Council of States: More money for tourism promotion

This would make a total of 230 million Swiss francs available to the organization in the period 2016-2019. The Federal Council had requested 220.5 million francs. However, the Economic Commission of the Council of States considered a higher amount necessary, as the tourism industry is particularly exposed to the exchange rate. Switzerland has become an expensive place for European guests, said commission spokesman Stefan Engler (CVP/GR). In order to cushion this, Switzerland Tourism has to work more and more markets, he said.

Winning back European customers

For Thomas Minder (SH/partisan), even a marketing budget of 270 million francs would have been appropriate to cultivate the Swiss brand abroad. The aim was to win back European customers. These would have to be "made aware of the beauty of our country with special effort," said Minder. Anita Fetz (SP/BS) fought the increase, pointing out that a Swiss franc is worth more abroad today. In her opinion, tourism promotion also lacks ideas. In fact, hotels would benefit from a free Swiss booking platform or a blockbuster movie - Mürren still benefits from James Bond today, she said. "I have nothing against investing millions in tourism promotion, but I simply expect more," Fetz said. In the end, the motion of the Economic Commission clearly prevailed. The National Council had rejected the increase, and it will now have to deal with it again. There is also no agreement yet on other credits in the location promotion package.

Administrative relief

The National Council had cut the amount for the promotion of e-government by CHF 5.3 million to CHF 12.4 million. The Council of States has now reinstated the CHF 17.7 million requested by the Federal Council. Among other things, this is intended to ease the administrative burden on SMEs by enabling them to process official procedures at federal, cantonal and municipal level via a portal. The Council of States also increased the payment framework for export promotion by CHF 4.4 million to CHF 94 million. In total, the package is worth just under CHF 388 million. It also includes the promotion of innovation and cooperation in tourism, the extension of the supplementary loan for the company Hotelkredit and the promotion of information about Switzerland as a business location. The Federal Council had requested 374 million francs for location promotion. This is 58 million more than in the previous period. Even then, the parliament increased the credits.

New regional policy

The bill also includes the second multi-year program of the New Regional Policy 2016 to 2023, which is to be financed by contributions to the Regional Development Fund of CHF 230 million over eight years.With the New Regional Policy, the federal government is supporting mountain regions, rural areas and border regions in managing structural change. The focus of the program remains on export-oriented economic sectors, and the funding priorities in the next period will be industry and tourism. (SDA)