Holidays: Lots of fresh snow encourages bookings
TOURISM
Tourists in Salzburg are confident about the beginning of the semester break. The booking situation has recently improved significantly. Another reason for optimism is the large amount of fresh snow. Salzburg’s mountains are in the depths of winter, which has gotten around to large parts of Europe via the internet and media reports.
After a “very bad January” – as the jargon of the tourism experts calls it – with the “full eruption of the infamous January hole” there is now more confidence in bookings in the weeks of the semester break. Demand has increased significantly. According to the hotel industry, occupancy is currently 66 percent. A few weeks ago, experts had expected a maximum of 40 percent.
A third of total sales in February
Erich Egger, CEO of the Schmittenhöhebahnen in Zell am See and spokesman for the Salzburg cable car industry, is similarly surprising: “In February, we make more than 30 percent of our total turnover in winter. Strong weeks await us now. We got a lot of snow on the mountains.”
Current pictures
On Saturday, the ski tourers Tina Hölbling from Bad Hofgastein (Pongau) and Michael and Evelin Strele from Lamprechtshausen (Flachgau) sent us these current photos of the Graukogel in Bad Gastein. There in the small ski area, after months of standstill (lack of staff due to the CoV crisis), the lifts are now also in operation – from Friday to Sunday:
“Snow pictures have a quick effect on bookings”
Walter Veit, hotelier in Obertauern (Pongau/Lungau) and President of the Austrian Hotel Association (ÖHV), describes the fresh snow of the past few days as a gift from heaven. When great snow pictures are published across Europe, it always triggers bookings at short notice and a boom.
City trips still deep in the crisis
A very good deal is expected for the semester break. After that, it is particularly important that Germany takes the Republic of Austria off the list of what politicians call “high-risk countries”. The tourism industry continues to have great concerns when it comes to city breaks. These hotels and guesthouses continue to face catastrophic declines, the Hoteliers Association said.