Tarting this month, Emirates has become the first airline to operate a scheduled A380 service into Vienna. Having served the Vienna-Dubai route since 2004, Emirates has since then carried almost three million passengers on its double-daily service. By deploying the A380, which has a capacity to seat 519 passengers, the airline will now be able to carry over 1,700 passengers between Dubai and Vienna every day.
Over the past few years, Austria and the cosmopolitan city of Vienna, have developed into one of the fastest growing markets from the Middle East. Last year, more than 115,000 visitors arrived into Austria from the UAE alone, a 34.8 per cent increase compared to the year before. Qatar Airways will increase the frequency of direct flights to Vienna in the summer season and Kuwait Airways will also offer a direct service to Vienna soon.
TTN spoke to Klaus Ehrenbrandtner, regional director Asia & Middle East, Austrian National Tourist Office, for further insight.
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Has there been an increase in Arab tourists over the past one year?
The Middle East has been the fastest-growing market for Austrian tourism in the past years. Likewise, Austria has been the fastest-growing European holiday destination in the Middle East for the past years. In the last ten years, the number of guests from the Middle East to Austria has increased by more than 500 per cent. Last year, the increase was 39 per cent in arrivals and 34 per cent in overnights.
Arabs are the top spenders of all source markets and the number of nights they spend in five-star hotels per stay is twice the global average.
What are the most popular destinations for Arab tourists in the country?
Vienna, Zell am See-Kaprun, Salzburg City, Gastein Valley and Innsbruck. Austria is doing so well in the Middle East as it combines two very popular holiday experiences: the stunning nature with snow-capped mountain tops, green hills and lakes and rivers with crystal-clear water on the one hand, and the romantic historic city centres of Salzburg, Vienna (both declared Unesco world cultural heritage) and Innsbruck on the other hand. Both can be easily combined within a one-hour drive.
What are the top source markets for Austria globally and do they remain the same for this year?
Our top source markets are our neighbouring countries in Europe, especially Germany with more than 50 million overnights a year. We have been observing a constant growth in these markets over the last couple of years.
However, Asia is the fastest-growing source region for Austrian tourism at the moment.
The number of arrivals and overnights from Asia in Austria has doubled in only four years. In 2015, we had 2.1 million arrivals and 4 million overnights out of Asia in Austria.
Last year was a record year for Austrian tourism.
Can you share the break-up of regional source markets by country? Which one is most important for this year?
In this region (Asia), the Middle East is still the strongest market in terms of overnights, followed by China. We had 1.3 million overnights from the Middle East in 2015 and 963,000 from China.
Are there any new hotels or attractions coming up that will be of particular interest to our market?
There have been plenty of luxury hotels opening up in Austria, especially in Vienna in the last years, the Park Hyatt Vienna being only one of them. Also in luxury shopping options there have been major developments such as the Golden Quarter in Vienna, where you can shop in top luxury stores in the middle of the Unesco world cultural heritage area in Vienna’s city centre – exactly like the royals used to do 100 years ago.
Also, the Swarovski Crystal Worlds close to Innsbruck has recently been relaunched with a lot of new attractions and a whole new outdoor area especially dedicated to families with young kids.
What destinations, experiences or brands are you promoting in the Middle East this year?
We are promoting the popular destinations and also some alternatives like the Ötztal Valley, a destination that was also a setting of the latest James Bond movie Spectre. There, you would find everything guests from the Middle East are looking for: an idyllic lake, a waterfall, stunning panoramic views from some of the highest mountains in the Alps, first-class hospitality and restaurants, but also the biggest outdoor adventure park in Europe, the Area47.
Do you think the current political climate in European Union will make it unfavourable for GCC tourists?
Austria has been a very multicultural and open-minded country since it used to be a big empire with lots of different cultures in it until only 100 years ago.
Islam is the second-most widely professed religion in Austria, practiced by 7 per cent of the total population. So, you would find plenty of infrastructure for Muslim travellers.
Austria is unique among Western European countries in so far as it has granted Muslims the status of a recognised religious community more than 100 years ago, since part of its Empire’s population was Muslim.
Do you expect a positive summer influx from GCC/Middle East into Austria?
We do expect a very positive influx from the Middle East to Austria this summer season, especially since Emiratis can travel to Austria without the need for getting a visa and value for money is exceptionally good with the current rate of the euro.