Industry News
The Austrian hotel industry recorded 71 million overnight stays during the winter tourist season from November 2023 to April 2024, of which 77% came from tourists from abroad. According to government organization Statistics Austria, overnight stays rose by 2.6% or 2 million nights from last year’s winter season. However, this is still 2.5% below the 2018-19 pre-pandemic season, which saw 73 million overnight stays. While the largest group by far consists of visitors from neighboring Germany with 26 million overnight stays, a record 843,000 nights came from U.S. tourists. This is an increase of 13% from last year and an increase of 16.5% from the 2018-19 pre-Covid season.
By contrast, Switzerland saw more than 1 million overnight stays by U.S. tourists, but U.S. citizens were the second largest group of tourists after German visitors. Since Switzerland only has 17 million overnight stays, or less than a quarter of Austria, the 1 million U.S. overnight stays have a much bigger significance for Swiss tourism. Meanwhile, Austria’s second largest tourist nation was the Netherlands, with 6.6 million overnight stays, followed by 2 million nights each from British visitors, Czech visitors, and Swiss visitors. You might wonder why some Swiss go to Austria for skiing, but the answer is simply the strong Swiss Franc, which gives Swiss skiers more buying power in neighboring Austria than at home.
It is interesting that Austria is, in general, more popular for skiing than Switzerland and that the visitation numbers are so dramatically different. The most astounding fact of the Austrian numbers is that the bed occupancy rate is at only 42% of capacity, meaning that, in theory, Austria could easily accommodate more than twice the amount of tourists.
One does have to wonder, though, why Americans are bucking the trend and Austria is less popular than Switzerland with U.S. visitors. Having said that, the growth in numbers could mean that Austria could overtake Switzerland in just a couple of years in terms of total overnight stays, so you might want to head there before more fellow Americans discover Austrian skiing—and there is plenty to choose from. According to the International Report on Snow & Mountain Tourism by Laurent Vanat, Austria is home to a staggering 253 ski resorts with more than five ski lifts. There are 15 ski resorts in the small Alpine country that attract more than 1 million skier visits each season. This compares to only 181 ski resorts in Switzerland and only six major ski areas with more than 1 million skier visits.
- Related: Make Your Dreams Come True and Ski With U.S. Alpine Skier Travis Ganong in Arlberg, Austria
If you are wondering where Americans spent their winter holiday in Austria, each state provides detailed data on overnight stays by country. Vienna is hands down the most popular location for Americans. The most popular state for skiing for U.S. Americans (and tourists from all nations for that matter) was Tyrol, with 191,000 nights. The most popular ski areas within Tyrol are Sölden, Ischgl, Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis, Innsbruck, Zillertal Arena, Obergurgl-Hochgurgl, Mayrhofen, and St. Anton/Arlberg Arena. The second most popular winter destination for U.S. visitors was Salzburg, with 123,000 overnight stays.
If you want to stay away from your fellow countrymen, however, head to Carinthia (Kärnten), which only attracted about 3,000 overnight stays from visitors from the USA. Far away from the crowds, you will find jewels such as Heiligenblut/Grossglockner or the Mölltaler Glacier, which both offer altitudes way above 9,000 feet, but only a few Americans have made their way here. So, if you want family-style accommodation, reasonable pricing, great skiing, quiet slopes, and the best après in the world, head to Austria now, before the secret gets out.
