Tourism is suffering massively from the corona pandemic. In 2020, the number of overnight stays in Austria fell below the 100 million mark.
As preliminary data from Statistics Austria show, tourism in Austria was thrown back “to the level of the early 1970s”. In 2020, the number of overnight stays fell below the 100 million mark for the first time in 50 years. The number of vacationers has halved due to lockdowns and travel warnings.
The minus is 35.9 percent and has fallen from 152.7 million to only 97.9 million. Compared to the previous year, around 55 million overnight stays were missing.
Commercial and private holiday homes managed best with declines of 22.6 and 23.6 percent respectively. Although more foreign tourists (15.1 million) than domestic tourists (9.94 million) were counted in 2020, the number of visitors from abroad has more than halved (minus 52.7 percent). The number of holidaymakers from Austria decreased by almost a third (minus 30.5 percent).
There were considerable differences between the federal states. The largest drop in overnight stays was observed in Vienna, where there was a drop of 74 percent. The federal states traditionally characterized by domestic guests such as Carinthia (minus 17.1 percent), Styria (minus 24.5 percent) and Burgenland (minus 27.2 percent) recorded only minor losses.
Only in Carinthia was there a positive development compared to the previous year: There was an increase of 5.4 percent in overnight stays by domestic guests. In the federal states with the strongest tourism, Tyrol (minus 33.4 percent) and Salzburg (minus 32.3 percent), around a third fewer overnight stays were registered than in the record year 2019.
