Purchasing Power Tourists Support Domestic Tourism Balance

Last year, the USA was the most important long-distance market for Austria with 2.38 million overnight stays, an increase of 14 percent compared to 2023, as reported by Österreich Werbung at the Tourism Day in Schwechat. Chinese guests accounted for around 654,000 overnight stays, an increase of 90 percent.

Negligibly small share of total bookings in domestic tourism

In the comparison year, the pandemic-related travel restrictions were still in effect. According to ÖW, guests from long-distance markets are quality-conscious, wealthy, and appreciate Austria as a year-round destination. Latin America, especially Mexico and Brazil, is also gaining importance as a distant source market for tourists, with about 571,000 overnight bookings in Austria recently (2024). Guests from Canada also showed a significant increase in 2024 with a rise of 19 percent to around 383,000 overnight stays.

The only drawback: The share of the mentioned long-distance markets in the overnight bookings in domestic hotels, guesthouses, and holiday apartments overall - 154.3 million (2024) - is still negligibly small. By far the most holidaymakers still come from Austria and Germany. And in both countries, there has been an economic downturn for the third year in a row. Inflation was high, many people are worried about their jobs and are saving.

Not so in the aforementioned more distant countries: "What North and Latin American guests have in common is a strong focus on luxury and premium travel, as with average daily expenses per person of 341 euros for North and 296 euros for Latin American guests, they spend almost twice as much as European guests," explains the Vice President of the Austrian Economic Chamber (WKÖ), Martha Schultz, in a statement. The long-distance markets therefore offer "enormous potential to further promote quality tourism in Austria."

Domestic tourism: Asians spend the most

"Class instead of mass" also applies to guests from Asia, emphasizes ÖW head Astrid Steharnig-Staudinger. With an average of 392 euros per day and person, the expenses of Asian guests according to ÖW are above those of North and Latin Americans. "Checking off 'bucket lists' is a thing of the past - today the experience counts." "Now it's about making this offer even more visible internationally. Because guests from long-distance markets spend more and also travel outside the main season," confirms the State Secretary for Energy, Tourism, and Start-ups, Elisabeth Zehetner. Austria offers culture, nature, and cuisine "at the highest level." "Our goal is clear: to utilize international potentials and sustainably position Austria as a year-round destination and strong economic location," says the politician.

Further internationalization in domestic tourism necessary

The diversification of source markets is "a crucial lever to make the tourism location more resilient," says Steharnig-Staudinger. In China, ÖW, together with the Foreign Trade Austria of the WKÖ, is promoting Austria as a "high-quality year-round destination," and in the US market, Austria is being promoted in the luxury segment on exclusive platforms such as ILTM North America and Virtuoso Travel Week. "Don't be blinded by overnight stay records," warned the President of the Austrian Hotel Association (ÖHV), Walter Veit. Although travel contributed the highest amount to the balance of payments with 8.6 billion euros, the fact that costs are rising more than revenues is a problem. "Further internationalization of Austrian tourism is indispensable," says Veit. The government must now also "ignite a firework of measures for more economic efficiency" - above all a debureaucratization and a labor market offensive.

(APA/Red)

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