The typical Austrian holiday maker is not under 30 years old, comes from the countryside, and has no children under 15 years. Only 50 percent of the Austrian population are holiday makers. The institute counted only main holidays. More holidays in a year did not count.

The average holiday in Austria lasts 7,6 days. Holidays abroad are longer: 12,7 days. Vienna is not very popular as a travel destination for Austrians. It came on the last place in the ranking of Austrias federal states. Carinthia and Styria are the most popular holiday destinations for Austrians.

The education is very important where Austrians choose to spend their holiday. High educated people who spend their holiday in Austria are a curiosity. They usually travel abroad. Austrians who only have the graduation of a compulsory school are overrepresented in the group of Austrian holiday makers in Austria.

Lower Austrians are the most passionate holiday makers in Austria. 43 percent of them spend their holiday in Austria. People from Tirol are the opposite and take the last rank. Only 16 percent of them prefer to enjoy their holiday in Austria.

A couple of Belgian skiers were arrested on the ski slope in Tirols holiday destination Wildschönau, because they started a fight with native ski lift servants. One of the servants was badly injured with a ski shoe kick in his face.

Two helicopters had to come to the spot of violence. One to bring the injured victims to hospital. And the other one to bring the angry tourists from Belgium with handcuffs to prison.

Also some of the Belgians were injured. The ski lift servants fought back. Reason of the conflict was the advice of a servant that it’s not allowed to change the tow lift trace.

In spite of economic crisis and thunder storms, the tourism in Styria is doing quite good this summer season. Steiermark Tourismus even announces a slight increase of arrivals between May and July this year.

Tourism experts feared a much worser situation for the Styrian holiday industry this summer. Also the numbers for August are very good. The statistics also show that Styria is very popular by domestic holiday makers. Most of the tourists are Styrians themselfes who prefer to spend the holiday in their own federal state. But also holiday makers from Lower Austria and Carinthia are overproportional existent in the statistics of Austrian tourists in Styria.

Number one of the foreign guests in Styria are the Netherlanders, followed by Italians. The tourists from the Netherlands even listed an increase of 11 percent this summer.

Also the website of Austrias Broadcasting Corporation reports about a “rebirth of the bed and breakfast guesthouse” in Austria. Experts were wrong in the past times when they claimed more luxury hotels in Austria. It was told that “nobody needs bed and breakfast guesthouses anymore” and that “luxury hotels are the future.”

Now those much lauded luxury hotels are empty and bed and breakfast inns are totally crowded. The economic crisis makes it possible. People don’t want to miss their holiday and choose the cheaper version.

One bed and breakfast operator from Obertraun confirms the new development. He is booked out until the end of September. The benefit of a bed and breakfast guesthouse is its unbeatable price-performance ratio.

Tourism experts, who were already wrong that Austria needs more luxury hotels, seems to be quite disappointed and upset. The spokesman of the institure for leisure and tourism research says: “Bed and breakfast inns are bad for our tourism because there is not such a good service as in hotels. The foundation stone of the tourism is and always will be the hotel.”

© Photographer: Franz Pfluegl | Agency: Dreamstime.com”

Economy scientist Kai Biehl explains: “The economic crisis has reached the tourism.” In general the satisfaction of employees in gastronomy and hotel business is lower than in other industries. But this year the already low satisfaction still decreases. Five index points less as in 2008.

15 percent of the employees in the Austrian tourism have problems to surivive with their salary. The crisis even tightens the bad situation. “The happiness of life sinks down to a level like never before”, explains the chairman of the labor union Rudolf Kaske.

On the peak of the holiday season almost 24.500 unemployed people were counted in the tourism. This is one fifth more as in 2008. Also the working atmosphere becomes more rough and the nervousness increases.

50 percent of the employees in the Austrian tourism only survive because they receive financial support from the goverment, their partners, or their parents. Many of them think about to change the branch of industry, reveales the latest survey. It’s just natural that the suggestion of the president of Austrias Federal Economic Chamber Christoph Leitl, that unemployed teenagers should work in the tourism industry by force, only reaps a worn-out smile.

Bild: © Mayangsari | Dreamstime.com

The beginning made Austrias most southern province Carinthia. Last year a festival for homoxexuals called “Pink Lake Festival” was hosted on the famous Lake Wörthersee. The festival lasted 4 days and brought 2.500 extra over night stays, and 250.000 Euro net product.

Isabella Rauter from “Carinthia Advertising” said that such kind of tourism is something new for Austria. But homosexuals are financially strong and independent. A very attractive target group. This year Isabella Rauter expects an increase on homosexual tourists of 20 percent.

Market researchers know that homosexuals travel more often and prefer luxury holidays. They usually choose short city trips and spend more money than other guests. Vienna is the seventh most popular holiday destinations of homosexuals in Europe. Now Austria wants to have more of those tourists. Vienna and Salzburg have certain information sites for homosexual holiday makers. Even the first hotels for homosexuals opened. 30 percent of the homosexual travellers go to five star hotels. 29 percent spend more than 100 Euro every day.

Lesbians are not that interesting for Austrias tourism industry. They have not so much money as homosexual men, and barely included in certain statistics.

© Photographer: Franz Pfluegl | Agency: Dreamstime.com

But Tirol is still relaxed. Reason: the past winter season was the second best in Tirols history ever. The holiday and tourism managers of Tirol are very motivated. Additional inducements and attractions should make this years summer to an unforgetable season for the tourism of Tirol.

More advertisments and an attractive price-performance ratio is the golden key to a successful result. Also the permanent investment into Tirols infrastructure is an important part of the whole picture. “We don’t fear the financial crisis”, says one of Tirols hotel operators.

Even the minister president of Tirol, who is also the tourism consultant, is very optimistic. He claims that “Image communication is no daily business.” The minister president continues: “Tourism is too important for us to make experiments. We are going to continue our path of creating a strong tourism for our federal province. Our focus is the quality tourism.”

The tourism of Tirol receives 700 million Euro public sponsorship every year to improve its service.

- link: Tirol Austria

© Photographer: Keeweeboy | Dreamstime.com

Most of the postcards were photo compositions. The mountains of the famous “Nordkette” were adjusted to the right position in interaction with the city to make them look more imposing. Such postcards never show the real picture of Innsbruck, but an idealized picture.

The project was done for the architectural biennale in Rotterdam. Innsbruck was a applicant for the “world culture heritage city”. That’s why its postcards were analyzed. Now some people in Austria are upset about the results, and talk about fraud and immoral business practices.

The website of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation also reports about huge increase of tourists from the Ukraine. 54,2 percent more tourists from Ukraine were counted last year.

The massive tourist inrush from Russia and Ukraine is no coincidence. Carinthia is doing a lot of advertising in those two countries. There are also many cooperations with Russian tourist agencies. Those agencies print travel brochures only about Austrias federal state Carinthia.

Carinthia wants to continue and to deepen the succesful relationship, and invited hundreds of new Russian travel operators in May.

Austrias weekly newspaper “Die ganze Woche” printed an interesting statement of a hotel operator from St. Pölten in todays issue. The hotel operator claims that the Fritzl trial was a brillant promotion for St. Pölten as tourism destination. He thinks that the provincial capital of Lower Austria is now famous around the world, and will be overrun by tourists who want to spend their holiday in the town where the Fritzl trial was held.

Josef Fritzl used as a tourist magnet? The future will tell if the prognoses of the hotel operator will be true or not. But maybe the idea is a little bit tasteless?

Either way the tourism management of St. Pölten should be careful if the name of the convicted criminal should be used for advertising purposes. A restaurateur from the town has to pay a 10.000 Euro fine, because he put a certain dish on the menu which was named after Josef Fritzl.