Austrian tourism industry sees summer boom

The Austrian tourism industry has seen a boost in both overall visitor numbers and overnight stays at hotels, guesthouses, and holiday homes during the summer months, new figures from Statistics Austria showed Friday.

Total visitor numbers between the months of May and August increased 3.4 percent to 16.42 million compared to 2015, preliminary figures from the statistics office claim, and include increases for both domestic and foreign guests.

The number of total overnight stays also saw a sizeable 4.1 percent increase to 54.12 million, over two million more than in 2015.

Germans, traditionally the largest group of foreign guests by some margin, once again featured prominently in the visitor numbers, seeing a 5.6 percent increase in their number of overnight stays to 19.78 million.

Visitors from the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Belgium also saw significant increases to their overnight stays in Austria.

The trend of declining numbers of Russian visitors has however also continued, their numbers down 18.8 percent year-over-year.

For the entire year up to the end of August the total number of holidaymakers in Austria has increased 4.7 percent over 2015 to reach a record 29.83 million, while overnight stays likewise increased 4.7 percent to reach 107.56 million. 

Source : XINHUA