The Styrian tourism region Schladming-Dachstein recorded a successful start to the 2026 summer season with the premiere of the newly introduced event format “Summer-Opening”.
Between June 3rd and 7th, a total of 31.000 music fans flocked to the Planai Stadium in Schladming, exceeding the organizers' initial expectations. The five-day event featured a stylistically diverse program, ranging from electronic dance music to pop and German Schlager music, as well as Austrian pop and classical music. Headliners included renowned artists such as Scooter, Sarah Connor, Roland Kaiser, Rainhard Fendrich, and opera star Plácido Domingo.
A detailed visitor flow analysis by tourism officials highlights the festival's supra-regional appeal. The average distance traveled by festivalgoers was approximately 249 kilometers. While the majority (69 percent) came from within Germany, 19 percent of visitors traveled from abroad. Significant bookings were also recorded from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Hungary. Across all five concert days, the audience was 61 percent female and had an average age of just under 40. The festival proved to be a valuable economic factor for the regional hotel and restaurant industry, as a large proportion of concertgoers combined their attendance with a multi-day stay in the region.
Organizer Klaus Leutgeb of the Leutgeb Entertainment Group gave a positive assessment after the festival's premiere. The organizational cooperation between the event agency, the Schladming-Dachstein tourism association, the local mountain lifts of the 4-mountain ski area, and the municipality of Schladming ran smoothly. Despite fluctuating weather forecasts beforehand, the weather remained stable on all days of the event. The event is part of a long-term strategy to establish Schladming-Dachstein as a year-round destination through top-class major events in both summer and winter. Those responsible have already indicated their openness to further negotiations regarding a continuation of the format in 2027.
Hosting music events of this scale at the Planai Stadium builds upon the proven infrastructure of the long-standing ski openings, which regularly mark the start of the ski season in winter. Utilizing the existing stadium logistics in the summer allows for synergy effects and opens up new target groups for alpine tourism. Local retailers and the hospitality industry benefit directly from the increased added value during the traditionally slow early season in June, thus strengthening the economic stimulus for the entire province of Styria.