Winter tourism: Mahrer wants paved gardens in winter and Christmas markets with a mask – Coronavirus Vienna

In July alone, Vienna recorded a 73 percent drop in overnight stays. The industry is alarmed and has created a working group that wants to put a concept for winter tourism on the table for the next 14 days.

“Winter tourism consists not only of cross-country ski slopes and slopes, but also Christmas markets, big events, balls, congresses and fairs in the cities,” said Chamber of Commerce President Harald Mahrer. So this year it would be “totally absurd” to close the pub gardens. With a heating mushroom he could leave it open all the time, “for those who want it,” Mahrer said. Representatives of Viennese gastronomy have already spoken in summer for an extension of the curfew and an extension of the season.

Mahrer can also imagine the Christmas markets in this exceptional year. It could work with the help of guidance systems and masks. “It could also be a decision that there is no alcohol,” Mahrer said. The Speaker of the House wants the government to have uniform guidelines for winter and “non-mosaic” tourism. It is not clear how this can be reconciled with the corona traffic light, which provides for regional procedures based on the virus situation.

Currently, the Austrian urban hotel industry is not economically viable. “Not everyone can have it open. For some, it is cheaper to have it closed,” Mahrer admitted. Susanne Kraus-Winkler, president of the professional association for the hospitality industry, estimates that between 70 and 80 percent of establishments were open in September.

The industry now relies primarily on tourists from neighboring countries, including the Netherlands. “With Germany we have a big market around the corner,” Kraus-Winkler said. “The planes will not come full of Chinese and Japanese,” Mahrer said. The Americans and British also stayed away.

The absence of foreign tourists especially hits Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck. With 17.6 million overnight stays in 2019, Vienna accounts for the largest share of Austria’s total overnight stays. Compared to other European cities, Vienna is even better in the Corona summer. In July, the occupancy rate was 25.8 percent. Barcelona only got 22.5 percent, Budapest 17.7 percent, Rome 17.5 percent and Lisbon only 12.5 percent, according to STR data.

Kraus-Winkler does not expect to return to the 2019 level in Austrian cities until 2024. Over the past 20 years, city hotels have been the engine of growth in tourism. Since 2000, the number of overnight stays in cities has almost doubled. “We have to do everything possible to get as many people as possible through the valley of tears,” Mahrer said.