Austria: Guests expect high prices in winter » News | Tip
You also have to understand that there have been almost no price increases in the two years of the pandemic,” she said today at a conference in Vienna. Kraus-Winkler left open the extent to which prices will actually rise. In yesterday’s evening edition of the ” Kurier” she had spoken of price increases for hotels amounting to 20%. According to “Kurier”, prices for ski lifts could increase by 9 to 10% compared to the previous year. She referred today to the “huge range of possibilities for vacationing – from vacationing on a farm to a five-star hotel”. Depending on the budget, everyone can look for a form of vacation that suits them.
No impact on demand yet
According to Kraus-Winkler, the increased prices have not yet had any effect on demand. In winter tourism, bookings have “started quite well” so far, and the pre-booking of tickets for the cable cars is sometimes stronger than usual. The desire to do winter sports and winter holidays is very much there,” she said. It is not yet possible to say uniformly how domestic tourism would deal with the necessary savings measures in winter. According to the tourism secretary, the supply situation in Europe is currently very dynamic. “We will have to see how the situation develops from month to month and whether there is actually a shortage.”
Energy consumption was overestimated
The energy consumption of domestic tourism was often overestimated. According to Monika Mörth, Managing Director of the Federal Environment Agency, the accommodation, gastronomy and cable car sectors only account for around 1.55% of Austrian energy consumption. Winter tourism alone accounts for around 0.9% of total consumption. According to Kraus Winkler, “switching off” winter tourism without a concrete shortage would not do much either.
Financial support
Because many companies can no longer afford the sharp rise in energy costs, the government decided on Wednesday to increase the budget for the energy cost subsidy from EUR 450 million to EUR 1.3 billion. The subsidy is linked to certain energy-saving requirements. According to the State Secretary, it is not yet foreseeable how many of the local tourism companies will take advantage of this subsidy. The variety of companies in the industry makes it difficult “to impose the same concept on everyone”. The responsibility for saving measures currently lies with the individual companies and this should remain so for as long as possible, “but everyone has to look for the best way to save,” she emphasized.
Saving energy is of course the order of the day, but it must not lead to the holiday experience being clouded or even made impossible, according to the Austrian Economic Chamber (WKÖ). “If savings are only announced in the decimal places, this should not trigger several percentage points of value creation losses,” wrote Robert Seeber, head of the Federal Department of Tourism and Leisure Industry in the WKÖ in a broadcast. (APA/red)