Winter Tourism: Austria Misses Pre-Corona Levels Again

In the first four months of the current season, more than 51 million overnight stays were registered in hotels, guesthouses, and holiday apartments. This is 770,000 more than the previous year, but still 1.9 million less than in the first four months of the 2019/20 winter season, as Statistics Austria announced on Wednesday.

Winter Tourism in Austria Still Below Pre-Corona Levels

In February, the most important month of the tourist winter season, there was a decline of 7.2 percent to 17.1 million overnight stays this year. The main reason was later holidays in Germany. "The winter holidays in Bavaria, which last year fell entirely in February, will only be reflected in the March results this year," explained Statistics Austria Director General Tobias Thomas. The spring holidays in the Netherlands, the second most important foreign source market, also extended partly into March this year. Additionally, February 2024 had one more day due to the leap year. Guests from Austria accounted for 3.61 million overnight stays in February, an increase of 1.9 percent.

In the current winter season, commercial holiday apartments and houses recorded the largest relative increase with 4.3 percent. There was also a significant increase of over ten percent this winter among tourists from the Czech Republic and Poland.

The head of the hotel industry in the Chamber of Commerce, Hans Spreitzhofer, reported on Wednesday that the booking situation for Easter is satisfactory despite the late timing, although in lower areas the first businesses have already ended their season or will close before Easter. However, Easter skiing is still possible in higher-altitude winter sports resorts.

According to Spreitzhofer, however, holidaymakers are spending less money. "We clearly see that the behavior of our guests is changing. They come, but they save - on restaurant visits, additional offers, and often also on the length of stay," explained the tourism spokesperson.

(APA/Red)

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