Jakarta. Switzerland wants Indonesians to visit the country this Eid holiday season, as it aims for a 20-percent growth in overnight stays by Indonesian tourists this year.

The Eid al-Fitr holidays are the times that many Indonesians pick for their Switzerland vacation. In 2022, Indonesians enjoyed a ten-day Eid holiday starting from April 29 to May 8. 

However, the Swiss federal statistics office data showed that the country amassed less than 10,000 overnight stays by Indonesian travelers in May 2022. The figures were only half of what Switzerland saw in the pre-pandemic 2019 Eid holidays, which fell in early June. Stats revealed that the overnight stays by Indonesian tourists in Switzerland almost reached 20,000 nights in June 2019.

Throughout 2022, Switzerland posted 624,000 overnight stays from Southeast Asian tourists. About 88,000 of those overnight stays came from Indonesian travelers. 

This year, Switzerland expects a 20-percent growth from the 2022 figures in the number of nights spent by Indonesian tourists. And the country is once again banking on the Eid holidays in late April.

“I think the overnight stays by Southeast Asian tourists will see a 19-percent increase from the 2022 levels," Batiste Pilet, the director of the Southeast Asian region at Switzerland Tourism, told the Jakarta Globe on the sidelines of a recent media briefing.

"Things are looking quite good for Indonesia. If we have a good Eid holiday season, we should be able to record a 20-percent growth [in night stays by Indonesian travelers] this year," Pilet said.

When asked by the Globe about the average length of stay for Indonesian tourists in Switzerland, Pilet replied that he did not have the official figures, although pre-pandemic surveys showed that Indonesians usually stayed for 3-4 nights. Many tourists who go to Switzerland are on multi-country trips.

He added, “we are trying to promote longer stays of around 6-8 nights for Indonesian tourists."

According to Pilet, many Indonesians vacationing in Switzerland are group travelers, meaning that they book group tours and travel with strangers. But Switzerland is starting to see a huge rise in Indonesian family travelers that are not part of group tours.

The holy month of Ramadan has just begun. This year, the Eid holidays in Indonesia will start from April 21 to April 26. 

Read More: Ramadan Begins on Thursday, but There Could Be No Consensus on Idul Fitri