At a press conference in late October, tourism state secretary Susanne Kraus-Winkler and Österreich Werbung (OW; Austria Tourism) managing director Lisa Weddig addressed the current status quo of the tourism industry and the potential for the 2022/23 winter season, revealing that the industry made a comeback this summer, people are longing for winter vacations, international guests are very interested in Austria, and Covid no longer plays a key role in booking intentions.
After two years of drastic losses due to the pandemic, the development of the tourism industry in Austria in 2022 has been largely positive to date. The summer season so far, with 58 million overnight stays (May to August 2022), was just below the comparable period in the pre-pandemic year 2019. However, the general conditions remain challenging, and tourism has to cope with enormous energy price increases and increased demand for staff. As of September, 221,213 employed workers were registered in tourism. Job vacancies stood at 12,936 in September, and at the same time, with the summer season coming to an end, twice as many people are registered as unemployed in the same month (25,929 excluding training participants).
In the context of the current discussion on energy consumption, it is important to note that tourism (including snowmaking and ropeways) is responsible for only 1.55 percent of Austria’s total energy consumption. “The tourism industry has already been striving to reduce energy consumption for decades. For example, energy consumption per overnight stay in accommodation has been reduced by 54 percent since 2008 and winter tourism accounts for 0.9 percent of total energy consumption,” Kraus-Winkler said.
Österreich Werbung has conducted a study on the potential of the most important winter markets for the coming winter to obtain a fact-based decision-making basis for its activities and for those in the industry. The latest winter study, which was carried out by the Institute for Tourism and Spa Research in Northern Europe (NIT) in 10 markets, provides a thoroughly optimistic outlook for the coming winter season.
NIT found that guests are definitely in a vacation mood, in most markets, more people are even planning winter vacations than in the previous year. Austria is among the top three destinations in almost all markets (number one in Austria, second in Germany). In total, 17 million people are planning a winter vacation in Austria. This is in line with the figures for the winter of 2018/2019.
However, the current economic crises are certainly having an impact on travel plans. People have less money available for travel than in previous years. Increasing prices and people’s own financial situation are, therefore, the most significant reasons for hesitation when it comes to vacation planning. Those who save on vacations do so primarily in terms of accommodation, destination and trip duration. Only a small number of people intend to go on a different type of vacation instead of an “expensive” winter sports vacation. Winter sports vacations thus continue to be popular with visitors. This is certainly due to a certain amount of catching up to be done over the past two years.
In conclusion of the study, Österreich Werbung confidently summarizes that a good winter for the Austrian tourism industry is still possible and not unlikely – even though there is a risk that inflation will put more pressure on the budget in the course of the winter.
The survey for the “Winter Potentials 2022/2023” study was conducted online by NIT from Sept. 2 to 11, 2022, among people aged 18 to 75. Respondents were interviewed in Austria (1,049 persons), Germany (1,046), Switzerland (1,049), the Netherlands (1,046), Belgium (1,050), Denmark (1,051), the U.K. (1,045), the Czech Republic (1,050), Poland (1,047) and Hungary (1,046).
As the commissioning body, Österreich Werbung provides basic information on the study free of charge to domestic tourism; otherwise, it is subject to a fee. Austrian tourism professionals can request the (German language) study here. Heidi Tscharf, director of markets at ÖW, spoke with NIT study author Ulf Sonntag about the study’s findings recently. The German-language YouTube recording can be viewed here.
