Over 130,000 Romanian visitors arrived in Austria last year, the local market being the 11th most important for this country where the tourism sector contributes up to 7.5% to the GDP. Thus, Romania was an important source of income for the only country that does not officially want us in Schengen.
Vienna, the ski resorts or Salzburg are just a few of the destinations preferred by Romanians who spent a cumulative total of over 400,000 nights in 2021 in Austria. Each person stayed an average of three nights, according to an official statistic published by statistik.at, the country’s statistical office.
With an average budget per person per day of 80-100 euros – an amount that includes both the cost of accommodation and meals or other “entertainment” -, it follows that the Romanians rounded up the accounts of businesses in Austria by 30-40 million euros, be they hotels, restaurants, transport companies or otherwise. And this in the second year of the pandemic, in which this country still had many travel restrictions in force. Even so, in 2021, Romania was one of the few countries that sent more people to Austria versus 2020, the increase being 4.4%. Only the USA, Israel and Italy are still among the 15 most important countries for tourism in Austria.
Although the number of Romanian visitors to Austria increased slightly in 2021 compared to the first year of the pandemic, it is still far below the level before the health crisis. In 2019, the last normal year for world tourism, over 370,000 Romanians went to this country, spending over 1 million nights. Then, in the first part of 2020, the pandemic began to “show its fangs” in Europe as well, which is why most countries went into lockdown, and the borders of most states were closed.
The strong decline in the number of tourists came from the fact that Austria, the main destination for Romanians when it comes to skiing and snowboarding, closed its slopes for a long time during the pandemic. The Romanians who kept walking were the ones who chose to visit. On the Bucharest-Vienna route, the national carrier of Austria also flies the low-cost companies that have bet on very low prices in recent years. Thus, Vienna has become a top city-break destination during the pandemic.
In 2022, when the restrictions were lifted, despite the economic or geopolitical problems, Romanians returned in even greater numbers to Austria, with summer months with increases of over 100%, and this in the context of winter peak season for local visitors who go mainly for skiing.
Austria announced that it does not support Romania’s accession to Schengen, being the only country that officially opposes it. On December 8, there will be a vote on whether Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia will be admitted to the Schengen Area.
Austria announced that it supports the accession of Croatia, a country that does not make its place in the top of those that send visitors to Vienna or to the ski slopes. Bulgaria is not in the top 15 “visiting” countries either. Only Romania.
(source: Mediafax)
