Heat lifts Swiss cable cars, but Ticino barely grows

Traffic on Swiss mountain lifts rose by 7% in the quarter from May to July, compared with the same period in 2025. Set against the average of the last five years, the increase comes to 29%.

The heatwaves contributed to the result, pushing people to seek recreation at altitude.

The national figure nonetheless conceals marked differences between regions.

Ticino last in the year-on-year comparison

Against 2025 the Bernese Oberland records a rise of 24%, the highest in the country, supported also by the reopening of the Schilthornbahn. The Grisons follow with 11%, driven by domestic demand.

Ticino stops at one per cent, the weakest result among the regions covered. The Vaud and Fribourg Alps close down 10%.

The picture changes when the time horizon widens. Against the five-year average Ticino posts a rise of 12% and the Grisons of 11%. The gap between the two indicators depends on the starting point, since the summer of 2025 had already been strong in the canton.

Berno Stoffel, director of Swiss Cableways, reads the July figure as a signal about the make-up of the clientele: "The trend recorded in July shows that mountain lifts can count on varied demand."

The remark concerns where visitors come from. Swiss, European and non-European guests all contribute to the traffic, and that mix reduces the operators' exposure to swings in any single market.

Swiss Cableways is the sector's trade association. It brings together around 350 members across the country, has its headquarters in Bern and runs a training centre in Meiringen. The figures released refer to its membership as a whole.

The association has not said how many journeys the percentages correspond to in absolute terms, nor how traffic was distributed across the individual months of the quarter. Nor was it specified how many installations stayed open in each region during the period covered.