Record Winter Season For Austria

28 May 2013

The winter season 2012/2013 has been record breaking for the Austrian tourism industry.

There were 16.73 million visitors in Austria between November 2012 and April 2013 – that’s an increase of 1.8 percent compared to the previous winter season.

There were 65.55 million overnight stays in the 2012/2013 winter season (+1.9 percent) and the average duration of a stay was just under four days.

International guests were keen to take to the Austrian slopes last year, with an increase of 2.7 percent in the number of overnight stays. Austrians, on the other hand, preferred to stay at home last season, with a 0.7 percent fall in the number of Austrian nationals staying in hotel accommodations overnight.

In Vorarlberg, a popular skiing destination to the west of Austria, there was a 4.4 percent increase in the number of visitors, and the regional statistical office registered a five percent increase in the number of overnight stays.

In Tirol, another sought-after skiing destination, there were five percent more visitors from the UK. The figures in Tirol also show that the private holiday home rental companies have registered an increase of 5.6 percent in the number of overnight stays, as compared to just 1.2 percent in three-star hotels.

The manager for Tirol marketing said that in some areas of the region, the maximum occupancy rates had been reached during peak season time. He said: "Purely quantitative parameters will soon be replaced by qualitative measures. Because in certain periods, it’s long been impossible to increase frequency without compromising the quality of the service."

Source: http://austriantimes.at/news/General_News/2013-05-27/48793/Record_Winter_Season_for_Austria