Tourism in Austria

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The tourism is one of the most important economic sectors in the economy of Austria .

In total there were around 149.8 million overnight stays in 2018. The direct value-added effect of tourism amounted to 24.9 billion euros and the total expenditure of domestic and foreign visitors amounted to 42.4 billion euros.

Austria has a large number of prerequisites for tourism. These include on the one hand the many natural areas and mountain landscapes (e.g. the Alps and the granite and gneiss highlands ), lake landscapes , numerous cultural monuments , attractive cities and the well-developed infrastructure and on the other hand in particular the rich history and the Habsburg brand, which for example for the city of Vienna alone, it generates annual tourism sales of 60 million euros.

The central location in Europe and easy accessibility are advantageous for tourism in Austria. In the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017 of the World Economic Forum, Austria ranks 11th out of 136 countries. Tourism in Austria is evenly distributed between the summer and winter seasons.

Economical meaning

The Hotel Sacher in Vienna

In 2009, the tourism industry, in which around 10% of all employed persons worked in 1993 , achieved an income of 21.89 billion euros, that is 1666 euros per inhabitant. This is unique in the world.

Hotels and restaurants generated 11.38 billion euros (–3.2%) or 4.1% of the gross domestic product of 276.89 billion euros (–1.8%) in 2009. In addition, there was income from the culture, entertainment, sport and trade consumption of the guests as well as income from the conference and trade fair business.

Tourism helped the Austrian economy to achieve a balance of payments surplus over the last few decades ; the industry's trade balance has only been positive since 2002. In 2005 the surplus in the travel balance was 5.1 billion euros and almost helped to balance the current account .

In 2005 there were 69,981 tourism businesses in Austria . The proportion of small-scale and simply furnished accommodations is falling. The number of beds in the 4 and 5 star categories increased by 27% between 1996 and 2006, the number of beds in private accommodation decreased by 17%. The occupancy of beds in the western federal states (Salzburg, Tyrol and Vorarlberg) is higher in the winter months than in the summer months. Across Austria, occupancy was higher in the winter season in 2006 (33.7%) than in the summer season (28.9%) and highest in Vienna (62.8% in the summer season).

The export of Austrian tourism know-how is of considerable importance for the Austrian service balance .

accommodation

In 2011 a total of 34,629,083 guest arrivals (+ 3.7%) and 126,002,551 overnight stays (+ 0.9%) were registered in Austria. The overnight stays were mainly in the federal states of Tyrol (42.7 million), Salzburg (23.9 million), Carinthia (12.4 million), Vienna (11.4 million) and Styria (10.9 million).

Source markets with the highest number of overnight stays in 2011
Source market proportion of change
foreign countries 72.0% + 0.9%
Germany 37.6% - 1.6%
Austria 28.0% + 0.8%
Netherlands 7.1% - 1.9%
Switzerland 3.4% + 12.6%
Great Britain 2.5% - 4.6%
Italy 2.4% - 0.2%
Belgium 2.0% + 4.1%
Czech Republic 1.6% + 5.4%
France 1.5% + 2.7%
Hungary 1.3% + 5.8%
Poland 1.2% + 6.7%
Russia 1.2% + 25.6%
Denmark 1.2% - 3.3%
United States 1.0% - 3.2%

Austria has hotels and commercial holiday apartments and houses with 641,300 beds (summer 2009) as well as private quarters with approx. 315,000 beds. The commercial accommodation establishments are small with an average of 40 beds (Denmark, Portugal, Cyprus and Sweden each have over 100 guest beds per hotel establishment) and 36.2% are five- and four-star establishments and 32.7% Three-star establishments, 19.4% from two-star and one-star establishments and 11.7% from commercial holiday homes combined.

The average length of stay in 2009 for foreign guests was 4.2 nights and for residents 3.1 nights per arrival. The length of stay has continuously decreased over the past 30 years. The months with the most overnight stays were in 2009

  • August (16.7 million overnight stays)
  • February (16.1 million)
  • July (14.5 million)
  • January (14.1 million).

While the summer season was much more important in the 1970s and 1980s, the number of overnight stays increased steadily in the winter months. Winter tourism has been somewhat stronger than summer tourism since 2006: in the winter of 2008/09 around 62.9 million overnight stays were registered, in the summer of 2009 around 61.7 million.

Other industries

In addition to the accommodation businesses, many gastronomic businesses and those in the culture, leisure, sports, conference and transport industries, as well as trade, generate significant tourism sales.

Domestic and international tourism, shopping trips

Inland tourism (domestic tourism) accounts for around a quarter of all overnight stays; three quarters of the overnight stays come from foreign guests. Germans are still number 1 among them , but proportionally not as extremely strong as they were in the 1970s. Other important "source markets" or countries of origin of the guests are the Netherlands , Great Britain and, in recent years, increasingly also Italy . Since the 1980s, the USA and Japan have been the two most important "long-distance markets". Increasing numbers of visitors have recently been recorded from Russia and China . Eight of the twelve source markets with the highest number of overnight stays showed an increase in 2007.

The Austrians preferred the federal states of Styria (6.4 million), Salzburg (5.5 million) and Carinthia (4.7 million) as domestic travel destinations .

“ Border tourism ” exists in western Austria because the price level in the EU is lower than in Switzerland and the price of petrol in Austria is usually lower than in Germany. But also in eastern Austria day tourism (shopping and / or cultural trips ) has increased sharply in recent years, since densely populated regions such as southern Bohemia , Moravia , western Slovakia and the greater Budapest area are relatively close to the greater Vienna area and in part with it, Lower Austria and the Burgenland in the European region Centrope .

Sections of Austrian tourism

Summer tourism: mountain sports and bathing tourism

Velden am Wörthersee

The mountains play an important role for active vacationers both in winter and in summer for mountain hikes and mountaineering . The highest mountains in Austria are three thousand meter peaks and are located in the Eastern Alps . At 3,798 m, the Großglockner ( Tyrol / Carinthia ) is the highest mountain. Austria has numerous refuges and 1083 km of hiking trails , which are operated by the Alpine and tourist associations.

The seaside tourism is mainly on Lake Neusiedl , in the Salzkammergut and Salzburg Lake District and in the lakes region of Carinthia important.

The Kneipp tourism is in many natural watercourses embedded Wassertretstellen favored.

Winter tourism

Skiing in the Zillertal with a view from the Hintertux Glacier
Winter in Sölden

The winter tourism primarily includes the winter sports . As a country predominantly dominated by the Alps, there are numerous opportunities in Austria to practice alpine skiing . In particular, the federal states of Vorarlberg , Carinthia , Tyrol and Salzburg offer one or more ski areas in almost every alpine valley that are equipped with numerous lifts ( cable cars , chair lifts , drag lifts ). The large ski arenas in the Austrian Alps have 50 or more different lifts and sometimes over 100 km of prepared ski runs . But there are also many ski areas in the eastern federal states, which are often combined with other winter sports, for example with cross-country ski trails , toboggan runs or thermal baths . In addition, there are several glacier ski areas in Austria that offer winter sports all year round, regardless of the snow conditions.

In the winter sports environment, 7.11 billion euros in added value are generated annually. Including “indirect and induced effects”, the annual contribution to added value even amounts to a little more than 11 billion euros. The share of the total Austrian gross domestic product of winter sports is (2008) around 4.1%. Around 5.95 billion euros in direct added value come from winter sports tourism (including hotels and restaurants, transport services , sports and entertainment services and specialist retail ). The annual income from taxes and social security contributions is assumed to have a lower limit of 1.8 billion euros. It is estimated that every 14th job in Austria is directly or indirectly dependent on winter sports.

In terms of winter sports tourism - active or passive - there are 3.76 million arrivals (12.1% of the total) and 28.22 million overnight stays (23.2%), and around 10.1 billion euros (around a third of the total Total amounts in all categories) are spent by winter sports tourists in Austria.

The largest winter sports areas are in Tyrol and Vorarlberg (e.g. Arlberg , Lech / Zürs / Warth, Paznauntal , Ötztal , Zillertal , Stubaital , Kitzbühel , Seefeld ) and in Salzburg (e.g. Skiverbund Amadé , Saalbach Hinterglemm, Radstadt / Altenmarkt / Zauchensee, Obertauern ). Winter tourism also exists in Carinthia (e.g. Nassfeld, Gerlitzen , Weißensee ) and Styria (e.g. Dachstein - Tauern region).

Cultural tourism

One focus of cultural tourism is the range of music:

City tourism

Vienna attracted over 7.5 million guests in 2018, who booked 16.5 million overnight stays

The city tourism in Austria mainly includes the capital Vienna and the eight regional capitals.

Guests usually stay much shorter in cities than in rural tourist resorts, but on average spend significantly more per day than other visitors to Austria. The purposes of the visit range from visiting relatives or acquaintances and from adventure and cultural tourism in leisure time to participation in congresses, trade fairs and company meetings paid for by the employer. In the most frequented cities, the proportion of guests arriving by plane is significantly higher than in Austria as a whole; The mix of nations is also more diverse.

Almost two thirds (64.7%) of this tourist branch, which in 2011 included more overnight stays than ever before, namely 17.6 million, was attributable to Vienna (11.4 million overnight stays; in 2018 there were 16.5 million overnight stays), other heavily frequented cities were 2017:

Every fourth guest arrival (8.7 of 34.6 million) in Austria was registered in 2011 in one of the eight provincial capitals or in Vienna. In 2018, 7.54 million guests with 16.5 million overnight stays were counted in Vienna alone.

Congress and other business tourism

Congress Center Alpbach

Business tourism occurs primarily in the country's economic centers. In Vienna, for example, it is assumed that around 30 to 35% of all overnight stays in the city are business-related. The fitter who arrives to assemble a trade fair stand counts as well as the foreign business partner who comes to the conclusion of a contract, the person invited by his company as a reward for successful work ("incentive trips") as well as the congress participant ( congress tourism ) who comes from his Company or as a self-employed person claims the congress trip for tax purposes as a business expense.

Spa and wellness tourism

The Bad Vöslau thermal baths

The spa tourism in Austria includes tourism of 84 spas and health resorts , including some thermal baths ( thermal line , Thermenland ). In 2006, 18 million overnight stays were counted in these communities, a distinction between spa guests and other guests is currently not possible. In addition to medically prescribed cures, wellness stays are also offered there.

Agrotourism

In the context of ecology and environmental awareness, holidays on the farm have increased their share in Austrian tourism in recent years.

history

Tourism in Old Austria

At the beginning of the 19th century tourism was limited to individual places. Karlsbad (now in the Czech Republic ) was already visited by Goethe , Vienna was a constant travel destination of the aristocracy. The Adelsberg Grotto (now in Slovenia ) was also a travel destination in Old Austria during the Biedermeier period . Wealthy townspeople often went with their entire household, including servants, to a summer retreat in the immediate vicinity of the city (for example, from Vienna: Hinterbrühl ), and after the expansion of the railway network also to more distant rural locations ( e.g. Semmering ).

Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth on an excursion in the vicinity of Ischl (1853)

Bad Ischl became known as a health resort and summer residence of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Bad Gastein as a health resort that was mainly visited by the upper classes. The development of the Austrian Alps took place from the middle of the 19th century. The development of the railway network enabled a rapid expansion of tourism. In 1896 Austria set up the Imperial and Royal Railway Ministry , whose tasks included “basic measures to increase tourism”. The Austrian Alpine Association, founded in Vienna in 1862, played an important role in the development of tourism in the Alps by opening up the mountains with hiking trails and shelters , as did the kk Austrian Post bus service established in 1907 (the first post bus route operated in what is now South Tyrol ).

In the second half of the 19th century, many large hotels were built next to train stations, especially on the banks of the lakes at the edge of the Alps and in high valleys. Long stays of the guests during the summer break enabled high added value . Tourism became an increasingly important factor. In 1909, the alpine regions of Old Austria recorded 2.5 million guests, over 880,000 of them from Tyrol , larger than today.

Ski tourism began shortly before the First World War . Mathias Zdarsky is considered one of the pioneers of skiing. The first ski courses were held in Stuben am Arlberg in 1905 . In 1908 the first ski lift in Austria was put into operation on Bödele ob Dornbirn .

Interwar period

The "Grand Hotel Panhans" on Semmering in the 1920s

As the First World War brought tourism to a complete standstill, many tourist communities lost their feudal clientele. In the interwar period, a new, "bourgeois" form of summer tourism developed. While in the western federal states ( Salzburg , Tyrol , Vorarlberg ) mainly tourists from Germany spent their holidays, the Carinthian lakes and the Salzkammergut were more visited from Vienna and the former countries of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy . Vienna itself had about the same number of guests from east and west.

In 1933 the German government imposed a thousand-mark ban on Austria. The National Socialist German leadership wanted to use this means of economic pressure to obtain political concessions from Chancellor Dollfuss . Until the suspension was lifted in 1937, tourism from Germany had suffered severe losses. During the time of National Socialism , tourism collapsed completely.

Development after the Second World War

The development of tourism after the Second World War was characterized by strong growth rates and the development of mass tourism . The economic boom , extended vacation entitlements and increasing mobility due to mass motorization led to a strong expansion. The most important activities until the beginning of the 1990s were hiking, swimming and skiing as well as city ​​tourism . Only after the drop in overnight stays in the early 1990s did a diversification of the offer take place (e.g. health tourism ).

While Austria was still the number 1 holiday destination for Germans in the 1970s, this changed significantly in the decades that followed. German guests are still number 1 in Austria. However, the German share of total overnight stays in Austria is tending to decline. The “internationalization of Austrian tourism marketing”, which has long been demanded, is becoming more and more important: Today, Austria has to address guests from a large number of “source markets” in order to reduce the risk of being heavily dependent on Germany.

year Overnight stays Foreign exchange income
1950 15.6 million € 28.5 million
1955 25.4 million € 155 million
1960 42.0 million € 438 million
1970 79.5 million € 1,887 million
1980 118.7 million € 6,058 million
1990 123.6 million € 11,078 million
2000 113.7 million € 12,361 million
2005 119.2 million € 15,428 million

Tourism marketing and management

Austria Advertising (BMWA / WKO)

The national tourism organization Österreich Werbung  (ÖW), which is supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (currently BMWJF) and the Austrian Chamber of Commerce , promotes the umbrella brand Holidays in Austria . The department responsible for federal coordination is currently (2013) the Tourism and Historical Objects Section at the BMWJF. The central online platform for tourism in Austria is the website austria.info , which is operated by the ÖW.

Each state also has its own tourism marketing organization; In addition, tourism regions - as defined in the tourism laws of some federal states - and larger tourism communities - with their tourism associations - run their own institutions (e.g. Salzkammergut Tourism , Dachstein-Tauern Region , Vienna Alps , Wörthersee Tourism , Innsbruck and its holiday villages , Tourism Salzburg , Graz Tourism , Hohe Tauern National Park Holiday Region ).

With the help of Austria Advertising, providers with the same objective are grouped into offer groups, e.g. B. Children's hotel , Fischwasser Austria , horse riding in Austria , hiking village , farm holidays , wine tours Austria , small historical towns , adventure train and boat , which were sometimes called holiday specialists and are now marketed as "holiday themes".

Österreich Werbung operates the website austriatourism.com for players in the tourism and leisure industry in Austria and international partners ( B2B ) . The BMWJF operates the tourism service point , the contact point for domestic and international travelers, companies, authorities and other institutions. There you can also contact the Independent Arbitration Commission at the BMWFJ , which offers, for example, “free, impartial mediation in cases of conflict between travelers and the tourism industry” (e.g. in the event of lack of travel).

National tourism organizations

According to the constitution - since it is not mentioned as a federal competence - tourism in Austria is the competence of the nine federal states. From 1955 to 2001 they were members of the Austrian Advertising Association. The respective legal form of  the regional tourism organizations (LTO) is specified in the regional tourism laws : Originally this was mostly a department of the regional government office, today it is mostly limited liability companies , associations and public corporations (e.g. Vienna Tourism). In most cases, it is also stipulated by law how the regional marketing structure is organized and financed within a federal state. In the office of the provincial government is in each case a charge of tourism affairs official department ( division ).

The nine national tourism organizations are:

The state tourism organizations, which are organized privately, are partly 100% state-owned, and partly cooperations with social partners such as the regional chambers of commerce .

Tourism communities, associations and regions

As of a certain overnight stay intensity , communities are divided into local classes and thus classified as tourism communities . According to the state tourism laws, these municipalities set up a tourism association that represents interested municipalities, the regional authority as well as local businesses, companies, associations or individuals. In the case of health resorts , the health resort association takes the place of the tourism association . Municipalities that operate joint destination marketing and usually - but not in all countries - form a closed geographic region, can form an association. These multi-communal associations are generally called tourism regions in Austria .

See also: List of tourist regions in Burgenland , in Carinthia , in Lower Austria , in Upper Austria , in Salzburg , in Styria , in Tyrol , in Vorarlberg ; Vienna

Critical aspects and current trends

Critical Aspects

Current trends

Getreidegasse in Salzburg, one of the most popular tourist destinations (2007)

The trend towards overnight stays in high -class hotels ( four-star and five-star hotels ) that existed until 2008 was interrupted by the economic crisis that occurred in autumn 2008. The trend towards shortening the length of stay (to split vacation or to reduce costs) continues.

The Internet plays a major role in the booking behavior of guests . Many guests check websites for comments from their peers about the resort and eligible hotels before booking. The bookings are often made much more quickly than before. The guest's price awareness has increased since 2008; savings are occasionally made on beverages.

Austria is gaining popularity as a holiday destination in the Central and Eastern European countries of the former "Eastern Bloc" . Wealthy travelers, e.g. B. from Russia, Ukraine, Poland and Romania, appreciate the reliable, high standard of many accommodation establishments as well as the security and hospitality of the country and the relatively short distance of Austria from their home country. Russia in particular has developed into an important source market in recent years and in 2011 contributed 1.2% to the total number of overnight stays.

In terms of tourism for skiers, it will mean that learning to ski is no longer as natural for young people as it was a few decades ago, even in the Alpine countries. In addition, many potential guests consider skiing to be an expensive sport, including all additional costs. In general, very cheap airfares in winter make sunny destinations in the south appear as attractive alternatives to winter holidays in Austria. Furthermore, the climate changes lead to the fear that in a few years there will hardly be enough snow in lower-lying winter sports locations in Austria. Of the winter sports areas, however, around 87% (over 90% in Tyrol, Styria and Salzburg, but only 46% in Upper Austria) are described as having guaranteed snow .

The demand for tourism in Austria fell temporarily due to the economic crisis in 2009 and 2010, but recovered in 2011 and almost reached the level of 2008 again. Vienna achieved its best overnight result to date in 2016. In the medium term, how air traffic develops will also be decisive for the city. It remains to be seen how much the rise in unemployment in Europe and lower real incomes in traditional source markets on the one hand and the increasing tourism from new source markets on the other hand will affect holiday tourism in the medium term.

Tourism research

In accordance with the importance of the industry, Austrian experts have made significant contributions to tourism research and science. The most important institutions here are the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Vienna), formerly known as the University of World Trade, and the Module University Vienna (MU), founded in 2007 as a private university . Key researchers were or are among others:

See also

literature

  • Eva Lichtenberger: Tourism and leisure society. In: Austria - Society and Regions. 1997.
  • Peter Stachel, Martina Thomsen (ed.): Between the exotic and the familiar - On tourism in the Habsburg monarchy and its successor states (= Histoire. Volume 35). transcript, Bielefeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-8376-2097-9 .

Web links

Commons : Tourism in Austria  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Austria  - travel guide

State institutions:

  1. ↑ www.austria.info - the official tourism portal of Österreich Werbung / Austrian National Tourist Office
  2. ↑ Tourism Service ( Memento of the original from July 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Service point of the responsible ministry, bmwfj.gv.at @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bmwfj.gv.at
  3. ↑ Independent Arbitration Commission at the BMWFJ ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bmwfj.gv.at
  4. ↑ Burgenland Tourism: burgenland.info
  5. ↑ Kärnten Werbung: kaernten.at ( Memento of the original from July 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kaernten.at
  6. ↑ Niederösterreich-Werbung: niederoesterreich.at
  7. ^ Upper Austria Tourism: oberoesterreich.at
  8. ↑ SalzburgerLand Tourism: salzburgerland.com
  9. ↑ Styrian Tourism Society: steiermark.com
  10. ↑ Tirol Werbung: tirol.at
  11. ^ Vorarlberg Tourism: vorarlberg.travel
  12. ↑ Vienna Tourism: wien.info

Other tourism organizations:

Materials:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. u. a. Gerhard Bitzan, Christine Imlinger "The Habsburg million mark" in Die Presse on July 15, 2011.
  2. ↑ The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017. Accessed July 1, 2017 .
  3. ↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: factsheet of Österreich Werbung )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.austriatourism.com
  4. ^ Statistics Austria, gross domestic product by economic sector
  5. ↑ tourism-knowhow.at. Federal Ministry of Economics and Labor , accessed on November 19, 2008 .
  6. ↑ TourMIS tourist marketing information system
  7. ↑ TourMIS tourist marketing information system
  8. ^ A b Maximilian Arbesser, Julia Borrmann, Bernhard Felderer, Günther Grohall, Christian Helmenstein, Anna Kleissner, Bernhard Moser: The economic importance of winter sports in Austria . Study on behalf of the "Network Winter" initiative. Ed .: SpEA SportsEconAustria Institute for Sports Economics, IHS Institute for Advanced Studies. Vienna July 2008 ( pdf , netzwerk-winter.at [accessed on November 19, 2008]).
  9. ↑ Vacation specialists , website of Österreich Werbung - former content ( memento of March 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ austriatourism.com - B2B website of Österreich Werbung
  11. ^ Regional Association Burgenland Tourism . Office of the Burgenland Provincial Government, burgenland.at → Tourism
  12. ^ The company Kärnten Werbung Marketing & Innovationsmanagement GmbH , Kärnten Werbung, touris.kaernten.at
  13. ↑ Department 1/04 Tourism ( Memento of the original from July 18, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.salzburg.gv.at archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , salzburg.gv.at
  14. ^ The company , steiermark.com
  15. ↑ SpEA, IHS (Ed.): The economic importance of winter sports in Austria . Problem area 2: "Climate change and winter sports", p. 16 f .
  16. ↑ Egon Smeral. ( Memento of February 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on the WiFo website, accessed December 24, 2012.
  17. ^ Klaus Weiermair on the website of the University of Innsbruck
  18. ↑ Hannes Werthner on the WU website , accessed on December 24, 2012.