Image: Alpbachtal Tourism
59.95 million bookings between May and August represent an increase of 3.6 percent in the same period last year and are also 1.6 percent more than in the period before the pandemic (2019), according to the preliminary figures from Statistics Austria today, Wednesday. However, Carinthia is in the red.
The storms during the peak season reduced tourist overnight stays Carinthia In the summer half of the year so far, compared to the very well-booked previous year, down 4.2 percent to 7.8 million. In August, bookings in the state even fell by 7.9 percent. In Tyrol, overnight stays in August fell by 4.2 percent year-on-year. “In addition to inflation and the labor shortage, storms and floods have affected tourism,” said Statistics Austria General Director Tobias Thomas.
Across Austria, local hotels, guesthouses and holiday apartments recorded a year-on-year decline in the number of overnight stays of 1.8 percent to a good 20 million in this most important month of the summer tourist season. Compared to summer 2019, there was still a slight increase of 0.7 percent.
The previous year’s values in the summer season so far have been almost stable Styria with a marginal decrease of 0.2 percent to around 5.7 million bookings. Despite the weak demand, all other federal states were overall in positive territory in August. By far the strongest growth in city tourism was in Vienna, with an increase in overnight stays of 19.3 percent to around 6.4 million. The further easing of international travel after the pandemic had an impact here.
The majority of summer bookings were canceled Tyrol. Overnight stays there have increased by 1.3 percent year-on-year in the summer season so far this year to 16.9 million. Followed behind Salzburg with an increase of 4.5 percent to 11.1 million bookings.
Foreign tourists helped
Tourists from abroad contributed in particular to the ultimately positive development of the summer season so far. Their overnight stays rose by 6.4 percent to 42.8 million in the reporting period. Holidaymakers living in Austria, on the other hand, increasingly moved abroad after all the Corona years. This was reflected in the domestic tourism balance between May and August in the form of a 2.8 percent decline in overnight stays to 17.2 million compared to the previous year.
The tourist summer half-year extends from May to October. In the calendar year 2023 so far (January to August), domestic tourism is developing significantly better than in the previous year, but still somewhat weaker than in the comparable period before the pandemic. Over the year, overnight stays rose massively by 12.2 percent to 113.6 million. However, they were still 1.5 percent below the value in the comparable period of 2019.
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