“People have desire and money”: High hopes for winter tourism

The local one Tourism industry looks optimistic on the coming one winter season.

“The economic situation of guests has improved in almost all markets compared to the previous year,” said the Tourism State Secretary Susanne Kraus Winkler (ÖVP) on Thursday via video message at a media event organized by the Winter Network in Kaprun. “The tendency to save is declining. Interest in winter sports holidays has steadily increased in the important markets of origin.”

This assessment is supported by data from the current winter potential analysis by Österreich-werbung (ÖW). “17 million guests are planning a winter holiday in Austria this year, 29 million people are definitely or almost certainly planning to do so,” said the ÖW boss Astrid Steharnig-Staudinger. “Traveling is generally very popular; people have the desire and the money.” When it comes to winter in the snow, Austria is in the top 2 in nine of the ten European markets surveyed, and only in fourth place in the United Kingdom. The top position is held in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Hungary.

Ski guests are getting older: “Urgently promote youth”

“We see that snow reliability is decreasing, but people do not come to Austria for the valley descent. We have wonderful snow-reliable areas at high altitudes,” said Steharnig–Staudinger.

Nevertheless, winter tourism faces challenges: “The age at which people stop skiing is decreasing. “Sometimes people under the age of 50 are switching to touring or cross-country skiing.” The average winter guest is now over 50 years old, the average skier is 39 years old old. “We urgently need to do something to support young people.”

In large cities, many students have a migration background, in Vienna around 40 percent. “We have to get these children and their parents excited about skiing.” However, it was not clear to the tourism experts on Thursday how this could be achieved. “There are no developed strategies yet,” said Holger Sickinghead of ÖW tourism research for the APA. However, there is agreement that motivation through parents is difficult and schools probably have an important role to play. Franz Hörl, chairman of the cable car association, also saw it this way: “We have to motivate teachers to take children on winter sports holidays – and support the boys with free tickets or cheap tickets until they reach university age.”

Climate change as a challenge

In addition to the young generation, climate change poses a challenge: “Guests see that Alpine winter tourism is facing major changes in the next ten to 20 years,” said Sicking. “They assume that winter sports will no longer be possible every day as usual. But they are realistic and flexible. Guests expect winter sports at higher altitudes, shorter seasons, a shortage of offerings and higher prices.”

That’s why it’s important to offer and promote attractive alternatives for non-skiers or accompanying people. Currently, after skiing, winter hiking is at the top of the list of activities, followed by wellness, culinary delights and cross-country skiing. However, one thing is also clear: “There is no equivalent alternative to the skiing experience. Even the best cuisine and wellness cannot replace that.” Sicking’s conclusion: “Snow isn’t everything. However, without snow everything is nothing.”

The Winter Network is a platform on which representatives from cable cars, the ski industry, the ski instructors’ association and tourism experts exchange ideas and represent their interests to the outside world.