Not just Verbier: Brits and South Africans spend their holidays here

This is where the British and South Africans spend their winter holidays.

Winter sports areas like Verbier are particularly affected by the quarantine requirement for the British and South Africans. However, the data shows that tourists from these countries also enjoy their vacations elsewhere.

As a Briton, you may have felt a bit kidnapped this year: in early December the “Telegraph” newspaper raised high hopes with the story that Switzerland was the only place where you could ski this Christmas. The newspaper praised the snow in the Alps and reported that in destinations like Verbier it was “business as usual.”

Two weeks later, the world looks different. Thousands of British and South African tourists to Switzerland were quarantined this week if they entered the country after December 14. At Verbier VS, everyday winter sports practically turned upside down – many of those who came are upset about the short-term quarantine.

Verbier has been the target of crown tracers ever since – the town of Valais in Bagnes township is a popular winter holiday destination in Britain. It is unclear how many there are and they had to be quarantined yesterday. On Sunday, the number of “more than 10,000 people” who landed at Geneva airport last weekend was circulated.

December 2019: these were the tourist spots

It seems reasonable to assume that not everyone in Verbier has their hotel room. But where are the others? The “Tages-Anzeiger” reported today on the great search of around 10,000 visitors from Great Britain. The federal government is in the process of evaluating airline passenger lists.

Experience from previous years could help: Vacation guests are considered creatures of habit in winter, at least if you consider them the masses. Watson has requested hotel numbers for the winter seasons from the Federal Statistical Office and the Graubünden Office for Economy and Tourism.

The first conclusion: if you look at the December of last year, then they were the following Verbier other popular destinations with guests from Great Britain and South Africa. In Graubünden, for example, British tourists concentrated mainly in the big centers St. Moritz, Davos-Klosters, Arosa and Flims-Laax. In central Switzerland, ski resorts like Andermatt or Engelberg visited frequently. The “arrivals” are shown in the graph below.

The figures should be interpreted with caution, says Grisons chief statistician Patrick Casanova. Figures for the hotel industry would only show a part of total tourism. There is no uniform regulation on how overnight stays are recorded in rented holiday apartments and in own second homes.

Overnight stays also in big cities

There are more figures from the federal government: federal statisticians have the full overnight stays in the winter seasons (November – April) evaluated according to municipality and country of origin. The following two graphs show how many nights tourists from the UK and South Africa stayed in Swiss hotels.

What is surprising about this statistic is that the winter season invites many guests to the mountain cantons, but guests often stay in the Cities like Zurich, Basel or Geneva. In other words: when it comes to finding the more than 10,000 guests that are subject to quarantine, the lowland cantons will also be challenged if the trend of recent years echoes despite the corona pandemic.

Newly arrived tourists were asked to quarantine before midnight on Monday. You must also inform the responsible canton. Quarantine breakers face one Fine up to CHF 10,000.

The number of guests from the UK and South Africa that will be affected by the new rule will become clear in the next few hours or days: the cantons publish daily information on how many people are newly isolated or quarantined.