Value Added and Employment Through Tourism and Leisure: Regional Satellite Accounts for Austria's Federal States

The regional tourism and leisure satellite accounts (RTSA and LSA) record the economic effects of tourism and the leisure industry on a consistent methodological basis and, for the first time, for all nine federal states of Austria for the reporting year 2023. Based on international frameworks and using the WIFO model ASCANIO, both direct and indirect effects on value added and employment are presented. In the reporting year 2023, tourism consumption in Austria amounted to 36.8 billion € in nominal terms. This generated €29.1 billion in direct and indirect value added (6.1 percent of GDP), with around 277,000 (full-time) jobs attributable to tourism (6.8 percent of the total workforce; based on full-time equivalents). From a regional perspective, Tyrol led the way with a total value added of 7.0 billion € (16.5 percent of gross regional product), while in Salzburg the share was 13.2 percent and in the other federal states between 2.8 and 7.1 percent. The regional leisure satellite accounts (LSA) showed leisure-related consumption by the domestic population in Austria to be nominally 47.6 billion € in 2023, resulting in 32.8 billion € in direct and indirect value added (GDP contribution: 6.9 percent). Approximately 288,000 full-time equivalents were attributable to the leisure industry (7.1 percent of all full-time jobs). In Vienna, this resulted in a total value added of 8.8 billion €, while in Upper Austria the figure was 5.0 billion €. Burgenland achieved the highest weighting in regional economic performance in this regard with 8.9 percent, ahead of Lower Austria with 8.3 percent (other federal states: 6.0 to 7.3 percent).