Vienna tourism grows 10.3 percent in 2010

VIENNA, Austria – Vienna reported growth of 10.3% in 2010, reaching a new record level of 10,860,000 visitor overnights. All of Vienna’s core markets achieved growth – many of them with two-digit increases. Japan was the sole country amongst them that “only” reached the same result as 2009.

The top ten list in Vienna’s overnight ranking is still headed by Germany (2,311,000, +11%) ahead of Austria (2,245,000, +14%), Italy (625,000, +12%) and the USA (561,000, +11%). Of Vienna’s core markets, Russia contributed the highest growth of 35%, ranking in 5th place with 384,000 bed nights. It is followed by the United Kingdom (373,000, +4%), Spain (331,000, +7%), France (318,000, +12%), Switzerland (307,000, +8%) and Japan in 10th place (267,000, plus or minus 0%).

Director of Tourism Norbert Kettner commenting on 2010’s record result: “Of the 20 countries with the highest overnight figures, only three had fewer bed nights than in 2009. With 53%, Serbia was the country with the highest rate of increase of all, though this was attributable to the abolition of compulsory visas at the beginning of 2010, followed by Russia with 35% and Turkey with 34%. I find the latter particularly gratifying, as we have increased our marketing effort in this promising market since 2008. However, other promising markets also reported significant increases: the Arabian countries in Asia, and Brazil, both with 21%, and China with 28%.”

All categories in the Vienna hospitality sector benefited from the positive results for the year. Average bed occupancy rose to 56.8%, equivalent to a room occupancy of around 71%