Tourist flow from Russia to Switzerland decreased in 2018

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. 

“In 2018, the number of overnight stays of Russian tourists in Swiss hotels increased by 1.3%, up to 357,000. Since the beginning of last year we had an increase of 10–11%, and we hoped for a more successful year. But in the summer it turned out to be minus a little over 3%. We believe that the reason was FIFA World Cup in Russia, because of which businessmen, especially those who engaged in tourism, chose to stay at home,” she said. 

She also noted that the flow of tourists from Russia to Switzerland in the winter season decreased by 6%. “It is impossible to explain this by a fluctuation of exchange rate, since the ruble is stable. Unfortunately, the purchasing power of the Russians has simply fallen, people are forced to shift to less expensive travels,” she added. 

Despite the fact that the number of Russian overnight stays in 2018 was less by 38% (compared to 2013, when a record number of overnight stays were recorded), Natalia Warth said that by 2023 they expect an increase in tourist traffic from Russia to Switzerland by 17%. 

Recall, earlier it became also known that in 2019 the Russian outbound tourist flow may return to the pre-crisis indicators of 2014.