Tourismus

Tourism is an important factor of the Austrian economy. Not only Austria´s beautiful landscape but also its rich culture attract visitors from Europe and overseas countries every year. In 1993 25 million visitors stayed in Austria (127 million overnight stays); 18 million were foreign visitors (96.8 million overnight stays).

In Austria the winter season and the summer season have about the same importance for tourism. In 1993 the foreign exchange earnings made by the tourist trade amounted to 156.2 billion ATS, 33.4 % of the total export revenue and 7.4 % of the country´s GDP. Tourism is of essential importance to Austria and tourism is the most important economic factor compared to other OECD countries. In 1992 earnings from tourism in Austria were 20,636 ATS per head, Switzerland was second with 12,329 ATS per head. About 10 % of all employed and self-employed Austrians work in tourism. Tourism is important for equalising regional imbalances by bringing in more people to live in the tourist regions and by increasing their quality of life. Moreover, tourism makes a major contribution to offsetting Austria´s trade deficit: in 1993 the adverse foreign trade balance of 97.7 billion ATS was more than offset by earnings from foreign tourist trade (by 159.9 %). Earnings from tourism (61 billion ATS) today make up for 62,5 % of the deficit in the Austrian trade balance. Tourism is also of great value for the current account.

In 1993 Austrian offered a great variety of leisure, sport and other facilities: about 3,500 funicular railways and lifts, 400 skiing schools, 22,000 km of ski slopes, 8,300 skiing instructors and 1,270 skiing huts and restaurants. There were also about 1,250 outdoor swimming pools and bathing beaches on the lakes, 900 indoor swimming pools, 60 sailing schools and 100 surf schools, about 5000 tennis courts and 50 golf courses, about 600 villages and towns where visitors can go fishing and 500 with riding establishments, and about 10,000 km of cycling paths and 50,000 km of marked hiking paths. On August 31, 1993 (date of survey) Austria had 1.23 million beds for tourists: 680,000 in hotels and guest houses, 270,000 in private quarters and 280,000 in other facilities. 24 % of the hotel beds were in luxury and first class establishments (four and five star category), 35 % in good hotels or guesthouses (three star category) and 41% in hotels and guesthouses of average standard (two or one star category). Visitors to Austria are mainly attracted by the country´s rich culture and interesting history, by the scenic beauty of the various regions and by abundant leisure and sports facilities.

The first visitors to Austria came in the Middle Ages: there are records of pilgrimages from the 14^th  century to Austrian places of religious devotion; a pilgrimage to Baden (Coat of arms with people bathing from 1480) and to Badgastein have been documented since the 15^th  century. Visitors to the salt mine of Dürrnberg and to Hohensalzburg fortress have been documented since the 17^th  century and at the end of the 18^th  century several thousand visitors came to see Hohensalzburg. During the Enlightenment leading personalities of European cultural life began to make educational journeys in the Salzkammergut (around 1890). The Congress of Vienna in 1814/1815 marked the beginning of "Congress tourism" in Austria. The Romantic period with its interest in nature gave rise to alpinism (from 1761) and brought the first tourists to the Alps. When the first Alpine associations were founded in the 50s and 60s of the 19^th  century (the first was the "Alpine Club" in London), tourism in the Alps began to become organised. A Regulation for Mountain Guides was issued in 1871 and the first association of mountain guides was founded in Kals in 1877. Day trips became popular in the Biedermeier period; winter tourism (skiing) emerged and the first "mährisch-schlesischer Schneeschuhlauf-Verein" (Moravian-Silesian skiing club) was founded in Olmütz/Olomouc in 1893; the first book on skiing technique was published in 1896 ("Alpine Lilienfelder Skifahrtechnik" - "Lilienfeld Alpine Skiing Technique"). The first skiing course was held in Stuben am Arlberg in 1905 and the first ski-lift in Central Europe was built at Bödele near Dornbirn at the Lankschanze ski jump and began to operate in 1908.

In 1904 earnings from tourism led to a favourable trade balance for the Austro-Hungarian economy and up to World War I tourism became more and more important and earnings increased. Once the damage caused by the war and the austerity of the post-war years had been repaired in the First Republic, a rapid upswing ensued and continued until the beginning of the Great Depression: in 1928/29 there were 19,9 million overnight stays (8.6 million were due to visitors from abroad). The Depression, unstable political developments and the German Tausend-Mark-Sperre ( Thousand Mark Ban) caused a major setback and it was not until 1937 that the number of overnight stays rose to previous levels (20.2 million overnight stays, 6.4 million due to visitors from abroad). The foreign exchange income was 250 million ATS, which fully made up the Austrian trade deficit of 231 million ATS.

Reconstruction after World War II started from zero: while hotels and other facilities had 218,000 beds at their disposal in 1937, there were only 125,000 beds available for tourists in 1948. The situation of Austrian tourism started to improve in the early fifties, and the State Treaty signed on May 15, 1955, marked the beginning of an unprecedented upswing.

The Austrian authorities had already become aware of the importance of tourism in the early 19^th  century: In 1807 a decree was issued (Hofkanzleidekret) to promote spa activities at Teplitz-Schönau. When the Ministry for Transport (then called Ministry for Railways) was established in 1896, it comprised a separate department (Department 13) responsible for the promotion of tourism. In 1923 the Federal Ministry for Trade and Transport was entrusted with the promotion of tourism, while the regulation of tourism remained within the competence of the provincial authorities. Up to 1973 the various ministries that were responsible for areas affected by tourism each had a tourism department. In 1973 a special section was established within the Ministry of Trade, Commerce and Industry that was not only responsible for the promotion of tourism and trade but also dealt with general tourist policies.

At the provincial level the first law on tourism (1. Landesfremdenverkehrsgesetz) was passed in 1910 by the Tirolean Landtag; in 1890 a provincial association for the promotion of tourism was formed in Tirol. Today tourism is a provincial matter and each Austrian province has its own laws on tourism; according to Article 15 of the Austrian Constitutional Law the legislation and execution of laws regarding tourism lie within the competence of the individual provinces.

The first regional associations were established in the last century: The Verkehrsverein Bregenz was founded in 1871, in Styria an association for the promotion of tourism was formed out of a committee of the Steirischer Gebirgsverein in 1881; in 1884 representatives of 107 municipalities went to Graz to take part in the conference for the promotion of Austrian tourism ("Delegiertentag zur Förderung des Fremdenverkehrs in den österreichischen Alpenländern"), in 1891 the Salzkammergut-Verkehrsverband touristic association was established. Today both municipalities and holiday regions have their own tourist associations (in spas and health resorts there is also a spa commission).

Literature: Österreichisches Institut für Raumplanung (ed.), Trends im Tourismus, 1985; G. Bruckmann et al., Umwelt und Tourismus, 1992; U. Krobot, Von der Sommerfrische zum Fremdenverkehr, 1992; E. Smeral, Tourismus 2000, 1994.