Inflation and Geopolitical Uncertainty Weighs on Tourism

High COVID-19 infection rates and the governmental pandemic control measures, in particular the officially ordered lockdowns, continued to cloud the economic environment for domestic tourism for the second year in a row. However, with the measures largely lifted from February 2022, demand picked up steadily through August 2022, and the gap compared to the 2019 season narrowed significantly throughout the summer season. For winter 2022-23, however, the outlook is characterised by great uncertainty due to the consequences of the Ukraine war: high inflation and an expected slump in the Austrian economy as well as other European countries, especially Germany, could noticeably dampen household spending.