At the beginning of the season, Austrian winter tourism had every reason to be happy: After extensive losses in recent years, the industry has now come back to the figures from the years before the pandemic. At the end of December, Statistics Austria reported that overnight stays were 4.88 million, the third highest in November after 2018 and 2019.
More than half of the overnight stays were due to guests from abroad – with most tourists from Germany. Overnight stays by domestic guests also increased by 40 percent to 2.04 million. Compared to 2017, overnight stays increased by 0.8 percent, compared to November of the previous year, which was characterized by CoV, there was an increase of 49.5 percent.
Peak temperatures like in March
However, the exceptionally mild weather in the mountains is affecting the ski slopes throughout Austria – winter temperatures and snow in the valleys are still not in sight. “In the high altitude range, we had peak temperatures on New Year’s Eve with the foehn, as is usually the case in March. At the top, the slope then opens up quickly and becomes soft, in the cold air lakes in the valley it sometimes tightened during the night,” says Erich Egger, spokesman for the Salzburg cable cars and managing director of the Schmittenhöhebahn in Zell am See.
In the past two days, the temperatures have dropped significantly again, but the altitude range is still not clearly in the red. “The slopes are holding up well because it has gotten cooler now. But there are sections of the slopes where you would like more snow. And up to 2,000 meters above sea level, it will still not be possible to make snow in the coming days,” says Egger. Cooler temperatures are already announced, but the forecasts are constantly changing.
Small ski areas cease operations
Due to the lack of snow, many slopes are currently icy, and there are often no fall areas, which has sometimes led to fatalities. Because there is a lack of natural snow and it is currently too warm for artificial snowmaking, some small, low-lying ski areas have already ceased operations.
Other ski areas changed their plans at short notice: In Lower Austria, some lifts also transported pedestrians to enable hiking instead of skiing, such as the Ötscher lifts in Lackenhof am Ötscher. In addition, the occupancy of the thermal baths was above normal – more on this in noe.ORF.at.
Lack of snow has not yet had any consequences for the booking situation
However, according to information from tourism professionals, the lack of snow and the associated problems have hardly had any impact on the booking situation. Despite the often lack of snow, this is currently “very good” in tourist locations, according to Secretary of State for Tourism Susanne Kraus-Winkler (ÖVP). Global warming is “a challenge. But I warn against painting black.”
“The guests came, even if we couldn’t offer them a winter wonderland,” Lower Austria’s Tourism Provincial Councilor Jochen Danninger (ÖVP) drew a positive balance of the Christmas holidays. “Many hosts are satisfied with the booking situation for the Christmas holidays. It wasn’t the guests who stayed away, just Mother Holle.”
In Tyrol, too, as far as overnight stays and bookings are concerned, as of the end of December they were at the same level as in the pre-coronavirus period, said Tyrol advertising manager Karin Seiler in the APA interview. Holiday guests are back in the city of Salzburg as well as in the ski areas in the country. There, the occupancy rate in the hotel industry was well over 90 percent in some places. For January, too, the region is currently booking 70 percent occupancy, and tourism professionals are expecting further bookings for the coming weeks.
Fresh snow urgently needed
If it doesn’t get colder soon and there is fresh snow, this could have consequences for the months of February and March, which traditionally have a large number of guests. “The Christmas guest is an absolute family vacationer who is very happy when he can sit on the terrace at Christmas and enjoy the beautiful weather. The January guest is a very sporty, active guest, for whom skiing is the top priority,” said the managing director of Hochkönig Tourismus GmbH, Christine Scharfetter – more on this in salzburg.ORF.at.
If the thaw continues in the next few weeks, there could be no more new bookings here and there, said Walter Veit, President of the Austrian Hotel Association (ÖHV), last week to the APA. However, this will hardly have any effect on existing bookings. “The people who have already booked will probably come,” says Veit. “As far as I know, there were no cancellations due to lack of snow between Christmas and Epiphany. The guests don’t cancel their vacation if only five lifts out of ten are running.”
Weaker January already expected
It was also clear in advance that January would be weaker in principle. “The guests from Russia and Ukraine, who would otherwise have come for the Orthodox holidays, are missing this year. And the English guest is also absent in some areas,” said Veit, who himself runs a hotel in the Salzburg tourist resort of Obertauern. “But the regular guests basically stand by their houses and their region. And those who come by car do go to the higher ski areas, such as Obertauern or the Kitzsteinhorn, to go skiing.”
The assessment of the ÖHV President is also shared in Salzburg’s Pinzgau. There are currently no cancellations due to the snow situation, said an employee of the tourism association to the APA. “Mid-January is never particularly well booked here, we have a pronounced January slump there. For February and March it may of course be the case that guests wait to book and see how the snow conditions develop.”
Lack of staff remains a challenge
In addition to the climate, the labor shortage remains a major challenge in tourism, State Secretary for Tourism Kraus-Winkler pointed out. You need foreign employees, and the companies would also have to change. Tourism promotion will be realigned. EU rules should apply to the Chinese.
“For this year we’re halfway through, but before the next winter season we need a sustainable solution soon enough and not a patchwork. We simply don’t have enough people on the job market,” said Tyrolean Tourism Minister Mario Gerber (ÖVP) and advocated simplifying the Red-White-Red Card for third-country nationals.
