Run in vacation apartments – Para-hotel business is getting a boost thanks to Corona – Hotel business on the ground – News

Holiday apartments and campsites are booming in the Corona year. Isn’t Swiss tourism so bad after all?

The Hotelleriesuisse Association is sounding the alarm with a new industry survey: three-quarters of all companies will have to use short-time work in the next six months. And a third party will not be able to avoid layoffs.

While hoteliers paint a grim picture, the Federal Statistical Office’s assessments of the non-hotel business clearly point upwards: From July to September alone there were a good 2.6 million overnight stays in vacation apartments. That is 20 percent more than in the same period last year.

The increase in campsites was around 40 percent. The classic hotel industry, on the other hand, collapsed by 30 percent at the same time.

In addition to the crown requirements, this shift towards additional hotels has to do with the fact that Swiss guests are currently traveling, says Monika Bandi, professor at the University of Bern Tourism Research Center: Ultimately, the hotel industry is also experiencing a boost at its expense. “

KOF does not charge additional hotels

However, this momentum is not reflected in the KOF economic research center’s tourism forecast at ETH Zurich. Because the numbers of the additional hotel business are not taken into account, due to the insufficient data situation, as said on request.

The problem: statistics on additional hotels are only created on the basis of random samples. KOF wants to include the additional hotel business as soon as better data is available.

Day tourism as an important additional factor

For tourism expert Bandi, it is clear that this would provide a more realistic picture: “In fact, just taking into account the additional hotel statistics that exist would probably lighten the grim picture a bit.” Also, if you add second homes and private vacation apartments and, last but not least, day tourism.

Calm down, yes, but the situation would not be completely different. Most foreign guests and business travelers are still missing. And from an economic point of view, spending the night in a vacation rental is not as valuable as spending the night in a hotel.

Valued hotel customers

“The expenses of a hotel guest are traditionally much higher. It is a more service-intensive offering than the additional hotel business. In most cases, the indirect effect of a night in a hotel in the region is also greater through advance payments, for example from the baker who can deliver croissants for breakfast, ”says Bundi. Thus, the entire tourist region benefits more from an overnight stay in a hotel than from an overnight stay in a holiday apartment.

Even if the additional hotel business is factored into the tourism forecast, it can at best cushion the drop in the hotel business, but not fully offset it.