Switzerland Tourism aims to boost its marketing efforts in the Philippines in order to  boost stays and inbound arrivals during the country’s off-season.

At a recent event in Manila, Switzerland Tourism’s director for Southeast Asia Batiste Pilet said more than 60 percent of visitors from the Philippines spend at least an overnight stay in Switzerland during the off-season, either in the spring or autumn.

Pilet said: “Overall, in Switzerland, the occupancy rate of hotels is actually only at 50 percent because there are really periods where it’s underbooked, and we have to push this period more. For us to push markets like the Philippines is also relevant because we know that we can afford a good growth because actually it’s really filling beds that are not full.”

A small but powerful market 

The Philippines is a small market for Switzerland, seeing how it only contributed over 80,000 visitors in 2023 compared to its Southeast Asian neighbours who collectively brought in around 125,000 to 234,000 tourists in the same year.

Its growth rate in terms of overnight volume, however, was the highest at 74 percent between 2019 to 2023, said Pitel.

Prior to the pandemic, overnight hotel stays booked by guests from the Philippines stood at at 46,000.

As Pilet puts it: “It’s a small market but the growth is, worldwide, our strongest growing market.”