SWITZERLAND continues to witness a strong growth in visitor arrivals from South-east Asia for the past six months, despite the revaluation of the Swiss franc earlier this year when the Swiss National Bank abandoned the currency cap with the euro.
It was expected that tourist arrivals would take a hit due to the steep rise in prices of food, accommodation and transport within the country. However, latest figures from Switzerland Tourism show otherwise.
According to Ivan Breiter, director of South-east Asia at Switzerland Tourism, the first half of 2015 saw an increase in visitors from Thailand and Indonesia at 35 per cent and 34.3 per cent respectively. Another promising market is the Philippines, which has shown a consistent 20 per cent annual growth.
In total, Switzerland has logged roughly half a million overnight stays from main markets in South-east Asia in the past year, Breiter added.
Visitors from Malaysia and Singapore, the two biggest South-east Asian markets for Switzerland, experienced a slight drop of eight per cent. However, Breiter attributed the fall to “several record years and over-proportional growth rates (of around 50 per cent annually from both countries) in the last few years”.
He added: “Based on several independent studies and research, we expect to continue with annual growth rates of above 10 per cent for the remainder of the decade.”
By Samuel Ng
