Zermatt is a municipality in the district of Visp in the German speaking section of the Canton of Valais in Switzerland. The town lies at the upper end of Mattertal at an elevation of 1,620 meters or 5,310 feet, at the foot of Switzerland’s highest peaks. Zermatt is famous for mountaineering and ski resort of the Swiss Alps and also has one of the biggest summer skiing areas.
Much of the local economy is based on tourism, with about half of the jobs in town in hotels or restaurants and just under half of all apartments are vacation apartments. Just over one-third of the permanent population was born in the town, while another third moved to Zermatt from outside of Switzerland.