Rise in tourism and hospitality activities in Switzerland
The primary aim of this paper is to understand and analyse the effects of tourism and hospitality on Switzerland, due to rise in activities. Since the advent of the Covid-19, the tourism and the hospitality industry took a massive hit due to the various travel and movement restrictions. This has resulted in the overall slump and stagnation of the tourism industry and the hospitality industry alike. The various tourism and hospitality activities were on the rise even before the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic (Higgins and Desbiolles 2020). With the Covid-19 pandemic, almost 98% of the tourism activities and related travels got halted, and as a result, majority of the tourists or prospective tourist population, who were looking to head over to Switzerland to or to visit different places, were faced with massive barriers to their activities, due to the pandemic related restrictions and barriers. So, since the restrictions and impositions eased, there had been a staggering rise in the tourism industry, especially in the post pandemic world, where a large number of tourists have begun flocking various tourist destination actively, with a huge portion of the global population visiting different international and national tourism destinations for various activities and for various tourism related aspects (Chang, McAleer and Ramos 2020). This paper will explore the same aspect and will provide an evidence based narrative on the level of increase in tourism in the post pandemic world, and how it has proved to be impactful on Switzerland, both in the positive as well as the negative ways. This report will try to enumerate the post pandemic tourism and hospitality scenario and will try to provide a comprehensive idea behind tourism and hospitality and the catalytic effect of the Covid-19 pandemic in the rise of the tourism and hospitality related activities (Lapointe 2020). This report will further elaborate on the target Country of Switzerland and the various consequences and effects alike.
Switzerland is one of those Country that is home to numerous mountains, villages, glaciers, lakes, and the high peaks of the Alps. Switzerland contains traces of history everywhere, with medieval quarters and medieval architecture and cities. Switzerland contains numerous landmarks like the Zytglogge Clock Tower in the Capital of Bern, the wooden Chapel Bridge of Lucerne’s. Switzerland is popular among tourists for its several ski resorts and mountain hiking trails in the Alps. The Switzerland is primarily governed by the Banking and the Finance Industry. Switzerland is also known for its premium quality and exquisite watches and chocolates across the World (Calderwood and Soshkin 2019). Switzerland is a landlocked Country in the European region, that is surrounded by Austria, Germany, France, Liechtenstein and Italy. Switzerland houses around 8.8 million people and is slightly smaller than the Netherlands. The largest City in Switzerland is Zurich. Switzerland officially, is accredited as the third happiest Country on Earth, right after Finland and Denmark. Switzerland is geographically and topographically divided into three distinct regions. The Northwest portion, along the French border is the Jura, a sub-alpine mountain rage. On the South are the famous Swiss Alps. The Alps fade out into the Swiss Plateau, with expansive and beautiful green hills, large water bodies and lakes, and with an average elevation of 450m to 750m (Pencarelli 2020). In terms of tourism, practically the entire Country of Switzerland is a tourist spot, with gorgeous mountains and plains, glaciers and lakes, history and culture and modern developments. The entire Swiss region is famous for its cheese, chocolate, watches, cows, cash, clocks, meadows, mountains, Heidi and Edelweiss. Switzerland has one of the most breath taking transit system with trains passing through its snow capped mountains, waterfalls and gorgeous green plains. Ski resorts abound the snow covered mountain ranges and skiing is a major sport during the winters and attracts a large number of tourists as well. Switzerland offers four seasons with striking change in the landscape with breath taking flora and fauna. The Country houses a large number of cosmopolitan cities as well as large number of medieval villages that offers both stays and cultural experiences of Switzerland. Additionally, Switzerland is home to an impressive 12 UNESCO World Heritage sites, with being terned as “one of the best Country” in the World. The food and drinks in Switzerland are diverse and tasty. Switzerland is the home to four major National languages and comprises of the oldest policy of Military Neutrality in the entire World, making it one of the acclaimed tourist destinations (Lew et al. 2020).
Switzerland – a popular tourist destination
The reason behind selecting Switzerland as the Country is because, there has been a rising trend among the general tourist population after the Covid-19 pandemic, to visit European Nations, where the temperatures are relatively lower and the weather is considerably pleasant. As per evidences, Switzerland had been a tourist hotspot, primarily due to its impressive flora and fauna, and also due to its impressive vistas and large snow capped mountains of the Alps. The tourism and hospitality industry are one of the most significant industries in Switzerland and the significance and impact of the industry has increased considerably after the Covid-19 pandemic (Camilleri 2018). Switzerland had grown into a popular tourist destination in the last couple of months and there has been a huge surge of people movement to the Country. This provides the perfect opportunity to understand the topography of the Country, the reason behind the huge crowd and the effects of the same in terms of the tourism and hospitality industry. Also, the effects of tourism can be visibly analysed and assessed due to the sudden surge of tourists, after almost 2 years of negligible tourism related activities due to the Corona virus pandemic and global restrictions, halting the pace of tourism and hospitality activities alike (Ionescu et al. 2019).
There is no doubt that the effects of rise in tourism and hospitality activities affect a Country significantly and causes numerous cases of direct and indirect impacts. For Countries like Switzerland, India, Bangladesh, Sweden, France, and so on, tourism and hospitality comprises a major portion of their Economy and has a direct impact on the GDP and Economic front of the Country. Hence, without a doubt Countries that rely on tourism and hospitality will suffer innumerably due to inactivity and lack of tourism and hospitality flow. A large section of the tourist population are international tourists, who on an average spend almost 60% higher than National tourism and hospitality (Lew 2018). However, it is important to note that tourism brings both positive and negative effects to the destination Country. This is largely due to the dual edged sword nature of tourism. On one hand, tourism is extremely beneficial and crucial to the host economy and various other developmental facets, on the other hand, tourism and hospitality can have negative effects like strain on the limited resources of the host Country and so on. It is without a doubt that tourism can cause both negative as well as positive effect on the host Country. Hence, it is important to note that tourism and hospitality, although it is one of the most crucial sectors for many Countries, it is not without its negative effects. It is for the destination to weigh in the positives and the negatives and to understand the significance and the weightage of both the aspects. The surge in tourism and hospitality can have both positive and negative impacts and the most crucial aspect of it is that the effects have a higher range of influence and impact due to accelerated movement of people and strain on host topography, creating pressure on the host Country, to live up to the rise in demand in tourism activities (Mulet Forteza et al. 2018).
Impact of rise in tourism and hospitality on Switzerland
In this case, Switzerland is no different. Throughout the years, Switzerland had been privy to both the negative as well as the positive aspects and effects of tourism. However, due to the sudden inactivity in Covid-19, Switzerland faced a severe shortage, almost stagnation of the tourism and hospitality sector. This had both positive as well as negative impacts on the Country. In the post Covid019 era, the surge in tourism activities, after an almost 2 years of inactivity had put sudden pressure to the topography and the Country at large, with severe negative effects, as well as unprecedented positive effects. In 2021 alone, tourism and hospitality activities and the industries accounted for 10% of the Swiss GDP, right after the Finance and Banking Sector. The increase in the sector’s contribution can be understood by past data, where between the period of 2018 to 2020, the overall contribution to the GDP of Switzerland from the tourism and the hospitality sectors was only 8.1% (Nazmfar et al. 2019). Hence, it is evident that in a year alone, tourism and hospitality, after the Covid-19 pandemic had a contribution higher than the equivalent of 2 years contribution. This can be treated as a positive effect of tourism on Switzerland. However, increase in the tourism activities have also resulted in the entry and concentration of large number of people all at once. This has put immense pressure on the Country and the limited resources. Most of the essential and limited resources are being diverted to cater to the massive tourism surge, creating shortage for the local and indigenous population. In Switzerland, tourism and hospitality has majorly impact in three dimensions viz; economic, social and cultural, and environmental. Out of these two it is already established that tourism and hospitality without any doubt causes positive economic impacts, via rise in GDP, and increased expenditure on tourism and development of the Swiss Economy and the landscape. In terms of social and cultural impacts, increased tourism activities have both positive and negative impacts alike (Nepal 2020). In terms of positive impacts, increased tourism activities allow for the development of the local infrastructure and increases the standard of living for the local population. It also presents employment opportunities and educational opportunities to the local population. Some of the negative aspects are over crowding of the Swiss villages and cities, dilution of the indigenous population and cultures, cultural shock and cultural differences, impact on the population of the Swiss in terms of resource diversion, inflation and limitation of opportunities (Škare, Soriano and Porada Rocho? 2021). One of the most significant negative effects can be visible in terms of the negative environmental impacts of the rise of tourism and hospitality in Switzerland. Switzerland had been experiencing a significant rise in temperature due to climate change, brought about by over tourism in its Alps and glacier regions. There has also been a rise in the depletion and over exhaustion of the flora and fauna as more and more tourist activities are creating needs to build infrastructures like hotels, restaurants, lodges, accommodation facilities and so on. These have resulted in serious concerns for the Swiss people and the Government and this has resulted in the depletion of the identity and loss of precious habitat of Switzerland. Over population due to tourism and hospitality has had negative impacts, especially due to the increase in the activities. It is for the Swiss Government and its population to weigh in the positive and the negative impacts and assess the viability, weightage and significance of both the scenarios to take strategic decisions and measures to create a better future for the Country as well as provisions for smart tourism, towards the industries sustainability and viability (Sofronov 2018).
Tourism and hospitality industry in Switzerland
As it is evident from the effects of tourism on Switzerland, the rise and increase in the levels of tourism and hospitality activities in Switzerland had both positive as well as negative effects on the Country. However, it is evident that Switzerland will need to manage the surge in tourism activities and hospitality related activities, to reduce the impact of tourism, especially the negative ones, to create a healthy balance between the positive and the negative aspects of tourism. (Wyman 2020). It is up to the Swiss Government and its citizens to assess the positive and negative impacts, as well as the viability, weighting, and significance of both scenarios, in order to make strategic decisions and measures for a better future for the country, as well as smart tourism provisions, in order to ensure the industry’s sustainability and viability. The contribution of tourism and hospitality activities on Switzerland had been both positive and negative, but largely negative. This is due to the fact that a sudden increase in tourism after a period of negligible activity due to the Covid-19 pandemic, had put immense pressure on the Country to adjust to the newer situations and conditions and deliver on the same effectively. Consequently, there can be experienced rapid changes in the topography and the general identity of Switzerland due to over tourism activities. Hence, most of the common consequences are crisis that are brought forward by over consumption of natural and limited resources of the Country by the tourist population. This also creates artificial scarcity for the people, resulting in depletion of resources and rising inflations (Mulet Forteza et al. 2018). One of the most prominent negative repercussions of the growth of tourism and hospitality in Switzerland may be seen in terms of severe environmental impacts. Climate change has caused a major rise in temperature in Switzerland, which was exacerbated by over tourism in the Alps and glacier regions. There has also been an increase in the depletion and fatigue of flora and fauna as more and more tourist activities necessitate the construction of infrastructure such as hotels, restaurants, lodges, and other lodging facilities. These have caused severe worries among the Swiss people and the government, resulting in the erosion of Switzerland’s identity and the loss of valuable environment. These causes severe permanent consequences and conditions that are mostly beyond recovery (Ionescu et al. 2019). Losses caused by climate change or depletion of natural resources will take millions of years to reverse back and tourism mostly lead to permanent damage to a Country. (Chang, McAleer and Ramos 2020). Job loss is one of the possible effects, as most of the job is seasonal (depending on the time of year) and low compensated. The majority of the money leaves the area for large corporations rather than people. Because tourists appreciate traditional shows, local traditions and customs are preserved. Tourist money can be used to conserve the natural landscape, but it also causes environmental harm, such as footpath erosion (the wearing away of walkways), rubbish, and habitat destruction to build hotels. Locals benefit from improved tourism amenities, such as new roads, which alleviate congestion and traffic delays. Local population inflation is caused by increased demand for local foods and crafts. (Pencarelli 2020).
Topography and reasons behind huge tourist crowd in Switzerland
Conclusion
The above paper provides an evidence backed and real world scenario representative of the tourism and hospitality activities, and the nature of the tourism and the hospitality industry, during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic and its catalytic effect on the post pandemic tourism and hospitality industry. This paper provides a detailed idea and elaborate narrative on the staggering rise in the level of tourism and hospitality activities, that has been propelled by the various travel restrictions and barriers during the Covid-19 period. Due to the travel and mobility limitations imposed due to devastating nature of the Covid-19 pandemic, the tourism and hospitality industries have taken a significant damage and setback. As a result, the tourism and hospitality industries have both experienced a recession and stagnation in terms of growth and activities. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous tourism and hospitality activities were on the rise, and had been increasing on an yearly basis. Due to the pandemic-related restrictions and barriers, nearly 98 percent of tourism activities and related travels were halted, and as a result, the majority of tourists or prospective tourists who were looking to travel to Switzerland or visit different places were faced with massive barriers to their activities. So, since the restrictions and impositions were eased, there has been a staggering increase in the tourism industry, especially in the post-pandemic world, where a large number of tourists have begun flocking to various tourist destinations actively, with a large portion of the global population visiting various international and national tourism destinations for various activities and tourism related aspects. This paper successfully explores the same and creates a narrative for Switzerland and the causes and impact of the hospitality and tourism industry on the Country, due to rise in tourism and hospitality activities, both positively and negatively.
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