On 10 November 2021, the Federal Council adopted the Confederation’s Tourism Strategy. It provides the basis for the federal government's tourism policy and continues the strategic direction of the previous, proven strategy.
The Federal Tourism Strategy is now available as a printed report on the platform www.bundespublikationen.admin.ch.
Objectives and action items of the Federal Government Tourism Strategy
Objectives
The objectives determine the strategic direction of the Federal Government’s Tourism Strategy, address the challenges faced by the Swiss tourism industry, and in the long term also reflect the federal government’s vision for tourism. The objectives of the previous Tourism Strategy of the Swiss Confederation have been retained. These are to improve framework conditions, promote entrepreneurship, exploit the opportunities presented by digitalisation, and enhance the appeal of tourism offerings and Switzerland’s market presence. A new objective – backing sustainable development – has been added to this updated Strategy, recognising the increasing importance of sustainable development to tourism, and the many opportunities that it presents.
Action items
The objectives are achieved by means of action items, a total of 15 of which have been determined. Action areas determine priorities. This means that, unlike objectives, action items are not final. They can be amended and extended as needed to achieve the objectives, thereby ensuring that the Federal Government’s Tourism Strategy is agile and capable of both action and reaction. Action items have a medium to long time horizon, but may run indefinitely. Some of them tackle ongoing tasks under the Tourism Strategy.
Funding instruments
The four tourism strategy funding instruments are key to achieving its objectives. These are Innotour (promoting innovation, cooperation and knowledge creation in tourism), the Swiss Association for Hotel Credit (SGH), Switzerland Tourism (ST) and the New Regional Policy (NRP). An application for funding for these instruments is submitted to Parliament every four years along with the Dispatch on Promotion Activities. Innotour has CHF 30 million and Swiss Tourism CHF 230 million in funding available for the current 2020–2023 promotion period. The NRP has CHF 200 million in loans that it can grant for investments, and CHF 120 million in grants to cover sunk costs associated with projects with a regional economic impact. The financing activities of the SGH are based on an existing federal financing facility of CHF 236 million.
Principles
The following four principles underlie the Federal Government’s Tourism Strategy: Prioritisation, Implementation, Target group focus and Subsidiarity.
Last modification 18.10.2023