Austrian Tourism is Attracting More Visitors

In 2024, global tourism finally recovered from the pandemic-induced slump: with approximately 1.5 billion international arrivals (+12.4 percent compared to 2023), the 2019 level was restored. In Austria, arrivals and overnight stays in 2024 were for the first time slightly above the pre-crisis level (+1.1 percent), and the average length of stay per accommodation returned to the pre-crisis value of 3.3 nights after having increased against the long-term trend 2020-2023. With the completion of the catch-up process, pronounced regional differences emerged: Vienna again acted as a growth engine with a 9.3 percent increase in overnight stays, while Carinthia and Lower Austria recorded slight declines and Salzburg stagnated. Post‑pandemic recovery was seasonally uneven as well, and was markedly more dynamic in summer (summer 2024 +3.3 percent compared to summer 2019; provisional summer 2025 +2.2 percent compared to the previous year), whereas the 2024-25 winter season level still remained slightly below that of the 2018-19 winter (–0.7 percent). For 2025 as a whole, WIFO expects a renewed increase in overnight stays, but a slowdown in growth.