every 100 tourists in Vienna a Viennese will be invited to Italy
One outgoing tourist in every hundred lines. The new frontier of promotion passes through Vienna with a sort of exchange-travelers designed to increase flows, in the name of reciprocity and sustainability. United cities of tourism is the project launched by the Austrian capital’s tourism board to support the resumption of travel in Europe, targeting 17 countries in six cities.
The idea is to promote the Habsburg city on the continent by “returning the favor” to partner cities. Until June 30, in fact, every 100 tourists to Basel, a Vienna tourism, will send concitta concitta one of the locations involved, including Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Cologne, Zurich, Geneva, Rome, Zurich, Florence, London, Manchester, Barcelona, Paris, Lyon and Nice. «A circular type strategy – he comments Norberto KettnerDirector of ViennaTourism – which is of interest not only to foreign travelers who come to visit us, but also to the Viennese themselves who wish to discover new destinations. The goal is to support each other for a decisive and rapid restart of the sector ».
A project that intends to develop the competition between European cities in an alliance to develop new industries, exchanges of profits, creation of values. As happened on May 15 with the “United cities of tourism” day in which postcards of one of the other cities involved appeared on the official Instagram pages of London, Paris, Berlin, Milan and Barcelona: Vienna, for example, showed the beauties of Rome and London those of the Austrian capital. «With this initiative we want to dare to give impetus to City break – adds Kettner – so much so that before Covid this way of traveling recorded the highest growth rates of European tourism ». And with its 17.6 million overnight stays, in 2019 Vienna exceeded the threshold of one billion euros in turnover in the hotel sector for the first time. “We believe that tourism towards cities can be increasingly an attraction for tourists who, in addition to historical-artistic beauties and culture, also seek sustainability which in Vienna is well rooted in the urban fabric: in public transport, cultural institutions and accommodation facilities” .
A corollary of a proposal that can also be considered ecological, the promotion launched by Austrian Airlines and ÖBB, the latter partner of the initiative for the Italian market: by registering on the official portal of the airline page, it is in fact possible to obtain one of the many one-way tickets. return offered to reach Vienna, Florence, Rome or Milan with the Nightjet. «A comfortable and sustainable way – he observes Klaus Garstenauermember of the board of directors of ÖBB-Personenverkehr AG – considering that traveling by train is 30 times greener than traveling by car ».