The Austria tourism industry started to recover quickly and strongly as soon as the country decided to ease its COVID-19 restrictions.
However, due to the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the Austrian tourism industry is once again characterised by a high degree of certainty, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
The Austrian Institute of Economic Research has revealed through its most recent publication that the war in Ukraine is expected to have a negative impact on the overall demand for vacations in Austria.
Moreover, the same has noted that the price increases in many countries are also expected to restrict travellers’ budgets, thus causing the positive trend to drop.
According to the Institute, due to such uncertainties, travellers might choose to change their destinations, look for cheaper accommodations, or even abandon their vacation plans.
“Fewer and shorter vacations, cheaper accommodations, and changes in destination and transportation choices could result. Also, disruption of international air travel will lead to lower demand from distant markets; in addition, demand from these markets could suffer from the perception of Europe as a ‘place of war’,” the statement of the Austrian Institute of Economic Research reads.
The data provided by the latter shows that despite the spread of the virus, Austria registered high numbers of travellers in the first two months of this year. Demand from January to February 2022 was only 27.9 per cent lower than in the same period in 2019, meaning that the country continues to register a high number of arrivals.
Austria currently applies facilitated entry rules for all travellers. The country relaxed its entry restrictions back in March.
The Austrian authorities explain that all travellers, regardless of whether they are travelling from an EU or non-EU country, are permitted restriction-free entry as long as they hold a valid vaccination, recovery, or test certificate.
However, it has been emphasised that everyone must make sure to meet the validity period that currently applies to each of these three certificates.
A vaccination pass must have been issued in the last 270 days, and a recovery pass must have been issued in the last 180 days in order to be considered valid when reaching Austria.
Previously, SchengenVisaInfo.com reported that Austrian Airlines is expecting to welcome around 58,000 holidaymakers during the Easter weekend.
The airline claimed that for the period between Good Friday (April 15) and Easter Monday (April 18), they expect over 530 departures for Vienna. In addition, the same noted that it plans to increase the number of employees at Vienna International Airport and at all Austrian Airlines counters and gates.
