As the third most visited municipality in Switzerland, Zermatt attracts tourists from all over the world every year. The majority of the workforce employed in the resort’s tourism sector is foreign, mainly Portuguese.
Keystone / Jean-Christophe Bott
A stone’s throw from the upscale resort of Zermatt, the small village of Täsch in canton Valais has the highest proportion of foreigners in Switzerland. And for some years now, the Portuguese community has outnumbered locals. This has had a strong impact on the village.
At first glance, few places are more quintessentially Swiss than Täsch, with its traditional wooden chalets, hiking trails and proximity to the Matterhorn – a mountain so iconic that it long featured on the packaging of Toblerone chocolate bars. The small Valais villageExternal link, nestled in a valley over 1,400 metres above sea level, is known as the main gateway to the Swiss tourist hotspot of Zermatt.
In other words, when travellers arrive in Täsch, they step into picture-postcard Switzerland. Yet this is perhaps one of the places where one is least likely to encounter native speakers of Wallisertitsch, the local Swiss-German dialect.
Indeed, the village has the highest proportion of foreign residents in the country. Of the 1,366 people living there year-round in 2023, a whopping 848 – that is 62% – were not Swiss, according to the Federal Statistical OfficeExternal link. Overall, nearly 40 nationalities have settled there.
In a country where foreigners make up over a quarter of the population, it is hardly surprising that some places have a high percentage of non-nationals. However, there are only a handful of municipalities which – like Täsch – have more non-Swiss residents than Swiss.
But what makes Täsch truly stand out is the fact that the largest population group is foreign. For several years, Portuguese nationals have outnumbered Swiss (41% and 38% of the village’s population respectively).
More than 255,000 Portuguese live in Switzerland, making them the third most represented foreign nationality in the country. Canton Valais, especially the Zermatt valley, has proven to be a particular draw for them.
Foreign workers keep Zermatt ticking
The reason for this is precisely Zermatt’s strong appeal. The third most visited municipality in Switzerland, it welcomes tourists from all over the world. A total of 1.6 million overnight hotel staysExternal link were recorded in 2024, spread across the year.
Keeping a tourist machine of this size ticking over requires considerable manpower, most of which is foreign – and mainly Portuguese. In Zermatt, hundreds of immigrants work behind the scenes, for low wages, in the hotel and catering sector (as illustrated by this recent photo projectExternal link), in maintenance and services of all kinds.
Zermatt itself has a large foreign population. But the lack of affordable housing in the resort and the fact that it is difficult to reach (cars are banned in the village) mean that many who work there prefer to live in neighbouring settlements – such as Täsch, but also Randa and Saas-Fee.
Tourists use the Täsch-Zermatt shuttle trains at the Matterhorn Terminal in Täsch (archive photo).
Keystone / Olivier Maire
Economic crisis spurred Portuguese immigration
Portuguese immigrants have been present in the Zermatt area since the 1980s, when large numbers of mainly unskilled workers travelled to the Alpine tourist areas in search of jobs.
In the early 2000s, the entry into force of the free movement of people accord boosted immigration to Switzerland by nationals from across the European Union, by allowing them to settle permanently and bring their families.
The economic crisis of the 2010s, which particularly affected the countries of southern Europe – and not least Portugal – bucked this trend. Now that the economic situation in Portugal has improved, growth of the Portuguese population in Täsch has stabilised.
Culture clash
At the height of the crisis in 2012, when the flow of Portuguese immigrants to Täsch was surging, Swissinfo was one of the first media outlets to report on the culture clash that this created – both for the small village in the Upper Valais and for the newcomers.
Several international media, including the BBCExternal link and the Portuguese newspaper PúblicoExternal link, also turned their attention to this Portuguese enclave at the foot of the Matterhorn, where bacalhau and pastéis de nata are sold at the grocery store, and where Mass is also held in Portuguese.
“We Portuguese can be very loud,” the representative of the village’s Portuguese-speaking community humorously told the BBC. “The locals go to bed at 9pm, even 8:30pm, and they don’t really appreciate it if we are up making noise until 10pm. So that’s something we have to adapt to.”
Meanwhile, a local politician in Täsch told Swissinfo that relations with the Portuguese were good. The main problems, he said, were their poor level of German and limited participation in communal affairs. Their level of integration was nonetheless improving, he noted. “[The Portuguese] are investing here, buying real estate and setting up small businesses. They are showing that they are here to stay,” he said.
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Foreigners outnumber Swiss in mountain village
Peaceful coexistence
In another, more recent SRFExternal link report (in German), several villagers noted that the foreigners and Swiss lived more side by side than together. “It’s no longer a single, united village,” lamented one man interviewed by SRF, while stressing that he had no problem with the other half of the population.
In this report, the integration officer Eva Jenni spoke about “peaceful coexistence”, in which “everyone leaves each other alone”.
Täsch’s integration policy has earned it regular acclaim as a laboratory for immigration and coexistence. Several years ago, the local authorities adopted a series of measures aimed at strengthening ties between the communities. These include a strong focus on teaching German in schools, information campaigns and the organisation of intercultural events.
But, as Jenni pointed out, “you can’t force people to mix”. The Portuguese in Täsch “don’t really feel any pressure to integrate”, she explained. Most come not only from the same country, but also from the same region, and they have close relatives living nearby. The community remains close-knit, and they could easily lead their daily lives without ever needing to speak German.
These challenges are, however, less prevalent among the second generation, most of whom speak better German and who have more contacts with the local population.
Ultimately, though, many people in Täsch – whose local population is dwindling by the year – also recognise what the village owes to immigration. “If there were no more foreigners here, we would have fewer workers in the tourism sector. Schools would close and teachers would lose their livelihoods. There would be a whole host of problems,” summed up one resident interviewed by SRF. “No matter how you look at it, in the end we have to live together.”
Edited by Samuel Jaberg. Adapted from French by Julia Bassam/ts
