The hotel and restaurant/catering trade is an important activity for the economy, since it includes catering for tourists. It covers hotels and restaurants as well as activities in other forms of board and lodging (cafeterias, camping sites, etc.).

In 2018, this branch had around 256,900 jobs and 28,985 establishments. More than 79,000 jobs were in the hotel trade and more than 177,000 in restaurants/catering, the remainder being in other activities of the branch. In total, only 260 catering companies had more than 50 employees, while around 19,300 had fewer than 10 employees. The food service companies with the highest turnover in Switzerland include the SV Group, Groupe Eldora, Migros Cooperative, Coop Gastronomie and McDonald's Switzerland.

In absolute terms, the cantons of Zurich (3298), Berne (2501) and Vaud (2095) had the most jobs in this activity. However, the importance of the hotel and restaurant trade is greatest in the tourist areas. In the canton of Grisons, 14% of jobs were registered in this branch in 2018. The proportion is also high in Appenzell Innerrhoden, Valais, Obwalden and Uri (over 10%). At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest proportion was recorded in Basel Country with 4%, while Zug, Neuchâtel, Aargau and Jura had less than 5%.

It should also be stressed that this activity employed a large number of foreigners – 113,000 in 2018, i.e. 44% – a higher percentage than that for the secondary and tertiary sectors as a whole (26%). Around 95 per cent of the new foreign workers came from the EU/EFTA states. In addition, the hotel and restaurant/catering trade employed more women (143,000, i.e. 55.7%) than men, and there were almost 119,300 part-time jobs (46.4%).

The hotel and restaurant industry makes a significant contribution to a high employment rate throughout Switzerland, but as a personnel-intensive industry it has lower productivity than other sectors.