The Geneva hotel industry close to pre-pandemic figures
Geneva hotels recorded nearly 3 million overnight stays in one year. Foreign guests are back, even if Europeans are becoming rarer.
The view from a room at the Intercontinental Hotel.
Laurent Guiraud / TDG
The rebound, expected, remains spectacular. Between 2021 and 2022, the number of overnight stays recorded in establishments in the canton has practically doubled (+94%, from 1.44 to 2.97 million). According to data published Thursday by the Cantonal Statistics Office (OCSTAT), the fourth quarter of 2022 even represents a record. The figures are 6% higher than those of the fourth quarter of 2019, the last benchmark before the start of the pandemic.
While the 2022 total is still slightly below the figures for 2017-2019, this development at the end of last year can be a source of hope for the sector. OCSTAT emphasizes that the driving force behind the observed growth comes mainly from the return of guests from abroad (+128% compared to 2021).
Domestic customers are not left out, however. With nearly 800,000 overnight stays, never have so many reservations been made in Geneva hotels by residents of Switzerland. For visitors from other cantons, the increase is 39%. The latter represented more than a quarter of overnight stays recorded (27%). The highest proportion noted outside of the pandemic.
The Europeans are missing
The less good news comes from the European Union. The number of visitors from the 28 Member States in 2022 is far from having regained that of the pre-Covid period. European tourists and professionals booked just under 850,000 nights in 2022, compared to more than 1.1 million in 2019.
Thinning for the sector is not a cantonal exception. In the canton of Zurich, whose tourist profile is similar to that of Geneva, the increase is identical in 2022 (+96%), underlines the OCSTAT.
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