Austria: Overnight stays almost reach pre-crisis levels in summer

With 77,88 million overnight stays this summer, Austria was almost able to match the record number of 2019 and is only 1,4 percent below the pre-crisis level of 2019.

Almost a third (31,2 percent) of the total number of overnight stays from May to October can be attributed to domestic guests. "This makes it clear that Austrians are loyal to domestic tourism and even increased the number of overnight stays by 2019 percent compared to the year before the crisis, 1,7," said State Secretary Susanne Kraus-Winkler on the occasion of Statistics Austria's summer balance sheet presented today. Foreign guests accounted for 68,8 percent of all overnight stays: There was an increase in guests from Germany (+5,6 percent) and the Netherlands (+7,1 percent) compared to 2019.

The figures also confirm what the travel industry has been observing for some time: the upscale hotel industry and holiday apartments achieved an increase of 29,2 percent in overnight stays, while the middle in the 1, 2-star and 3-star accommodation sectors are increasing starts to be under pressure.

Asian market is still missing

In 2019, China was the most important Asian market of origin with almost one million overnight stays, followed by Japan. This summer, the number of bookings fell by 93,7 percent and Japan by 85,3 percent due to the corona restrictions in the home markets of China. “As the most important source market, we particularly miss the Asians in city tourism. On the other hand, we are positively surprised by the guests from the USA, who are increasingly represented as a market of origin and this year even recorded an increase of 18,9 percent in overnight stays,” said the State Secretary.