At the regional level, four provinces accomplish above-average increases in their nominal tourism receipts during that period, above all Upper Austria (+7.3 percent) and Vienna (+5.4 percent); in terms of growth, Tyrol (+4.0 percent) and Salzburg (+3.6 percent) ranked third and fourth respectively. At +3.3 percent, Lower Austria's receipts changed similar to the national average rate. The other provinces only had only very moderate gains compared to the summer of 2017 (+0.8 percent to +1.1 percent in nominal terms), which, taking into account regional price developments, likely corresponded to declining receipts in real terms.
Projected numbers on arrivals and overnight stays by domestic and foreign guests in Austria in the summer of 2018 confirms once more the long-term trend towards shorter stays: with an increase of 3.1 percent in arrivals at registered accommodations, the number of overnight stays grew comparatively less by +2.3 percent. The resulting length of stay decreased by 0.7 percent and is currently averaging 3.11 overnight stays per guest. The decline in the length of stay in summer seasons since 1993 is equivalent to 37.8 percent (–1.9 overnight stays per guest); this trend towards shorter holidays only came to a halt briefly in 2002 (+0.1 percent) and 2016 (+0.2 percent) and is likely to continue in the near future.
In the period under consideration, the number of overnight stays in Austria reached 76.74 million, the majority of which (70.2 percent) was accounted for by international guests. At +2.5 percent, this visitor segment also grew by ½ percentage point faster than domestic demand. The increase in overnight stays in the 2018 summer season is primarily attributable to the strong momentum in the first half of the season (May to July 2018 +4.2 percent) and the good result in October (+2.9 percent; projection); in August, the season's most significant month in terms of demand, overnight stays fell slightly (–1.0 percent), while a moderate gain of 1.8 percent was recorded in September.
This summer's climate conditions could also have had a positive effect on tourism demand in Austria: The average temperature in all summer months was in some cases well above the long-term average of 1981-2010 (May +2.6°C; June +1.9°C; July +1.4°C; August +2.6°C; September +1.8°C; October +2.0°C), and most of Austria was characterised by persistently dry conditions. While the north of the country recorded above-average precipitation in September, the south was clearly too wet in October. The increasingly hot summers due to climate change could have a positive effect on the Austrian tourism industry, at least in the medium term, if part of the current travel flows towards holiday regions of Southern Europe are increasingly redirected towards alpine, cooler regions and sea destinations in the future. On the other hand, the attractiveness of Austria as a holiday destination may also suffer both from a strong increase in demand and the effects of climate change on the local flora and fauna. Even if it is possible to increase sales in the summer season, it will be highly unlikely that these will make up for the expected, climate change induced decline in tourism demand in the winter (which can hardly be compensated by alternative winter attractions), so that the domestic tourism industry could suffer relevant economic losses in the future.
The current situation on various other tourism markets competing with the Austrian one must be assessed in a differentiated manner, with the decline of the Turkish lira in particular worsening the price competitiveness of the Austrian tourism industry vis-à-vis Turkey, while the depreciation of the euro vis-à-vis the dollar had a positive effect on demand. Had political turbulence and the tense security situation in recent years led to a shift in tourism demand from Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt to other southern European countries, but also to Austria, this trend is about to be reversed, at least for Turkey, due to the price advantages.
Between May and October 2018, Austria generated 53.89 million overnight stays in international tourism, 85.5 percent of which came from 15 selected source markets, which grew by an average of 2.2 percent. Of these, the CEECs Poland (+11.2 percent), the Czech Republic (+11.1 percent) and Hungary (+8.5 percent) as well as the USA (+6.9 percent) in particular generated considerable gains. Demand from Romania also grew relatively strongly at +3.7 percent. The most important source market, Germany (+2.6 percent; 53.0 percent of total foreign demand) and the UK (+2.4 percent) developed roughly in line with the average of total international demand. While Belgian guests stayed slightly more frequently (+0.6 percent) in Austria than in the same period of the previous year, demand from Russian tourists remained slightly below the strong increase seen in the summer of 2017 (–0.3 percent; 2017 +28.1 percent; the current volume of overnight stays is still 173,600 overnight stays below the level achieved in summer of 2013). Slight to moderate declines in overnight stays of between 0.7 and 2.0 percent were also recorded for guests from France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Italy. Demand on the Danish market fell more sharply in the summer of 2018 (–4.4 percent).
In terms of types of accommodation, demand for overnight stays in commercial and private holiday dwellings continued to develop at an above-average rate between May and October 2018 (+7.9 percent and +5.4 percent respectively), while the hotel industry showed little upward movement; growth in all three segments was only +0.8 percent (5/4 star) and +0.9 percent (3 and 2/1 star) respectively. By contrast, demand for other types of accommodation (campsites, child and youth recreation homes, sanatoria, operated mountain shelters, other accommodation) rose strongly (+4.4 percent).
According to most recent WIFO estimate, the nominal income from total travel activities for the current year 2018 will increase by +4.4 percent; price-adjusted tourism receipts are expected to increase by +1.3 percent, which means that real growth was only slightly below the rate for 2017 (+1.5 percent). On the other hand, Austrian tourism expenditures abroad (travel imports) are expected to increase by 5.0 percent (price-adjusted; +4.8 percent in nominal terms) in 2018. The popularity of foreign travel among the Austrian population thus continued to increase strongly after travel imports had already risen by 7.7 percent in real terms in 2017.
Further informations
Table 10.6 of the WIFO economic data – "Seasonal tourism development"
Press release from Statistics Austria (Extrapolation for arrivals and overnight stays)
