In view of flight cancellations and delays due to staff shortages at airports and airlines in Europe, solutions are being sought for the expected rush of travel in the summer holidays.
Secretary of State for Tourism Susanne Kraus-Winkler addressed another problem: “We have sharply increased costs.” Because inflation does not stop at the holiday fund. Across all sales channels and markets of origin, prices are likely to increase by an average of 10 to 15 percent this year. Some will already be increased in summer, others only in autumn. “At the moment I’m hearing that raising prices isn’t a big problem because the desire to travel is there,” says Kraus-Winkler.
“I think everyone knows their target group and will adapt to the point where they don’t overwhelm their clientele,” he said the politician and hotelier. “To what extent this will affect a second vacation is not yet known – we won’t be able to make any real statements until November or December.” In terms of price, there is room for upwards movement in an international context. “Austria was a very cheap destination in European comparison.”
Overall, it is not yet possible to make any statement about how domestic tourism is doing this year. From April, the bookings slowly increased.
“We see a wave of problems building up there”
“What I can’t estimate at the moment, but it’s also no secret, are the difficulties with the flight cancellations – we see a wave of problems building up and very much hope that they can somehow manage it,” said Kraus-Winkler. There is a blatant shortage of staff at the airports. “The airports that had more people on short-time work find it easier than those who have resigned.”
But the hotel and catering industry also had “a number of challenges for the summer”. Thousands of workers are missing here. “If we don’t work on the medium- and long-term issues here now, we will still have problems in three years,” warned the State Secretary.
“It will be challenging years”
“There is also the issue of the pandemic and I hope that the immediate measures will be taken earlier, that as many people as possible will be vaccinated and that there will be no entry restrictions,” said Kraus-Winkler, looking ahead to the fall.
“Austria has come through the crisis quite well so far, but it is very difficult for us to get back on track,” said the State Secretary. That is also very dependent on the markets of origin, whether you have flight connection problems or whether you have regular customers from nearby markets. The sharp rise in flight prices is a problem, especially in city tourism. The entire industry is struggling with the problems of inflation, a lack of employees and energy. “It’s going to be a really challenging two to three years.” In the period mentioned, it will also become apparent whether “what was previously financed externally can be refinanced from the cash flow”.
Source: Nachrichten
