Travel Enthusiasm of Austrians in Summer at Record Level

The proportion of travelers in the population is higher than ever before, according to Statistics Austria. "This summer, the number of holiday travelers exceeded the 5-million mark for the first time," announced General Director Manuela Lenk on Thursday, referring to the preliminary results. With 5.1 million people from Austria (over 15 years old) traveling in the third quarter (July to September), this was an increase of 1.8 percent compared to the same period last year.

Summer Holidays Were Highly Favored by Austrians This Year

Almost two-thirds (65.5 percent) of the resident population took at least one holiday at home and abroad this summer - an increase of 1.1 percentage points compared to the same period last year. The travel intensity has thus increased. Visits to relatives and friends are included.

The number of trips remained almost unchanged with a slight decrease of 0.2 percent to 9.43 million. There was a slight shift of trips from domestic to abroad, according to Statistics Austria. Domestic holiday trips decreased by 1.1 percent to 3.93 million, while foreign holiday trips increased by 0.5 percent to 5.5 million.

Styria Most Popular Within Austria

Less than half of the trips (41.7 percent) took place in Austria - nevertheless, Styria was the third most popular holiday destination.

Most frequently (13.4 percent), people from Austria spent their summer vacation in Italy and Croatia (9.3 percent). Following that were Styria (7.8 percent), Germany (7.2 percent), and Lower Austria (5.8 percent).

The five other places among the top 10 destinations were exclusively Austrian states - Upper Austria with 5.5 percent, Salzburg (5.3 percent), Carinthia (5.2 percent), Tyrol (4.2 percent), and Burgenland (3.4 percent).

Train travel is increasing

Traveling by one's own car is the most preferred method in summer. The share of air travel remained unchanged this year between July and September at 19.3 percent, while the share of train travel increased by 1.5 percentage points to 12.5 percent.

Statistics Austria conducts quarterly sample surveys to depict the travel behavior of the population residing in Austria aged 15 and over. Each quarter, around 3,500 people living domestically (net sample) are surveyed via web questionnaire and telephone. The respondents are selected from the Central Register of Residents.

(APA/Red)

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