Tourism in Tyrol at the limit: Skilled skills threatens the future!
Tourism in Tyrol at the limit: Skilled skills threatens the future!
On May 29, 2025, the last stop of the Tyrolean series of dialogue "Tourismus Forum on Tour" took place in the sports resort "The Hohe Salve" in Hopfgarten in the Brixental. The aim of this event was to hear critical voices from the population and to explain the importance of the tourism industry in more detail. In addition to many tourism council, Mario Gerber and Tyrol-Werber Karin Seiler were also present. Gerber announced the continuation of the format for possibly in autumn.
A central topic of the discussion was the acute shortage of skilled workers in Tyrolean tourism. While the participants emphasized the importance of the sector for leisure activities, such as the leisure ticket, there were also sobering knowledge about the falling willingness of the locals to work in the hotel and catering industry. Only 20 percent of the graduates of the St. Johann tourism school remain in the industry, which only increases the challenges. In the high season, the sector employs around 50,000 people, many of them are foreign specialists.
shortage of skilled workers and political demands
The shortage of skilled workers is seen by various industry representatives as another central problem. In 2023, only 1,249 third -country seasoners were approved in Tyrol. Alois Rainer, division chairman of the Tyrolean tourism industry, demands quick solutions from the future federal government in this regard. He and his colleagues warn of the consequences of an incapable of action for the tourism industry. Franz Staggl, chairman of the Tyrolean hotel industry, sees two ways to improve the situation: the abolition of the contingent regulation or a significant increase in the approved figures.
Anna Kurz, the restaurants, draws attention to the problem of delayed permits, which have a negative impact on the guest businesses while the first guests arrive. Your assessment underpins the demands for at least 500 additional workers in order to be able to cope with the challenges. The current quota regulation expires at the end of the year and leaves big questions open.
stable results despite challenges
Despite the continuing difficulties, Tyrolean tourism is robust in the 2024 summer balance. With 20.3 million overnight stays, the result remained only about 1 percent below the recorder result of the previous year, which is due to the fact that the previous year was a record year. The average length of stay remained stable at 3.6 days. Mario Gerber emphasizes that both quality and guest satisfaction must have top priority in order to continue to master the challenges.
Nevertheless, there are slight declines in the overnight stays of guests from German, Austrian, Swiss and Dutch markets. In particular, the overnight stays of German guests fell by 1.4 percent to 11.7 million. The industry also sees challenges through short -term bookings and cancellations over platforms such as Booking.com.
Nevertheless, 76 percent of the companies are optimistic about the coming winter season. Price and booking monitoring indicates a similar capacity to last winter, even if the shortage of skilled workers remains a central problem. In order to counteract this, the Tyrol Chamber of Commerce started the "You are happy" initiative to measure the satisfaction of the employees.
In summary, it can be said that Tyrolean tourism remains stable despite adverse circumstances and challenges in the specialist area. However, it remains to be seen how the political managers will react to the demands of the industry.| Details | |
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| Ort | Hopfgarten im Brixental, Österreich |
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