Tourism in Switzerland

Tourists are drawn to Switzerland's diverse landscape as well as the available activities, which take advantage of the Alpine climate and landscapes, in particular skiing and mountaineering, but also due to the many old town centers, with their historic buildings that often preserve parts of their medieval fortifications, and Roman sites. Switzerland is also popular for tourism-oriented railways, as well as for its cheese and chocolate.
tourism accounted for an estimated 2.6% of Switzerland's GDP, compared to 2.6% in 2001.

History

Tourism began in Switzerland with British mountaineers climbing the main peaks of the Bernese Alps in the early 19th century.
The Alpine Club in London was founded in 1857. Reconvalescence in the Alpine, in particular from tuberculosis, was another important branch of tourism in the 19th and early 20th centuries: for example in Davos, Graubünden. Due to the prominence of the Bernese Alps in British mountaineering, the Bernese Oberland was long especially known as a tourist destination. Meiringen's Reichenbach Falls achieved literary fame as the site of the fictional death of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. The first organised tourist holidays to Switzerland were offered during the 19th century by Thomas Cook and Lunn Travel companies. Tourism in Switzerland had been exclusively for the rich until it became widely popular in the 20th century.

Notable tourist destinations in Switzerland

;Large cities

;Smaller cities

;Small towns and villages

; Resorts in the Alps

Bernese Oberland	Central Switzerland	Eastern Switzerland	Grisons	Valais	Vaud	Ticino
Adelboden Grindelwald Gstaad Kandersteg Lauterbrunnen Lenk	Andermatt Brunni Einsiedeln Engelberg Hoch-Ybrig Melchsee-Frutt Rigi Kaltbad Sörenberg Stoos	Appenzell Braunwald Flumserberg Heiden Wildhaus	Arosa Calanca Davos Flims Klosters Samnaun Scuol St. Moritz	Aletsch Glacier Belalp Crans-Montana Gspon Leukerbad Rosswald Saas-Fee Verbier Zermatt	Les Diablerets Leysin Veysonnaz Villars-sur-Ollon	Airolo Val Bavona Verzasca

; Natural regions

Bernese Alps, with glaciers, deep valleys, waterfalls, lakes and caves
Valais Alps and Chablais Alps, contain the highest mountains of the Alps, ski resorts like Zermatt, and a waterfall in a cave
Gotthard Massif, with the Gotthard Pass at its heart, notable for the historic Gotthard routes, the Matterhorn Gotthard railway and the many other high road passes
Grison Alps, with the Engadin Valley or Lake Cauma
Eastern Switzerland, with Alpstein and Churfirsten mountain ranges, Tamina Gorge, Lake Constance, the second largest lake in the country and Lake Walen
Lake Lucerne, the largest lake in central Switzerland, notable for the many mountain railways in the surrounding mountains, notably the Rigi and Pilatus Railway
Lake Geneva, the largest lake in the country, notable for the Riviera and the many vineyards
Seeland, the region of Lake Neuchâtel, Lake Biel and Lake Morat
Jura Mountains and Table Jura, a moderately elevated mountainous region north of the Swiss Plateau
Rhine, the largest river in the country, is notable for the Rhine Falls and Ruinaulta
Italian Lakes, a group of lakes on the Italian border, notable for being the warmest place in the country

Activities

Boating

The following navigation companies offer tourism-oriented boat services on Swiss lakes and rivers:

Cycling

Cycling is popular in Switzerland, both for commuting and as a recreational activity. The country has an extensive network of national, regional and local cycling routes, along with designated mountain bike trails.

Events

Hiking

Hiking is one of the main sports activities in Switzerland and is often referred to as the "national sport". About one-third of the population practice hiking regularly, with a total of in 130 million hours being travelled every year by the Swiss. Along with cycling, walking, in general, is the preferred form of mobility, regardless of social origins. The total hiking trail network is about. Hiking trails in Switzerland offer a wide range of difficulty levels, catering to both casual walkers and experienced mountaineers, with many routes featuring breathtaking views of the Alps and pristine natural landscapes. Examples are:

Trains and funiculars

For non-Swiss tourists, travelling the country by rail is possible with Interrail and Eurail passes, along with the Swiss Travel Pass valid for rail, bus and boat. Tourism-oriented trains in Switzerland mostly run under the Panorama Express category. Examples are:

Statistics

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pos: textcolor:gray fontsize:M text:Tourist arrivals in 2024
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Official statistics of tourism were planned in 1852, but were only realized in 1934, and continued until 2003. Since 2004, the Federal Statistical Office had discontinued its statistics, but collaborates with Switzerland Tourism in the publication of yearly "Swiss Tourism Figures". In the year 2011, a total number of 4,967 registered hotels or hostels, offered a total of 240,000 beds in 128,000 rooms. This capacity was saturated to 41.7%, amounting to a total of 38.8 million lodging nights.
14% of hotels were in Grisons, 12% each in the Valais and Eastern Switzerland, 11% in Central Switzerland and 9% in the Bernese Oberland. The ratio of lodging nights in relation to resident population was largest in Grisons and Bernese Oberland, compared to a Swiss average of 1.3. 56.4% of lodging nights were by visitors from abroad.
The total financial volume associated with tourism, including transportation, is estimated to CHF 35.5 billion although some of this comes from fuel tax and sales of motorway vignettes. The total gross value added from tourism is 14.9 billion. Tourism provides a total of 144,838 full-time equivalent jobs in the entire country. The total financial volume of tourist lodging is 5.19 billion CHF and eating at the lodging provides an additional 5.19 billion. The total gross value added of 14.9 billion is about 2.9% of Switzerland's 2010 nominal GDP of 550.57 billion CHF.
The most visited Swiss tourist attractions are first, the Rhine Falls, second, the Berne Bear exhibit, and third, with over 1.8 million paid entries: Zoo Basel.

Overnight stays by country

Most overnight stays in 2019 in Switzerland were from the following countries of residence: