Massive demand

Early Easter brought a boost to winter tourism

The majority - 78 percent of overnight stays in the winter season to date - are attributable to guests from abroad.

(Bild: ©Maygutyak - stock.adobe.com (Symbolfoto))

Vacations in Austria have been better booked in the 2023/24 winter season to date than in the same period last year, despite some difficult weather periods. According to initial data from Statistics Austria, overnight stays in hotels, guesthouses and vacation apartments increased by 5.5 percent to 64.4 million. This was almost as much as in the same period of the record winter of 2018/19 (64.6 million). 

The number of guest arrivals increased by 8.3 percent to 17.6 million in the period from November to March, outpacing overnight bookings. Although more holidaymakers came, they did not stay as long.

The majority - 78 percent of overnight stays in the winter season to date, i.e. more than three out of four overnight stays - are attributable to guests from abroad.

The Germans have traditionally saved the balance sheet
Their bookings have risen by an above-average 7.7 percent in the winter season to date. With 24.4 million overnight stays, they also accounted for the lion's share of the total volume.

This was followed at a considerable distance by overnight stays by domestic guests, which grew by 3.9% to 13.9 million. In third place were the Dutch with less than half as many overnight stays (6.5 million). 

Tyrol and Salzburg lead the rankings
The majority of winter bookings went to the two federal states of Tyrol with 24.3 million overnight stays (up 4.8 percent) and Salzburg with 14.7 million overnight stays (up 2.8 percent).

Growth in Vienna and Burgenland
The most massive upturn in the winter season to date was again felt in Vienna, with growth of 15 percent to 6.5 million overnight stays, and Burgenland, with an increase of 14.5 percent to around 832,000 bookings.

7.2 percent more bookings
In this year's Easter month of March, overnight bookings across Austria increased by 7.2 percent - and thus noticeably above the previous seasonal average of 5.5 percent - to 13.9 million. The number of guest arrivals even jumped by 12.3% to 3.8 million vacationers, as the preliminary figures from Statistics Austria show.