GERMAN
ENGLISH
In a press conference at the Hotel-Gasthof Graf in St. Pölten on Tuesday, Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner presented the results of a current study - carried out by the market research institute MANOVA - on the economic factor of tourism in Lower Austria.
Tourism is an essential economic pillar, said the governor, because “more than two billion euros are generated annually in tourism in Lower Austria.” The focus is on spa or health tourism, with 21 percent of overnight stays, and 36 percent, according to the study Seminar and business tourism and “the largest area is classic holiday tourism, which is responsible for 43 percent of all overnight stays.” There is also a clear trend towards quality tourism, with the number of four-star beds increasing in the last five years around twelve percent increased. “A clear trend towards holiday and quality tourism in Lower Austria,” says Mikl-Leitner, and the state wants to promote this to the best of its ability.
“In the past five years, we have supported around 1.600 investment projects with more than 32 million euros in grants, thereby implementing investments amounting to 247 million euros.” Many new businesses have emerged, such as the Hotel Garni Zwettl and the Kittenberger Chalets in Schiltern , the Refugium Lunz or the Hafnertec in Wieselburg. Many companies have also used the funding to improve quality - the Lower Austrian pub package was particularly successful here, "where we provided four million euros in funding," said the state governor, who went on to explain: "175 hosts are investing in their business and we are solving the problem This means more than 20 million euros in investments, which primarily result in orders from local construction and craft businesses.”
In addition to improving quality, Lower Austria is focusing on the “transformation from a destination for excursions to a destination for vacation,” Mikl-Leitner continued. The aim is to create this transformation with focuses and offers that combine the main holiday motives of holiday guests: “hiking, culture, cycling, thermal baths as well as cuisine and wine”. The largest group here is the hiking guests - every fourth guest who stays overnight in Lower Austria comes to hike. The second largest group with 14 percent are cultural guests and 13 percent of all holiday guests are cycling tourists - every second foreign guest comes because of cycling. There is still a lot of potential for improvement in this area in particular. Mikl-Leitner: “That's why we're positioning Lower Austria as 'the' cycling destination in the heart of Europe with our new cycling campaign, for which we were able to recruit the internationally known top athlete Felix Neureuther, and want to appeal to even more guests from Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia .”
Together with the state's tourism department, Lower Austria Advertising, the six tourism destinations and in close coordination with the local hosts, the aim in the future is to "raise this potential, consistently promote the change from a destination for excursions to a holiday destination, invest in improving quality and the unique features of Lower Austria “Strengthening hiking, cycling, culture and cuisine,” said the state governor. It was important for her to finally emphasize: “65 percent of all overnight stays are made up of local guests, a sign that Lower Austria is perceived as livable and lovable.” Mario Pulker, chairman of the tourism and leisure sector in the Lower Austria Chamber of Commerce, emphasized during the today's press conference: “With almost 42.000 employees in around 8.500 companies, tourism is an important employer in all regions of Lower Austria. In order to be able to continue to provide jobs, given the difficult economic situation of many companies, better framework conditions are urgently needed, above all a reduction in non-wage labor costs.”
