Overnight hotel stays in Austria hit new record in 2015

The Austrian tourism industry has seen a record 135.15 million overnight hotel stays for the entire year 2015, Statistics Austria revealed Friday.

Total hotel stays were 2.5 percent more recorded in 2014 and 1.3 percent more than 2013.

Visitors from neighboring Germany, by far the largest source of tourists to Austria, recorded over 50 million overnight stays.

Austrian Minister of Economy Reinhold Mitterlehner said in a press release he was highly pleased with the results for the year, noting that tourism has remained a strong component of the Austrian economy.

He said global tourism increased 4.4 percent in 2015, a trend that Austria can profit from.

As a result his ministry will be aiming to market Austria to new countries and new target groups, with a 4 million euro (4.33 million U.S. dollar) marketing package to attract greater tourist numbers in particular from Asian markets such as China and the Republic of Korea, along with certain other European countries.

This should also help to allay concerns over a late slump in the year that has caused tourism industry heads some concern.

Tighter border controls due to the migrant crisis along with a lack of snow effecting ski resorts resulted in poorer tourism results over the winter season, particularly in the month of December, Austrian Press Agency reported, quoting the Austrian Federal Economic Chambers. Enditem