Flights and tourist traffic from Russia amidst pandemic (weekly update)

Switzerland in 2020 was visited by 42 thousand tourists from Russia. The fall in the flow was more than 70%.

Switzerland is introducing a 10-day quarantine for citizens arriving from seven countries, including Russia, and this measure took effect since October 12.

Swiss Airlines resumed flights from Russia on Saturday, but only citizens with a residence permit can now visit the country, entry is still closed for tourists.

Aeroflot Airlines will resume flights to Geneva, Switzerland, from August 15. Earlier, the Russian government made a decision on the possibility of resuming flights with the country.

In foreign destinations this season the tourist flow may reach totally up to 4,5-5 million people.

Last year Switzerland hosted 138 thousand Russian tourists, this figure was lower than expected in connection with the World Football Championship in Russia. This was told at a press conference of the head of the Russian office of Switzerland Tourism, Natalia Warth. 

According to the official statistics of Switzerland, in November 2017 - April 2018 the country was visited by 72.6 thousand tourists from Russia, which is 9.1% more in comparison with the same period of the last winter. "The period from November to April is considered as a winter season in Switzerland.

“Switzerland was visited by almost 136 thousand Russians in the last year, the tourist flow grew by 13.6% in comparison with 2016”, - said the Marketing Manager of Moscow office of Switzerland Tourism Maria Makarova. At the same time, the number of night stays of Russian tourists in Switzerland increased by 8.8% - up to 352.1 thousand.

“Zermatt is one of the three most popular resorts in Switzerland. This year the number of Russian tourists there has increased significantly for the winter holidays”, - reported the representative of the Switzerland Tourism Office Svetlana Medox. "For the past winter season 45 thousand Russian tourists have rested in Switzerland. Zermat, St. Moritz and Leukerbad are among the three most popular ski resorts in Russia. This year we see a noticeable increase of the tourist flow from Russia. According to the data of tour operators, Zermatt is sold very well", - she said. According to S.Medoks, Russians are happy with snowfalls, as the last winters at the Alpine resorts were snowless.

Ural Airlines announced about the opening of regular weekly flights to Switzerland. Flight Zhukovsky - Geneva - Zhukovsky will be carried out from December 29, 2017 to March 23, 2018 on Fridays”, - reported the press release of the carrier. “This year, the winter navigation to Switzerland is also represented by Aeroflot and Swiss.

Low-cost airline "Pobeda" has resumed the sale of tickets to Zurich through the German town of Memmingen. Thus, the passengers of "Pobeda" again (after a break of a few months) can get to Zurich using the service Fly & Bus. The flights are performed from Moscow to Memmingen and after that to Switzerland by bus.

In January and February 2015, Switzerland has lost 30% of the inflow of Russian tourists when compared to the same period last year. Things are a bit better in March as this is a low-season period usually favored by tourists with lower budget. Some of them might have just postponed their planned peak-season winter trips until March.