Swatch CEO says post-pandemic sales boom has begun in China, U.S.

ZURICH, March 17 (Reuters) - Swiss watchmaker Swatch Group UHR.S Chief Executive Nick Hayek expects a sales boom when people can travel again after the coronavirus pandemic, he told the NZZ paper in an interview published on Wednesday.

"Who knows how long it will take before people can travel again. But the boom will come, and in some countries like China or, amazingly, the United States, it's already there. We're about 10% above 2019 in the U.S. today, and there was still tourism then," he was quoted as saying.

He dismissed the idea of taking the group private, saying the idea of raising up to 12 billion Swiss francs ($13 billion)in debt for that was a "no go".

($1 = 0.9255 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

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