How is Swiss tourism now?

Xinhua News Agency, Geneva, May 1 (Reporter Chen) According to a report released by the Swiss research institute Geneva in June 1, from March to June, the losses caused by the COVID-19 epidemic to Swiss tourism will reach 8.7 billion Swiss francs (about 9 billion US dollars).

This report was published by the Institute of Tourism in Valais, Switzerland. The Institute investigated more than 3,500 tourism-related enterprises, and assessed the impact of COVID-19 epidemic on Swiss tourism and the risk of enterprise bankruptcy.

According to the report, it is expected that the sales of Swiss catering industry will drop by nearly 95% in April and May. During the epidemic, the cancellation rate of hotel reservations in Switzerland was about 80%, and the hotel occupancy rate in April was only 8%, a record low.

The report predicts that about 22.5% of tourism-related enterprises will go bankrupt in the epidemic and more than 30,000 workers will lose their jobs. With the further relaxation of control measures in Switzerland in May, allowing restaurants to reopen, the hotel occupancy rate will pick up in summer. However, due to the decrease in the number of overseas tourists, the summer prospect of tourism is still not optimistic.

The relevant economic departments in Switzerland said recently that the COVID-19 epidemic has dealt a particularly severe blow to Swiss tourism, with the output value of related industries dropping by about 80% to 95% compared with the same period of last year, and it is estimated that it will not fully recover until 2022. Some employees have applied for "partial unemployment" subsidies, and the government is considering giving tourism assistance.

Tourism is one of the pillar industries in Switzerland, and its employees account for about 4% of the national labor force.

/zd/ym