Euro 2008 bookings flood hotels

31 March 2008

BERNE – Hotels in the four Swiss cities set to host Euro 2008 are almost all booked up with two months still to go.

There are just 31,000 hotel beds available for the hundreds of thousands of fans expected to travel to the four venues of Zurich, Berne, Geneva and Basel for the tournament in June.

Berne tourism spokesman Bernhard Rhyn told the Swiss wire agency ATS/SDA: "In Berne the hotels are all booked up for match days."

The city has just 2,000 hotel rooms while between 60,000 and 120,000 guests are expected. The situation is similar in the other three cities.

Cruise ships moored in Basel for the football to accommodate more fans, have proved extremely popular.

Organisers have a number of schemes in place, including temporary camp sites or Fancamps as well as rooms in private homes, to provide additional overnight accommodation for around 330,000 expected in the four cities.

Only around 18,000 camp site places have been reserved so far, just a fraction of those available, with many expected to book at the last minute. A bed in the camp sites cost between CHF 25 and CHF 80 francs.