First and foremost, Greece is the destination that Austrians want to visit for their summer holidays. This is the result - according to the Austrian National Tourist Office Austria - of a survey/poll of the travel barometer Reisekompass 2023 recently published. The survey comes to reinforce the optimistic trend of the Austrian tourism market towards Greece, as it was already formed in 2022.
Between January and November 2022, the tourist traffic from Austria to Greek destinations showed a significant increase of 13,94% compared to 2019, which is reflected in the official data of the Austrian National Statistical Office, BUNDESANSTALT STATISTIK ÖSTERREICH-Statistik Austria.
Thus, following the extremely successful tourist year 2022, the market signals are optimistic for the upcoming tourist season, with Greece accounting for 21% of the trend of bookings for the main summer holidays, followed by Spain (9%), Turkey (9%) and Italy (7%).
Similarly positive are the messages from the main tour operators and airlines, with the leading carrier Austrian Airlines starting direct connections to 21 Greek destinations as early as 26 March: Athens, Thessaloniki/Halkidiki, Kavala, Volos, Skiathos, Skyros, Preveza, Corfu, Kefalonia, Zakynthos, Araxos, Kalamata, Rhodes, Kos, Karpathos, Samos, Lemnos, Mykonos, Santorini, Heraklion, Chania.
According to the Reisekompass (Travel Barometer) 2023, published by Helga Freund, General Manager of Ruefa, Austria's largest travel agency chain:
Despite the price increases, the desire and ability of Austrians to take leisure trips is reaching a new record, as the 89% has trips planned both in Austria and abroad.
16% even plans to extend its holidays during the low tourist season.
The majority of respondents want to travel at least twice with a minimum budget of €1,700/person, about €150 more than in 2022.
3/4 of respondents will spend their holidays in European countries and 23% in non-European destinations. The average holiday duration is 18 days of which 11 for the main summer holidays.
