Canadian travel to Switzerland outpaces rest of the world

Canadian travel to Switzerland outpaced all other source markets in the first quarter of 2025, representing the biggest growth of any other country across the globe.

At the 4th annual Switzerland Travel Experience road show in Toronto last night, Switzerland Tourism’s Oliver Weibel welcomed attendees by highlighting that Canadian overnights to Switzerland surged past the rest of the world this past winter.

“In the first quarter already, there’s been a 17.6 per cent increase of Canadians travelling to Switzerland — the highest increase of all countries over the winter period,” shared Weibel, the director Canada and head of trade relations North America for Switzerland Tourism. “I think the political situation with Canadians not travelling to the U.S., still wanting to go skiing, that definitely had an influence.”

From 2023 to 2024, the destination saw an overall increase of 6.8 per cent growth from the Canadian market. Weibel noted that December also ended on a high note with strong demand for Christmas markets, hitting the slopes and making the most of the winter season.

For those living in the East Coast, it’s about to get even easier for Canadians to get to Switzerland with the launch of new twice weekly Edelweiss service taking off on July 3rd. The seasonal route runs to Oct. 5 and complements strong lift from gateways like Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver.

Despite the growth, he pointed out that, “Switzerland is still undiscovered by many. If you look at the numbers to Italy and France, this is not disrespectful at all, but it’s still for a lot of people a new product to really see and discover.”

To put the size of Switzerland into perspective, he shared that Switzerland fits into Canada 241 times and into Ontario 26 times, making it easy to explore multiple cities and regions in one visit.

Weibel shared that there’s been huge interest in the Canadian market, with the supplier growth increasing significantly from 13 partners four years ago to 22 Swiss partners on location for the event. The Toronto stop followed events in Vancouver and Montreal. Next up, the delegation heads to the U.S.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Grand Tour of Switzerland, a 1,600 km driving tour through twelve UNESCO World Heritage Sites, five mountain passes and 22 lakes with scenic photo stops marked by large red photo frames for travellers to take pictures as they hit the open road.

New to Switzerland is the Schilthorn Cableway, “the steepest cable way in all of the world.” Located in the Bernese Alps, with a gradient of 159.4 per cent, it connects Stechelberg on the valley floor with car-free alpine village Mürren, marking the first section of a three-stage journey to the summit of Mount Schilthorn.

Here’s a look at the connectivity from Canada to Switzerland:

• Toronto (YYZ) to Zurich (ZRH) SWISS March to October 5x & Air Canada year-round 7x weekly
• Montreal (YUL) to Zurich (ZRH) & SWISS year-round 7x weekly
• Montreal (YUL) to Geneva (GVA)& Air Canada year-round 7x weekly
• Calgary (YYC) to Zurich (RH) & Edelweiss Air May to October 3 x weekly
• Vancouver (YVR) to Zurich (RH) & Edelweiss Air May to October 7x weekly
• Halifax (YHZ) to Zurich (RH) & Edelweiss Air July 3 to October 5 2x weekly