Tourism from the crisis: new budgets and urgently needed reforms!

Tourism from the crisis: new budgets and urgently needed reforms!

Österreich - On May 16, 2025, Walter Veit, President of the Austrian Hotel Association, expressed his concerns about the constant budgets of Austria Werbung (ÖW) and the Austrian Hotel and Tourismbank (ÖHT). Despite the current austerity measures by the government, he described these budgets as a success, but at the same time demands an increase due to the persistently high inflation. This has significantly more expensive marketing activities and investments in the tourism sector. Veit emphasizes the need for reforms and a return to cost -appropriate budgets to meet the requirements of today's market.

In order to emerge from the crisis, Veit advocates a clear distribution of roles between the ÖW and the state tourism organizations. In his opinion, structural reforms have to be initiated in order to increase the peat power of the industry. "No time may be lost," says Veit. Planning security is of the utmost importance in economically challenging times to support companies sustainably.

Need for an adapted budget path

Another point that emphasizes Veit is the urgency of a budget path that reflects the market development. This is the only way to maintain investments and innovative marketing measures to ensure competitiveness. The Austrian National Bank also found last year that travel traffic has made the highest contribution to the Austrian current account with 8.6 billion euros.

In the context of the economic framework, it should also be noted that gross value added in tourism dropped by 3.9 % in the previous year. This development is primarily due to the increasing cost loads. Investments in quality of offer and internationalization are considered fundamental factors for future added value.

Overview of tourist data

In addition to these current worries, there are a variety of data and statistics that illustrate the economic importance of tourism in Austria. The WKO offers the current overview of the tourist labor market). Among other things, annual surveys on accommodation statistics as well as arrival and overnight statistics are published here. This data is of interest not only for experts, but also for the general public to honor the economic importance of the sector.