Tourists from Asia and America with purchasing power are stabilizing Austria's holiday business

Tourists from Asia and America with purchasing power are stabilizing Austria's holiday business

Austria is enjoying increasing popularity as an international holiday destination. The current bookings and guest numbers show a positive trend, but the added value remains below expectations. This emerges from an analysis by the Austrian Institute for Economic Research (Wifo). Rising costs pose a challenge for many vacationers, especially those who need to save money. An exception, however, are travelers from the USA and Asia with purchasing power, who represent an important source of tourism.

The USA is the most important source market for Austrian tourism, with 2.38 million overnight stays in 2024 - an increase of 14 percent compared to 2023. Chinese guests are also contributing to the positive development, generating around 654,000 overnight stays, which means a remarkable increase of 90 percent. In addition, travel from Latin America, particularly Mexico and Brazil, is becoming increasingly important, with a total of 571,000 overnight stays. Guests from Canada recorded an increase of 19 percent and booked around 383,000 overnight stays.

Tourism spending and trends

The total number of overnight stay bookings in Austria for 2024 is 154.3 million. The main contributors to these numbers are tourists from Austria and Germany, both of which are struggling with an economic downturn. It is noticeable that guests from North and Latin America as well as Asia report significantly higher average spending. North and Latin American vacationers spend an average of 341 euros and 296 euros per day, respectively, almost twice as much as European guests. Asian visitors are at the top with a spending potential of 392 euros per day.

Another trend is the shift towards experiential travel, away from traditional bucket lists. The strategic orientation aims to position Austria as a year-round destination and a strong business location. Diversifying source markets is proving essential to ensuring tourism resilience.

Advertising and challenges

Austria is promoted as a high-quality year-round destination in important markets such as China and the USA. This comes in a context in which the President of the Austrian Hotel Association (ÖHV) warns of the challenges of rising costs in relation to income. He calls for measures to improve economic efficiency and greater internationalization in order to increase the competitiveness of the sector.

In addition, the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKO) offers comprehensive statistics and studies on the tourism labor market situation. These provide an overview of the arrival and overnight stay statistics as well as the economic importance of tourism in Austria from 2022 to 2025. The recapitulation of these data underlines the continued importance of the tourism sector for the national economy. As part of these surveys, comprehensive data on the tourism and leisure industry is also provided, which has been produced annually since 2015.

For more information about trends in Austrian tourism, see South Tyrol News and Austrian Chamber of Commerce.