Before Covid-19, Austria welcomed 1.3 million overnight from the GCC in 2019, making it one of the most important feeder markets outside Europe, besides China.
We speak to Robert Groeblacher, Director Middle East, Austrian National Tourist Office, for more insight. “Last year, travel only started slowly in July, but then from August it was already quite good. For the whole GCC, we generated 400,000 overnights, almost a third of 2019 figures but I would say it was a good return to form.
“This year, we expect to get much better numbers. We are quite confident in Austria now for that travelling will begin in earnest, especially during the summer season.”
“We are now the only traditional Western European country to offer multiple connections via premium as well as low-cost airlines from the GCC ”
– Robert Groeblacher
Last year as a whole was very interesting to observe, Groeblacher tells us. “For July and August 2021, we had almost comparable numbers to 2019. In fact, August 2021 was even better than August 2019. Travel is coming back and the winter season was not as bad as we first expected. People are returning for the skiing season as soon as restrictions are reduced.
“We are now the only traditional Western European holiday country from the GCC that offers multiple points of connection via premium as well as low-cost airlines. From the UAE alone, Emirates, Fly Dubai, Etihad Airways as well as Wizz Air Abu Dhabi connects to Austria. Air Arabia used to fly and that is another local carrier. From Saudi Arabia, we have FlyNas and Kuwait Airways has also shown keen interest in connecting with us over this summer. Qatar Airways also connects us.
For most European countries, the airlines take a lot of passengers from the GCC to Europe over summer and then the other way round, a lot of people will come in wintertime to the GCC, explains the director. “I think the real travel season this year will start is May but we are keen to grow awareness about our autumn and spring seasons. We want to encourage people to visit Austria in the wintertime and not just for skiing, which is a small target group in the GCC, but to experience a winter wonderland, with a combination of cities and nature.
“We will likely run an awareness campaign about our winter offerings - what to do in Austria beyond skiing.”
Travelling to Austria has just gotten a lot easier as the country announced that all Covid protection measures will be lifted from the country starting March 5, depending on the epidemiological situation.