New data show that tourism accounts for 25% of the total traffic on Swiss roads, reported SRF. The Federal Council report shows that leisure and tourism account for 53% of passenger road traffic, with the other 47% made up of commuting to and from work.
Regular leisure traffic by residents of Switzerland accounted for 27% of road traffic, 12% was locals engaging in tourism, 13% foreigners travelling for tourism and 47% commuting. The remaining 1% is rounding.
Tourism includes everything that is done beyond everyday mobility. This includes holidays, day trips or business trips but not commuting or regular leisure activities such as going to the gym or the cinema.
We simply will not be able to handle the massive traffic caused by tourism on the road.
The report’s authors expect tourist traffic to increase in the future, requiring a plan to manage it.
One view, especially given the recent vote against a plan the expand motorway choke points, is more tourists will need to use Switzerland’s often crowded and expensive trains. Nudging day trippers to use trains instead of cars is viewed as more likely to work than trying to get those on longer trips to unload their cars and board trains.
More on this:
SRF article (in German)
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