The Role Tourism Plays in Switzerland's Economy

Introduction 

Traditionally, Switzerland is associated with tourism and holidays, hence tourism play an important role in their national economy. In the last few years, the improvement in communication and transportation due to development in technology has resulted to more and more people traveling to different parts of the world, with Switzerland being one of the destinations. Additionally, the growth in Switzerland tourism sector has been impacted significantly by the changes in tourism packages and marketing, where today, the majority of the companies are marketing tourism as a product, rather than a whim of individual tourists. Over the years, the Swiss government has improved the roads, railway and air transport hence offering the tourists visiting the country a huge opportunity to access the mountainous regions of the country which are among the unique tourist sites in the whole world. The contribution by the Swiss government has contributed significantly to the growth of the country’s tourist trade, with some of the areas where tourists could not visit is accessible today.

Attractions 

Switzerland is one of the largest tourism destinations in the world. Today, tourists are attracted to Switzerland because of the diverse landscape and the various activities. Switzerland spectacular sceneries are the main tourist destinations in the country. Some of the most common sceneries include Alpines, such as Grisons, Davos, Wildhaus, Valaise, Jungfrau, Gstaad, Zermatt, Anzere among others (Mussalam & Tajeddini, 2016). Switzerland is one of the countries where cities offer major tourism experience, with some of the cities offering enormous experience to tourists being Bern, Zurich, Lucerne, and Lausanne among others. Switzerland climate is a major contributor of the country to grow as world tourism destination, where during the summer, tourists are experiencing mountain scenery, while during the winter, tourists participate in skiing, making the region among the most visited regions in the world.

Impact of Switzerland Tourism on the Country’s Economy 

The importance of tourism industry on Switzerland economy depends on the region. for example, in densely populated areas of the country and industrialized regions such as Mitt eland, tourism is among the many industries, meaning it is not the main source of income for the people, where only a few resorts such as Lucerne that can be used to show the presence of tourism activities in the region (Klöpping, 2012). On the other hand, in rural areas especially were they have mountainous terrains, tourism play essential part in their economy, with some of these areas experiencing growth in tourism because they are virtually unindustrialized regions. Today, tourism is considered as the main source of revenue for Alps (Mussalam & Tajeddini, 2016). Currently, the country has 4,967 registered hostels or hotels with 242, 000 beds in more than 130, 000 rooms. According to a report by Mason (2015), the year 2017 recorded the highest number of tourism, and highest revenue in the history of the tourism industry. The Switzerland government raised 4942.6 CHF Million in 2017, as compared to 4175 CHF Million which were raised by the company in 2016. Until 2017, the Switzerland average revenue from 1983 is 2886.3 CHF Million, making the country one of the economies experiencing steady economic growth.

Apart from the financial impact, tourism plays a significant role in other areas of the country economy. Tourism is a major source of employment and income for the people of Switzerland, and this is seen where over 4.8% of the people in the country work in different sectors of the tourist industry, with young people being the largest beneficiaries (Weis, 2016). Also, tourism makes a major contribution on Switzerland infrastructure development, wherein the last few years, the Swiss government has allocated billions of CHF in the development of roads and railways, which are essential to the growth of local areas and improved living standards of the local people. Apart from the infrastructure, the local people together with the tourists benefit from the various forms of sports, events and other cultural facilities developed in the region due to tourism activities, including a range of goods in shops. In the rural areas of Switzerland, especially the mountainous region, agriculture has proven to be a major challenge, living the people with tourism as the main source of income, and a major source of some of their products including art, clothes among others (Weis, 2016). Lastly, tourism has managed to enhance Switzerland economy, by stimulating other related industries such as textiles, transport hotel and catering and construction among others. Also, tourism has resulted in new economic activities mainly in the sporting industry where a huge number of Switzerland youths is making their living through the various sporting events taking place either during summer or during winter.

Apart from the direct contribution of the country economy through revenue, Switzerland tourism has made major economic contribution indirectly. For example, Switzerland has experienced the major use of land and other alternations of the landscape by sports and other infrastructures. Currently, communities living in mountainous regions of Switzerland are not participating in agriculture and deforestation compared to decades ago because of the various alternative sources of income presented by tourism (Klöpping, 2012). Some of the negative effects of tourism on Switzerland economy include effects of prices due to demand from tourists. For example, food prices and housing has experienced significant rise in cost among the areas experiencing huge number of tourists, hence making life more expensive for the local community members (Mussalam & Tajeddini, 2016). Additionally, during summer and winter, especially 2017 where the Switzerland tourism industry launched the Back to Nature campaign, the country reported rise in road traffic, hence slowing growth of economy in different parts of the country.

References

Klöpping, L. (2012). Health Tourism in Switzerland: Importance and Development Perspectives . München: GRIN Verlag GmbH.

Mason, P. (2015). Tourism impacts, planning, and management . New York: Routledge.

Mussalam, G. Q., & Tajeddini, K. (2016). Tourism in Switzerland: How perceptions of place attributes for short and long holiday can influence destination choice. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management , 26 , 18-26.

Weis, J. (2016). Credibility and perception of green branding in destinations . A case study of Switzerland.