The Decline in the Tourism Surplus

Up to the early 1990s, the export surplus for tourism was the major component in the current account offsetting the perennial trade deficit. Since then the structural weaknesses of the Austrian tourism industry have had a negative impact on the balance for travel services. The trend decline in the foreign demand for Austrian tourism services has been amplified by the appreciation of the schilling against several major currencies and by the globalization process. An appropriate package of measures to boost tourism should enable Austria, even though it is now a highly industrialized country, to earn an export surplus in tourism of ½ to 1 percent of GDP.