Austria reports 35.2 % Middle East tourist growth
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The Austrian National Tourist Office (ANTO) recently revealed its tourism statistics from the region. In the last 10 years, number of guests from the Middle East visiting Austria has grown by 664.6% and number of overnights generated by them has grown by 519.3%.
“Austria has grown faster than any other European country in this market. We are growing twice as fast as other popular European destinations like Germany or Switzerland. In 2012, Austria counted a total of 218,070 arrivals (an increase of 36.3%) and 712,514 overnights (an increase of 35.2%) from the Middle East. The majority of Middle Eastern guests in Austria came from KSA (29%) and the UAE (28%). Saudi-Arabia was the source country with the biggest increase for Austrian tourism in 2012 with an increase of 67.0% arrivals and 69.2% overnights as compared to the previous year. We are expecting this momentum to continue through-out this year,” said an optimistic Klaus Ehrenbrandtner, regional director for Asia & Middle East.
Due to the increasing demand for trips to Austria from the GCC, there are new connections on offer both to Munich and to Vienna: Lufthansa will increase its Riyadh-Munich service from three to five flights a week beginning 16 May. Turkish Airlines is also starting to offer direct flights to Salzburg City from 28 May.