Especially young people suffer from travel deprivation

With the help of a representative survey, the online travel platform wanted to know what significance travel has for the mental and physical health of people in Switzerland and how the past few months have affected them in this respect.

Travel important for well-being

Travel plays an important role for people in Switzerland: More than half (55%) of respondents say that travel is important for their mental health. Apparently, it is especially women who benefit from the positive effect of travel on the psyche: For 61% of the women surveyed and 49% of the men surveyed, travel contributes to mental well-being.

Especially young people suffer from travel deprivation

There is also a generation gap: Among those under 30, there are 63% whose mental health benefits from travel, while the state of mind of those over 50 is somewhat less dependent on it: In this age group, it is 48% of respondents who state that travel is good for their mental state.

Central Swiss, the safety aspect is more important

Travel was particularly missed in western and eastern Switzerland in the current year: 60% of respondents in French-speaking Switzerland and in the cantons of eastern Switzerland respectively stated that they had missed traveling in 2020. In northwestern Switzerland, this figure is significantly lower at 45%.

And when it comes to physical health, the people of northwestern Switzerland also appear to rate the importance of travel somewhat lower than residents of the rest of Switzerland: 23% stated in the survey that vacations and travel were important for their physical well-being, whereas in Zurich and the Mittelland this figure is almost twice as high at 40%.

By contrast, the safety aspect seems to be particularly important to the people of central Switzerland: Just over a quarter of respondents in the cantons of central Switzerland said they would be willing to spend more money on vacations if it made them safer. In the Bern area, on the other hand, this figure is 13%. People either seem to be less concerned about this or they are simply not prepared to spend more money on security.

Increased interest in winter sports destinations expected

Claudia Parker, Head of Public Relations at Ebookers, is optimistic: "Travel is important to many and it is very gratifying to see that people in Switzerland continue to want to discover the beauty of Switzerland as a travel destination. Given the current situation, many of us prefer to spend our vacations closer to home. We therefore also expect increased interest in winter sports destinations from within Switzerland."

One third is currently planning winter vacations

For winter 20/21, the desire for vacations remains rather frosty in any case: Only one-third are planning to book a trip for the winter months at the present time. Those who are toying with the idea remain in familiar waters: in winter, skiing vacations in Switzerland lead the way in travel plans with 44%. For 45%, winter vacations are currently out of the question, if at all. Travel abroad continues to play a subordinate role in winter vacation plans.