Tourism as a lifeline: Austria celebrates World Tourism Day 2025!

Tourism as a lifeline: Austria celebrates World Tourism Day 2025!

World Tourism Day will be celebrated on September 27, 2025, a date established by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) since 1980. The aim of this day is to raise awareness of the social, cultural, political and economic values ​​of travel. The motto for 2024 is “Tourism and Sustainable Transformation”, which underlines the relevance of sustainable practices in the tourism sector and focuses on future-oriented development. Austria experienced a tourism boom in 2024 with 46.7 million arrivals and 154.3 million overnight stays, exceeding the previous year's metrics and reaching the 2019 peak.

Guest spending amounted to an impressive 35.9 billion euros, which corresponds to 6.2 percent of gross domestic product. Tourism State Secretary Elisabeth Zehetner emphasizes the essential role of tourism for the economy and regional development. Despite the increasing number of visitors, companies are faced with challenges such as increasing personnel, food and energy costs, which are deteriorating the company's profitability.

Tourism acceptance in Austria

The tourism acceptance balance (TAS) shows a positive balance: according to Statistics Austria, it is +38 percentage points. 45 percent of the population express themselves positively about tourism, while only a small minority are critical. Zehetner emphasizes the need to continually build trust in the tourism sector. National differences in acceptance can be observed, with Vienna (+48), Carinthia (+43) and Styria (+41) being perceived particularly positively. In contrast, Upper Austria (+32), Lower Austria (+30) and Tyrol (+36) are below the national average.

Another finding shows that 73 percent of the population attaches great importance to tourism for social and economic areas. 65 percent find the number of tourists to be appropriate, while 15 percent rate the number of guests as “quite a lot” and 6 percent think it is “too much”. This data is part of the revision of the nationwide master plan for tourism, known as “Plan T”, which is based on current challenges.

Sustainability in tourism

The discussion about sustainability is becoming increasingly important in tourism. Travelers are becoming more aware of the impact of their travel activities and tend to make their vacations more sustainable. Trend forecasts up to 2030 show that topics such as “environment and climate” as well as “sustainable travel, slow tourism and deceleration” will increase in importance. In 2022, the eco-tourism market volume was forecast to be $185 billion, rising to around $300 billion by 2026.

It is striking that 33 percent of German travelers are already planning trips based on ecological considerations and 40 percent rate sustainability as increasingly important. International travelers are also willing to pay for sustainable options: around 60 percent would like to stay in sustainable accommodation at least once a year. There is growing pressure on the tourism industry to adopt more sustainable practices to meet the demands of travelers. These developments are linked to the need for a robust and forward-looking tourism strategy that demands both economic resilience and environmental sustainability.