Austria records 28% growth in Indian arrivals

Austria witnessed a growth of 28 per cent in Indian arrivals from January-June 2017,  informed Christine Mukharji, Market Manager-India, Austrian National Tourism Office (ANTO). She added that they are hopeful to welcome over 150,000 Indian arrivals by the end of the year. “Like last year, this year as well India has been a great market for Austria. We witnessed 25 per cent year on year growth from India in 2016 and till June 2017, we have already seen a growth of 28 per cent in Indian arrivals. This also shows that our market share in comparison to our competitors is increasing as Indians realise that we can offer everything from culture, snow and soft sports activities at the destination.” Austria saw the maximum increase from the FIT segment but Mukharji also pointed out that the destination witnessed an Indian wedding in the month of May with 700 people which was a huge revenue booster for Austria. “Not only has the percentage of Indian overnights has gone up for Austria, we have also seen an increase in revenue as these FIT travellers tend to stay mostly in 5-star properties. There has also been an increase in the length of stay amongst the Indian travellers which varies from city to city. Innsbruck has been traditionally a one night destination and the average duration of stay in Vienna is 2.4 days. However Salzburg has developed as a popular tourist destination amongst Indians and the average duration of stay increased from one night to 1.9 nights amongst Indian travellers,” says Mukharji.