Geneva, what will happen to tourism with the arrival of the Léman Express?

In January 2019, the city of Geneva saw a major change take place at the top of its leading tourist organisation. The new President of the Geneva Tourism & Congress Foundation was named as Sophie Dubuis, an experienced figure in the industry who had been member of the organisation’s Board of Trustees since 2017.

To Dubuis, the challenge ahead of her was clear – build on the hard work of those who had come before her and bring new visitors to Geneva, without betraying the city’s unique essence. This has meant maintaining Geneva’s position as a leading global business destination, while placing greater emphasis on attracting leisure visitors by promoting the city’s cultural attractions.

Geneva is world-famous for being home to international organisations like the United Nations (UN) and its various agencies, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN). This has made it the city a bustling business hub. However, with overnight stays rising by 5.84% in 2018, Dubuis is keen to increase the proportion of leisure visitors arriving in Geneva from a relative minority of only one in every five travellers.

Will Dubuis succeed? Either way, her leadership is shaping the city’s tourism strategy in a huge way – and this may deeply impact the tourist market.

Can Geneva boost its leisure tourism market?

Tourism is a huge growth area for Geneva, with the city looking to make the most of its appeal to international travellers. In 2018, the city reached 3.2m overnight stays. This included almost 200,000 extra visitors in comparison to 2017, while representing a 9% leap in arrivals over the last five years (higher than the WTO Tourism Barometer’s global average of roughly 7%).

This doesn’t mean, however, that Geneva has seen a huge influx...