The Swiss retreated again at Christmas

Maldives. Thailand. Caribbean with Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) or Cancun (Mexico). Emirates with Dubai and Abu Dhabi. These are the destinations Swiss are longing for for this first “normal” Christmas travel season after two years of the epidemic. Blick learned this from tour operators Kuoni, Hotelplan and Tui Suisse.

Goals have been a longstanding problem for years and signal a return to normalcy. Does this also apply to the number of reservations? “Yes, we are very close to the known winter sales for 2019 (including 2019),” explains Kuoni spokesperson Markus Flick. Travel volume remained very manageable in Christmas 2020 (Delta variant) and Christmas 2021 (Omicron variant), especially as many popular winter destinations such as Australia, Asia or Florida were not travelled at all. Meanwhile, the holiday season is again a busy season, especially for long-distance travel. Families tend to travel on sporting holidays, especially for couples, according to Tui spokesperson Sonja Ptassek.

As many Swiss soon decide to go on vacation, the question arises as to whether there is still room. “There’s still good availability all over the place until Christmas,” Flick explains. During Christmas and New Years, this varies by destination. Things are looking pretty tight for Emirates and Thailand – other than that there are no bottlenecks in hotels or flights.

He who seeks finds

Basically, if you have some flexibility in terms of airline, date, and budget, you can definitely lay on the beach for Christmas. Example Thailand. Tourism has rebounded there faster than expected.

Stephan Roemer, 59, president of Expert Tourasia, explains: “The island of Phuket is already very full during the holidays and there are currently insufficient private villas with pools. However, the Gulf of Siam, the north and central region offer good alternatives and there is still capacity.”

When it comes to flights, too, everything is clear: several airlines such as Emirates, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines have increased their capacities, although there have been almost a few flights lately.

Travelers can look forward to advantageous prices on the site. The frank-baht exchange rate is 15 percent better than before the pandemic. And since Thailand doesn’t expect tourist numbers to be comparable to pre-pandemic numbers by 2024, there are still plenty of cheap hotel offers.

It doesn’t always have to be far away

Of course, heat is also found a little closer in the Canary Islands or Egypt, where demand is very high. Mediterranean destinations are reserved for family visits only. Very cold.

And then there are those that are not cold enough even in Switzerland. All three major tour operators report very high demand for Northern Europe. Finnish Lapland and Iceland are particularly popular. But Switzerland itself is also very popular: after a record winter in 2021, many Swiss are once again spending the Christmas season in the Alps. “Ski packages that include hotel and ski pass are very popular,” says Hotelplan spokesperson Bianca Gähweiler.

City trips to the Christmas markets are also popular again. German cities like Munich and Stuttgart or Colmar and Strasbourg in France are evergreen here, and even New York is in demand again.

Alternatively, Mike Jakob (49) of Railtour Suisse recommends Innsbruck: “You can get to Innsbruck from Zurich in 3½ hours by train several times a day.” Swarovski Crystal Worlds has several destination markets, a light show, and winter wonderland worth seeing.