BERN. Swiss cable car operators have closed their best summer season on record. First-time admissions between May and the end of September rose 10 per cent on the previous year and stand 28 per cent above the five year average, according to figures from Seilbahnen Schweiz, the industry association.
The growth was strongest in the Bernese Oberland, up 22 per cent, and in the mid-altitude resorts between 1,000 and 2,000 metres, where smaller railways gained above the average. The association counts a guest once per day, on first entry to a lift network.
The drivers are not mysterious. The hottest summer since records began sent lowlanders to altitude for weeks on end, a sunny autumn extended the season into October, and the mountains drew not only locals but noticeably more visitors from North America, French speaking television reported.
Small Railways, Big Gains
The pattern within the record matters as much as the number. The giants of the high Alps had a harder year: the Jungfrau railways group reported visitor numbers down across all segments after the Middle East war cut into long haul tour groups. It was the smaller lifts, like the Sahli to Glattalp shuttle between Schwyz and Uri, that outperformed, fed by domestic hikers and day trips rather than package tourism.
Summer business, long treated as a way to keep the lifts turning between ski seasons, now carries a growing share of the economics of mountain regions. Bike parks, theme trails and sunrise breakfasts on the viewing platform have become investment lines of their own, and the resorts below 1,200 metres that fear for their winters are the ones pushing hardest.
Boom or Trend?
The industry is careful not to declare a new era on the basis of one exceptional season. A normal summer, meteorologically speaking, will test how much of 2026 was weather and how much was habit. The five year comparison, at plus 28 per cent, suggests more than sunshine is at work: every season since the pandemic has been stronger than the last.
The first snow is already lying on the high peaks, and the winter season opens in the coming weeks with lift passes priced against this summer’s confidence. For the cable cars, the question of the year is no longer whether the Alps can draw visitors in summer. It is how much of the business plan should be built on the assumption.