Most Swiss do not ski. Only a third of the population regularly takes to the snow in winter. One deterrent is school holiday planning. Many years ago, the typically two week break over Christmas fell during the prime ski season, a period with abundant snow. Now this period is hit and miss. Beyond this, most people with school age children have to shoehorn their snow-based adventures into a single week (some have two), typically in February.
Adding to the challenges is school holiday congestion, both on the roads and in resorts. Switzerland’s cantons have a patchy record of avoiding each other’s winter holiday week. This coming February, Zurich (city) and Basel (city) have chosen the same school holiday timing as much of Germany. Their dates also coincide with Vaud, a large canton offering only one week. Geneva’s winter week does not clash this season. It falls in the last week of February. Bern (city) is also out of step with a single week at the beginning of February.
This week, in an interview with SonntagsZeitung, Andreas Züllig, the head of HotellerieSuisse, called on Switzerland’s cantons to better coordinate school holidays, reported RTS. Crowding and high prices are not attractive to holiday makers. The fact that everyone is on holiday at the same time is a problem. It would significantly help mountain tourism if the large cantons could at least coordinate their holidays, he said.
Another problem is instagram tourism. Influencers post images of tourist sights and people come from around the world only to take a photograph, an absurd phenomenon that has become a real problem in certain places, said Züllig.
More on this:
RTS article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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