The summer holidays in Austria were a success this year despite heavy rainfall and flooding in some regions. Statistics Austria's preliminary analyses show 3.6 million overnight stays between May and August, 59.95 percent higher than last year. This figure is also 1.6 percent higher than in the period before the pandemic (2019).
Storms Affected Tourism Numbers
The number of overnight stays by tourists in Carinthia during the summer half of the year decreased by 4.2 percent to 7.8 million due to the storms in the high season. Bookings in the state dropped by 7.9 percent in August alone.
In Tyrol, overnight stays declined 4.2 percent in August compared to the previous year. Statistics Austria Director-General Tobias Thomas said that inflation, labor shortages, storms, and floods have affected tourism. In Austria as a whole, there was a decrease of 1.8 percent in the number of overnight stays in domestic hotels, guesthouses, and holiday apartments during the most critical month of the tourist summer season, with a total of just over 20 million overnight stays, compared to the previous year. However, there was still a slight increase of 0.7 percent compared to the summer of 2019.
Vienna: Up 19 %
During the summer, Styria maintained the previous year's figures with a marginal decline of 0.2 percent, resulting in around 5.7 million bookings. Despite August's weakness, all other federal states experienced an overall increase. Vienna's city tourism witnessed the highest growth, with an increase in overnight stays of 19.3 percent, totaling around 6.4 million. This was due to the further easing international travel restrictions after the pandemic.
17 Million Overnight Stays in Tyrol
Tyrol was the most popular summer destination this year, with the most bookings. So far, the region has seen a 1.3 percent increase in overnight stays compared to last year's period, with 16.9 million bookings. Salzburg also saw an increase in bookings, with a rise of 4.5 percent to 11.1 million overnight stays.
The influx of foreign tourists has positively impacted Austria's summer season. Their overnight stays increased 6.4 percent to 42.8 million in the reporting period. However, Austrians have preferred traveling abroad after the pandemic. This trend is reflected in the domestic tourism balance between May and August. This balance shows a 2.8 percent decline in overnight stays to 17.2 million compared to the previous year.
In 2023 (from January to August), Austrian tourism has demonstrated substantial improvement compared to the previous year but still needs to catch up to the same period before the pandemic. Overnight stays have increased by a staggering 12.2 percent year-on-year, reaching 113.6 million. However, this figure still falls 1.5 percent below the value of overnight stays during the same period in 2019.