times.

The nation's shrinking tourism market is largely down to source nations limiting outbound tourism, with many European nations having rules in place that prevent visitors from entering.

Newspaper Daily Express notes that Denmark has categorized source nations by risk, with those on the red list refused entry and those on the amber list required to be double-jabbed, negative test results, and have a good reason for visiting. People traveling from green-list nations still need to be jabbed, but do not need a strong reason to visit.

France has a similar traffic light system, as does the United Kingdom, Italy and Hungary.

The United States has also been hit by a sharp fall in tourism revenue because of its pandemic-related ban on arrivals from most nations, reported the Los Angeles Times. The ban also means that 14.5 million visitors from the European Union in 2019 slowed to a trickle in 2020 and 2021.