Travel Behaviour

Overall, in 2020, 4.5 million tourists from Austria undertook 12.65 million holiday trips within Austria and abroad; three quarter of the trips were domestic (74.1%). While the average length of stay was 3.6 nights for domestic holidays, holidays abroad averaged 6.4 nights. Thus more overnight stays were spent at domestic destinations (61,6%) than abroad.

The most popular foreign travel destinations were Germany (23.5%), followed by Italy (21.9%), Croatia (7.1%), Hungary (5.6%) and Spain (3.6%).

Peak travel time was the 3rd quarter of 2020: this period (July - September) accounted for a total of 5.61 million (44.3%) of all holiday trips, with significantly more short term holiday trips (1 to 3 nights) (52.9%) than main holiday trips. A further 3.03 million holiday trips (24.0%) were made in the 1st quarter of 2020 (January - March). The least holiday trips were made in the 4th quarter of 2020 (October – December: 1.9 million vacation trips; share 15.0%) and in the 2nd quarter of 2020 (April – June: 2.1 million vacation trips; share 16.7%). In these two quarters significantly more domestic holiday trips were undertaken than trips abroad: 86.3% (2nd quarter) and 82.6% (4th quarter) of all trips were spent in Austria.

The most popular means of transport remains the car: 77.2% of all holiday trips were made by car, for domestic travel the proportion (83.6%) was even higher. Considering holiday trips abroad, the aircraft (24.6%) was in second place after the car (59.0%).

Hotels and similar establishments were most often chosen as accommodation (41.8%) on holiday trips, followed by private accommodations free of charge (40.9%). For domestic trips the use of private accommodations free of charge (41.6%) is more or less the same than for holiday trips abroad (41.3%).

Business Trips 2020

Overall, 0.8 million individuals living in Austria (15+), undertook at least one business trip within Austria or abroad in 2020. This corresponds to a business travel intensity of 10.2%.

In the year 2020, 1.7 million business trips were undertaken. More than half of the business trips (59.5%) were domestic and 73.9% of the business trips lasted no longer than three overnight stays. Most business trips abroad went to Germany (55.8%), followed by Switzerland (6.4%) and Italy (4.5%).

In September 2021 the data for the year 2020 were revised due to methodological corrections. This affects the number of trips and overnight stays, as well as all characteristics such as means of transport, type of accommodation, travel expenses, etc.