GERMAN
ENGLISH
Numerous hoteliers and tourism professionals met this Thursday at the invitation of the Hoteliers Association for the hoteliers' meeting in the “At the Park” hotel in Baden. Together with the state governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner, who is responsible for economy and tourism, and the managing director of Lower Austria Advertising Michael Shower, they discussed the new tourism law, future tourism projects and the development of Lower Austria in this area.
The clear goal is to “develop Lower Austria from a destination for excursions to a destination for short breaks and holidays,” said the state governor. Lower Austria has the most excursion destinations, “but we still have too few beds in our region, which means that too much added value is still being lost.” That is why a variety of measures will be used to create 4.000 additional beds in the state over the next four years. To this end, the local hotel and catering industry will be supported financially, says Mikl-Leitner, “with our “host package”, where we are investing a total of four million euros.” This is made up of three points: “From the host funding, where investments of 20 percent or up to a maximum of 400.000 euros are supported,” explained the state governor. Secondly, with the start-up and takeover funding, where a grant of up to 50.000 euros is granted, "and the third point is our pub bonus, where up to 10.000 euros can be collected." So a local business can support itself with this package alone receive funding of up to 100.000 euros.
In addition, as of January 1, 2024, the interested party fee has been completely abolished and the overnight tax, in the future also for festival guests, will be increased to the usual national and international level of 2,50 euros, and in health resorts to 2,90 euros. “Development is also continuing in the area of tourism advertising and we will expand our focus towards neighboring countries such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary,” said the state governor, because many overnight guests are attracted by the campaigns of Lower Austria Advertising and the six tourism destinations.
Mikl-Leitner also summarized other projects in the field of tourism, such as the “Expansion of our cellar alleys” initiative, because many cellars and press houses are no longer used and therefore attempts are being made to “put this cultural heritage to new use”, which is now the case Dedication “Kellergasse Tourism” is possible. This means use exclusively for tourist purposes. She also mentioned the Semmering region, which would like to be revitalized even more through the revitalization of the large grand hotels and villas in combination with a wide range of art, culture, culinary and sports offerings.
Finally, Mikl-Leitner emphasized: “I am incredibly proud when I am able to be a guest at the individual companies and feel the great improvement in quality that has been made in recent years.” For the further development of tourism in Lower Austria, cooperation between the state, municipalities, Lower Austrian advertising, local restaurateurs, hoteliers and tourism professionals are up and running.
Michael Shower, managing director of Lower Austria Advertising, confirmed the positive path, which can also be proven with figures: “This September was the best in the history of Lower Austrian tourism.” With more than 760.000 overnight stays, there was an increase of eight percent in comparison recorded as of September 2022 and is therefore even higher than in September 2019, the most successful tourism year in the state to date. He also highlighted major projects that are already having a positive impact on tourism development, such as the so-called “discovery tours”, trips specially curated in the regions that combine sport, cuisine, art and culture in Lower Austria in one holiday package. He also gave an outlook for spring 2024, in which, for example, a large cycling campaign would be launched and the new “Radpartner Niederösterreich” program would be presented.
Regarding the new tourism law, Shower emphasized: “What we find particularly good about this new law on the part of Lower Austria is that the use of the municipalities' financial resources has been earmarked by law for tourism expenditure.” Finally, he emphasized: “Our enormous advantage in Lower Austria, What brings great added value for domestic tourism is the close interconnection in the tourism system.” Lower Austrian advertising is legally linked to the Lower Austrian tourism destinations, which makes good strategic cooperation in the direction of further development and quality tourism possible.
After the statements there was room for discussion. Here, State Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner spoke to the participating hoteliers, restaurateurs and tourism professionals in detail about the current situation in the individual regions, about successes but also about local problems.
