Tourism in Austria still reached around 7.5% of GDP in 2019, total spending amounted to €38 bn

Press release: 12.571-162/21

Vienna, 2021-07-20 - In 2019, the entire Austrian tourism industry (including business trips) achieved direct and indirect value added effects due to tourism consumption expenditure (including business trips) of €29.7 bn. Tourism thus made a direct or indirect contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 7.5%. As the results of the currently available Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) for Austria further show, resident and non-resident guests spent €37.65 bn in 2019; in 2018 it was €35.60 bn.

'In the pre-crisis year 2019 tourism directly contributed 5.5% to Austria's gross domestic product, e.g. due to tourists' expenditures in accommodation and restaurants. Together with indirect contributions, e.g. through bakery or beverage deliveries to hotels, tourism accounted for 7.5% of GDP. In comparison to other EU countries, this puts Austria's tourism in the top third. Not least, this explains why Austria was impacted severely by the Corona crisis in economic terms,' said Statistics Austria Director General Tobias Thomas.

Non-resident guests account for more than half of the expenditure

Of the almost €38 bn in total spending on holiday and business trips by day guests and overnight tourists in Austria in 2019, €20.78 bn, more than half (55.2%) was attributable to non-resident guests. Guests from Austria spent a total of €16.65 bn (share: 44.2%). Expenditures in vacation homes amounted to around €0.23 bn (share: 0.6%).

Considering the expenses of day guests, these account for €7.72 bn, around a fifth (20.5%) of the total expenses. One fourth of the total expenditure by resident guests (25.3%) is due to day guests; and this share is 16.8% for the expenditure of non-resident guests.

Around 200 000 persons (FTE) employed in tourism

In 2019, according to the results of the TSA employment module (TSA BM), 253 700 self-employed and employed persons or 200 100 employees (measured in full-time equivalents (FTE)) can be directly attributed to tourism. Relating these figures to the average number of employed persons in the economy as a whole in 2019, the shares amounted to 5.3% and 5.1%, respectively.

More detailed results and further information on the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) can be found on our website under 'Tourism Satellite Account ' in the BMLRT's 'Tourism Report 2020' (only in German available) and on the WIFO-Website (download button: STAT/WIFO study; only in German available).

Information on methods:The Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) has been implemented since the reporting year 2000in a joint project by Statistics Austria(STAT) and the Austrian Institute for Economic Research Institute (WIFO) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Regions and Tourism (BMLRT). With the TSA the interrelation of the tourism industry with other economic sectors and the dimension of the tourist consumption expenditure of resident and non-resident guests in Austria can be made clear.
The TSA is based on the methodological principles recommended by UNWTO, OECD and Eurostat(Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework 2008; TSA: RMF2008); this largely ensures the international comparability of the calculations on the economic importance of tourism in the countries.
Conventional tourism statistics, mostly 'accommodation statistics' collecting overnight stays in commercial and private accommodation establishments, cannot or only partially show the diversity and multi-disciplinarity of 'tourism', as only a few aspects of tourism are recorded. - The 'tourist' occurs only partially and is not integrated as a statistical reference value, since the full range of tourist behaviour - e.g. same-day trips or visiting relatives or friends - is not considered and only the physical, but not the monetary aspect is considered. On the supply side, the situation with regard to tourism is rather the same, since the statistical basis is more extensive, but the components (e.g. accommodation and catering) cannot or only partially be combined to show overall tourism based on tourism statistical data (e.g. overnight stays and turnover).
Due to the inadequate statistical data collection related to tourism, model-like approaches that go beyond traditional statistics can provide information about overall tourism. A comprehensive statistical recording of the phenomenon 'tourism' can only be achieved via 'tourism-economic accounts' or 'satellite systems' to the 'National Accounts' (NA), therefore, which represent tourism in all its dimensions on the basis of NA-related accounts trying to integrate the tourist supply side with the demand side (or vice versa). Accordingly, the TSA represents a macroeconomic and not a microeconomic model, and the TSA results are providing global and benchmark figures which do not allow or only a limited analysis on a small-scale level.
The compilation of 'TSA for Austria' requires a large number of data sources. In principle, data from Statistics Austria and external institutions (or a combination of both) are used; in addition, administrative data and, if necessary, individual information (e.g. annual business reports) are used. The available sources are often different related to terms and definitions as well as the underlying unit concept. These are either transformed in such a way that they can be used immediately for the TSA calculations or serve as the basis for estimates and assumptions, respectively, on which they are based.
Starting with the reporting year 2000, Statistics Austriaand the WIFOdeveloped a TSA for Austria.
For some time now, both institutes have also been compiling Regional TSAs(RTSA) for some Austrian Länder (Burgenland, Lower Austria, Upper Austria and Vienna); starting with the reference year 2018, RTSAs are now being drawn up for eight Austrian Länder, which allows for the first time the development of a nationwide consistent tourism satellite system considering in addition the national TSA for Austria.
With regard to TSA, over time there are always revisionsof the results, as the final values according to the NA are only available with a certain time lag. In addition, it can be assumed that the compilation of RTSAs, which have been fundamentally harmonized for the first time for eight federal states, will result in further findings and, as a result, corresponding adjustments in the national TSA. In this case, it is an event-related revision, which is primarily due to improved information and estimation bases, but does not reflect any changed economic conditions in the tourism industry.
With regard to the work to be carried out, STAT is responsible for the creation of the base satellite and the TSA standard tables in accordance with TSA:RMF 2008, whereby this only includes the direct effects (added value and employment). - WIFO provides estimates regarding the indirect effects of tourism (value added and employment), estimates for the current year and the following year (in addition and if necessary, the direct and indirect effects of the leisure industry are estimated).
Further information on the methodologycan be found in the 'Standard-Dokumentation zum Tourismus-Satellitenkonto für Österreich' (PDF, 700 KB) (only available in German).

For further inquiries please contact Directorate Spatial Statistics, Statistics Austria:
Peter LAIMER, Tel.: +43 1 71128-7849 resp. [email protected]
Ines ORSOLIC, Tel.: +43 1 71128-7085 resp. [email protected]

Media owner, producer and publisher:
STATISTICS AUSTRIA, Federal Institution under Public Law
1110 Vienna, Austria, Guglgasse 13, Tel.: +43 1 71128-7777
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