Tourism in Austria

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Belvedere Palace, Vienna, one of Austria's most iconic monuments Belvedere Vienna June 2006 010.jpg
Belvedere Palace, Vienna, one of Austria's most iconic monuments

Tourism forms an important part of the economy of Austria, accounting for almost 9% of the Austrian gross domestic product. [1] Austria has one guest bed for every six inhabitants, and boasts the highest per capita income from tourism in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. [2] As of 2024, the total number of tourist overnight stays during the summer season is continuing to outnumber the overnight stays in the winter season. Peaks are in February and July/August. [1]

Contents

In 2007, Austria ranked 9th worldwide in international tourism receipts, with 18.9 billion US$. [3] In international tourist arrivals, Austria ranked 12th with 30.8 million tourists. [3]

Most visited areas

Vienna attracts a major part of tourists, both in summer and winter. [1] Salzburg receives about a fifth of tourist overnight stays compared to Vienna, which ranks it 2nd in the summer season. [1] In the winter season, a number of winter sport resorts in western Austria overtake Salzburg in the number of tourist overnight stays: Sölden, Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Ischgl, Sankt Anton am Arlberg, and Obertauern. [1]

Hallstatt, one of the most visited places in Austria Hallstatt - Zentrum .JPG
Hallstatt, one of the most visited places in Austria

Visits to Austria mostly include trips to Vienna with its cathedral, its "Heurigen" (wine pubs) and romantic Waltz music events. Worth a visit are Salzburg, birthplace of Mozart, Innsbruck, capital of Tyrol surrounded by the Alps, Linz, capital of Upper Austria with the largest Cathedral of Austria and modern cultural highlights, and the Danube valley with its vineyards, for example the Wachau or Dunkelsteinerwald, which are between Melk and Krems. In the western part of the country the province Vorarlberg reaches the Lake Constance, in the eastern part Neusiedler See. The three most visited landmarks in Austria are Schönbrunn Palace (2,590,000 visitors per year), Tiergarten Schönbrunn (2,453,987 visitors) and Mariazell Basilica (1,500,000 visitors). [4] The small town of Hallstatt is drawing in roughly a million visitors per year and is often named as a negative example of Instagram tourism. [5]

Sports and nature

Ski Arlberg in Vorarlberg and Tyrol Sonnenkopf Ski Arlberg (203037193).jpeg
Ski Arlberg in Vorarlberg and Tyrol

Of great touristic importance are the Austrian skiing, hiking and mountaineering resorts in the Alps as well as family-friendly recreation areas and thermal spas. The same applies to the numerous Austrian lakes (e.g. Wolfgangsee and other lakes in the Salzkammergut east of Salzburg or Wörthersee in Carinthia) and castles. Stretching over Vorarlberg and Tyrol, Ski Arlberg is the largest connected ski area in Austria and one of five largest ski areas in the world. [6]

Art and culture

For visitors interested in media art, there is the Ars Electronica Center in Linz. Since 1979 this center has organized the Ars Electronica Festival and presented the Prix Ars Electronica, the worldwide highest-ranked prize for media art. [7]

Internationally known annual events

NameLocationDateDescription
Vienna New Year's Concert Vienna 1 JanuaryTraditional concert for classical music
Hahnenkamm race Kitzbühel, Tyrol JanuarySki race
Vienna Opera Ball Vienna Thursday preceding Ash Wednesday Ball
Life Ball Vienna JuneHIV and AIDS awareness event
Donauinselfest Vienna End of JuneBiggest open air music festival in the world, free entry
Bregenzer Festspiele Bregenz, Vorarlberg July/AugustOpera festival
Salzburg Festival Salzburg July/AugustOpera festival
FM4 Frequency Festival Sankt Pölten AugustAlternative rock, electronica and hip hop festival
Internationale Gartenbaumesse Tulln Tulln, Lower Austria End of August Horticulture trade fair, Europe's biggest flower show
Ars Electronica Festival Linz, Upper Austria SeptemberFestival devoted to technology and new media art including workshops, discussions and lectures
Viennale Vienna OctoberFilm festival

Arrivals

Tourism in Austria
Yearly tourist arrivals in millions [8] [9] [10]
Tourism in Austria

Most visitors arriving to Austria on short term basis are from the following countries of nationality: [11]

RankCountry201420152024
1Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 11,750,02712,134,83614,913,898
2Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 1,671,5811,734,4532,233,855
3Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Switzerland 1,309,6601,400,2511,354,358
4Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 1,051,4901,122,9361,059,801
5Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom 802,552875,664920,023
6Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 497,925715,119374,130
7Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 660,086711,3511,184,156
8Flag of the United States.svg  United States 632,512708,233942,595
9Flag of France.svg  France 516,770517,708549,468
10Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 514,264514,329620,105
11Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 493,055501,595670,020
12Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 425,730456,615830,416
13Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 309,794348,768398,634
14Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 264,704331,507390,956
15Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 467,565313,40652,728
16Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea 234,557277,032226,055
17Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 264,704275,806375,826
18Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 245,306236,621101,475
19Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 205,501224,258225,720
20Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia 176,760194,186301,559
Total foreign25,291,37126,718,94531,903,467


Slogans of the provinces

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "TOURISMUS IN ÖSTERREICH 2007" (PDF) (in German). BMWA, WKO, Statistik Austria. May 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-12-18. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
  2. ↑ Norden, Gilbert (Spring 2001). "Austrian Sport Museums" (PDF). Journal of Sport History. 28 (1): 87–107. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  3. 1 2 "UNTWO World Tourism Barometer, Vol.6 No.2" (PDF). UNTWO. June 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-08-19. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
  4. ↑ "Die wichtigsten Sehenswürdigkeiten in Österreich". Archived from the original on 2009-05-30. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
  5. ↑ "Hallstatt: Austrian town protests against mass tourism". 2023-08-27. Retrieved 2025-07-13.
  6. ↑ West, Ski Arlberg, Pool. "Die Wiege des alpinen Skilaufs". Ski Arlberg, Pool West (in German). Retrieved 2019-09-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ "Ars Electronica". Ars Electronica. Retrieved 2019-09-16.
  8. ↑ "Austria: International tourist trips". Our World In Data. August 17, 2024.
  9. ↑ "World Tourism Barometer" (PDF). World Tourism Organization. May 2024. p. 19. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  10. ↑ "Global and regional tourism performance". www.unwto.org. Retrieved 2025-06-12.
  11. ↑ Tourism in Austria 2024
  12. ↑ "Holidays in Vorarlberg Austria - Official Travel Guide & Tourist Information". Urlaub in Vorarlberg. Retrieved 2019-09-16.
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