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2020 is a difficult year for the tourism industry. Hotels may open despite Corona crisis. However, your guests can count them on the one hand. Travel agencies also suffer from uncertainty. Who wants to plan a vacation when nobody can say if they can take it?
“The tourism sector was particularly affected by the crown epidemic,” says Erik Jakob, head of the Location Promotion Directorate at the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (Seco), at today’s federal press conference. His department is also responsible for tourism in the country.
Full recovery until 2022
The demand for mountain railways and other tourism companies has completely collapsed: Jakob talks from minus 80 to minus 95 percent. The Secos assume that tourism in Switzerland will only pick up a bit in the second half of the year, and the situation will only fully stabilize in 2021. It will likely be international in 2022, until they return to the same point as before the crisis. I arrive
By 2020, Seco expects sales in Swiss tourism to decline by 25 to 35 percent, and only if there are no setbacks in fighting the virus, Jakob says.
Tourism promotion program
Various measures to strengthen tourism in the country are currently being examined. Switzerland Tourism has already applied for additional funding of € 40 million for a boost program. Parliament and the administration are now examining this proposal. However, Jakob points out, be careful not to launch such a program too soon. “Confidence and experience are needed for protection concepts to work in tourism,” a boost program would not be helpful to Swiss tourism beforehand.
In the short term, it is now also about supporting tourism in developing protection concepts so that operations can start slowly again. According to Jakob, there should be such concepts for entire destinations, as opening a mountain restaurant, for example, only makes sense if the mountain railway is also open.
Tourism, like gastronomy, is one of the sectors that does not yet know what will happen to them. It is not explicitly mentioned in the Federal Council Crown calendar. As BLICK knows, preparations are currently being made in the economic department to ease the blockade in the tourism sector as well. There may be openings from June 8.
260 corona patients in intensive care
In addition to tourism, the press conference also covered other topics. Patrick Mathys, Chief of the Crisis Management and International Cooperation Section of the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG), gave an overview of the development of the epidemic in the country. As a result, there are currently 260 crown patients in Switzerland in an intensive care unit. A week ago there were around 400. This is a very rewarding development.
Mathys points out, however, that there are certain “signs of fatigue” in the population when it comes to complying with the crown rules. “The blanket falls on the head of many when they are always at home,” he says. But he calls for perseverance: “We can only implement relaxation measures if we are prepared to comply with the measures,” he says. Everyone would benefit “at least a little”.
Everyone still had to make a contribution against the pandemic. Above all, staying away will be part of our daily lives in the coming weeks and months.
Army releases soldiers
Brigadier Raynald Droz also announced Monday that he would send 300-400 soldiers home during the week. BLICK had already reported last week that the army was releasing troops due to relief from the situation. However, they must be ready to move within 24 hours in the event of an emergency.
Droz also warned patience: “A new phase has begun, which will take a long time,” he said. “We have to remain vigilant and reactive, the situation is not completely under control, we will have to evaluate week after week.”
