While much of the economic news in Austria in the last three years has been more negative than positive, one bright spot has apparently been the number in nights spent in Austria’s hotels, guesthouses and holiday apartments during the Winter 2023/2024 season so far.
That’s because, according to Statistics Austria, there was a 5.5% increase in nights spent in Austria’s holiday accommodation during Winter 2023/2024 compared to the previous year.
This meant there were a total of 64.44 million nights spent in holiday accommodation in Austria, with 17.61 arrivals being registered in them.
Those nights, by the way, take into consideration those spent by both international visitors and residents of Austria, and are for the period November, 2023 to March, 2024.
The number of guests staying in these establishments also rose by an even higher 8.3 percent, which could mean more money was also spent on goods and services besides accommodation during their holiday trips than in the previous year.
International visitors spent most nights in Austria’s hotels, guesthouses and holiday apartments
Statistics Austria Director General Tobias Thomas also pointed out that, while residents of Austria did of course stay in holiday accommodation all over the country, a massive 78 percent of overnight stays during Winter 2023/2024 were by international visitors.
As you might expect, German visitors were the bulk of those as they spent 24.36 million nights in Austrian accommodation during Winter 2023/2024.
That is close to 50% of all international visitors during the time period, and a huge number compared to the next nationality down the list — the Netherlands, with 6.52 million nights (which was actually down by −0.1% compared to the same season last year).
The numbers above don’t include the final month of the winter season, by the way, so there will be more nights spent in Austria’s hotels, guesthouses, holiday apartments in Winter 2023/24 added to the above numbers once those numbers become available.
Good news for the Austrian winter holiday season then, eh?
What do people do and where do they visit in Austria in the Winter?
While some people seem to think all of Austria is covered in snow for the entire winter season, nothing could be further from the truth.
Sure, some areas of Austria get a lot of snow in the winter, while other places like Vienna and Graz get very little.
There are plenty of snow-related activities for people who want them, though, in various parts of the country, as well as other activities/things to see for those who don’t.
As for what people do in Austria if they visit during the winter season, here are just some of the thousands of things the country has to offer:
- Skiing/snowboarding/snowshoeing (all over Austria)
- Kayaking and canoeing
- Ice skating (in Carinthia or even at Vienna’s City Hall between January and March)
- Dog Sledding (in Gastein for instance)
- Winter hiking
- Visiting a winter spa (Längenfeld has a huge one)
- Visit Christmas/Easter markets (Vienna has some excellent ones)
- Visit museums and other tourist attractions (Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum is world-class, as are hundreds of others, including Salzburg’s Hohensalzburg Fortress and Graz’s Schloss Eggenberg).
- Shopping — (Vienna’s Goldenes Quartier is one of Europe’s most exclusive shopping areas — fun to look, even if you don’t buy)
- Visit a traditional Austrian coffee house — (Cafe Sacher in Graz is one that comes to mind)
- The opera and the ballet — (Vienna State Opera or operas, musicals, dance/ballet in Linz)
- Visit the theater — (Vienna’s Burgtheater has performances in winter and all year round)
As I said, these are just a small handful of the tens of thousands of things you can see and do all over Austria during the winter season.