Over 20 million arrivals and 72 million overnight stays were recorded in Austria throughout 2021, down by 34.6 and 36.6 per cent from the previous year, the Tourism Ministry data shows.
According to a press release issued by the authority, the decrease in arrivals is by 10.5 million fewer tourists. In contrast, the number of overnight stays spent is 41.5 million short of 2020.
Breaking these numbers down, out of 20 million tourists, a total of 8.7 million representing 43.9 per cent of Austrians, opted for domestic tourism, with the main destinations being Vienna with 1.75 million tourists representing 8.8 per cent of all arrivals; Lower Austria with 1.72 million tourists (8.6 per cent) and Upper Austria with 1.5 million arrivals (7.8 per cent).
As per international tourists, those reached 11.2 million, down by 40.9 per cent or 7.7 million arrivals compared to the corresponding time in the previous year.
The main tourism source for Austria in 2021 was Germany, as 6.9 million of all arrivals came from there, representing 34.9 per cent of all arrivals. In addition, Germans spent 28.7 million overnight stays, accounting for 39.9 per cent of all overnight stays.
However, this number was down by 35.1 per cent in 2021, which means that 15.4 million fewer nights were spent in the country.
Furthermore, the second most successful tourism market for Austrians was the Netherlands, with 809,405 tourists, 763,293 or 48.5 per cent fewer than in 2020. Dutch spent 3.6 million overnight stays in Austria last year, 57.3 per cent or 4.8 million less than in the previous year.
Following this tourism trend from the neighbouring countries, Switzerland and Lichtenstein make up the third-largest group of tourists in 2021, with 518,319 arrivals and 1.8 million overnight stays recorded.
In total, 18.7 million arrivals in Austria last year came from the other EU Member States, which accounted for 93.7 per cent of all international tourists. However, this number went down by 31.7 per cent, with 8.7 million fewer tourists reaching the Central European country.
