Forecasts of Overnight Stays as well as Revenue and Real Gross Value Added of the Accommodation and Food Service Sector by Federal Provinces

Despite the general forecast of economic weakness in Austria, demand for tourism will remain robust in the further course of 2023. According to WIFO's forecast, the number of tourism overnight stays in Austria will increase by a total of 0.9 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2023. As a result, demand for overnight stays in the third quarter of 2023 will also exceed the pre-pandemic level of the comparable period in 2019 by 0.8 percent. Continued high inflation continues to impact nominal sales in the third quarter of 2023, such that nominal advance sales tax (UVA) reporting volumes of lodging and hospitality establishments are forecast to increase by 6.3 percent. In price-adjusted terms, accommodation and food service gross value added is expected to decline by 1.5 percent in third quarter of 2023. In the fourth quarter of 2023, year-on-year growth in overnight stays is estimated at 7.5 percent, and nominal advance sales tax receipts should increase by 12.2 percent. With declining inflation and an easing of production costs, price-adjusted gross value added is also expected to increase in the fourth quarter compared to the same quarter of the previous year (6.6 percent).