GENEVA, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- The number of overnight stays in Swiss hotels increased by 3.8 percent last year to 38.8 million, the Alpine country's official tourism body, Switzerland Tourism, said Wednesday.
The Swiss tourism industry had been hit by the strong franc currency, which made holidays in Switzerland more expensive for Europeans, the Swiss news agency Keystone-SDA reported.
Despite that, German tourists remained the largest market, followed by the United States.
In 2018, the U.S. market grew by 10.1 percent and reached well over two million hotel stays, according to Switzerland Tourism.
From Southeast Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore), the overnight stays increased more than 10 percent while India continued to be successful with 9.6 percent growth.
Despite the rate of increase easing a bit from the previous year, the substantial and robust growth from China continued in 2018, growing by 6.1 percent, said Switzerland Tourism.
The tourism body said it is optimistic for 2019, expecting the positive trend from Europe to continue and continued demand by regular visitors from India, China, the United States, and Australia.
