Press release: 12.422-013/21

Nights spent in 2020 dropped below the 100 million mark; number of guests almost halved

Vienna, 2021-01-27 – In the calendar year 2020 97.91 million nights spent were registered, according to preliminary results from Statistics Austria. This corresponds to a 54.75 million or 35.9% decrease compared to the previous year. The number of arrivals fell by 45.8% to 25.04 million (non-resident guests: -52.7%; resident guests: -30.5%).

"Corona-related closures, international travel restrictions and quarantine regulations are taking a heavy toll on tourism in Austria: after peaking at more than 150 million overnight stays in 2019, the number of overnight stays in the Corona year 2020 fell back to the level of the early 1970s, at just under 98 million," says Statistics Austria Director General Tobias Thomas.

The highest drop in nights spent in absolute figures was recorded among guests from Germany (-18.21 million), the most important market of origin for Austrian tourism, followed by the Netherlands (-2.94 million), Switzerland and Liechtenstein (-1.78 million), the Czech Republic (-1.18 million), Belgium (-1.16 million) and the United Kingdom (-2.20 million).

The decrease by federal states varied. With -74.0%, Vienna was hit hardest, while Carinthia (-17.1%), Burgenland (-27.2%) and Styria (-24.5%) closed the calendar year 2020 with significantly lower declines. While nights spent by non-resident guests decreased in all federal states, there was an increase in resident guests in Carinthia (+5.4%).

By types of accommodation, in hotels and similar accommodations the decrease was over 40%. In commercial holiday dwellings and private holiday dwellings the decrease was 22.6% or 23.6%.

December 2020: only 785.000 nights spent registered

In December 2020, 785.000 nights spent were registered, 93.5% less than in the same month of the previous year. The number of nights spent by non-resident guests sunk by 97.6% and the number of nights spent by resident guests by 78.0%. The number of guests decreased compared to December 2019 by 95.9% to 155.500.

In the current winter season 2020/21 (November and December 2020) 1.86 million nights spent were registered. This corresponds to a 15.62 million decrease compared to the same period of the previous year. The number of guest decreased by 93.6%.

For more detailed results and further information please refer to our website.

For further inquiries please contact Directorate Spatial Statistics, Statistics Austria:  
Peter LAIMER, Tel.: +43 1 71128-7849 resp. peter.laimer@statistik.gv.at;  
Jürgen WEISS, Tel.: +43 1 71128-7974 resp. juergen.weiss@statistik.gv.at

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