Vienna Tourist Board
DESTINATION MARKETING & DESTINATION MANAGEMENTORGANIZATION FOR VIENNAOVERVIEW OF THE DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS OF THE VIENNA TOURIST BOARD AS WELL AS THE
ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF THE VISITOR ECONOMY FOR VIENNAContents
1
1.1
1.2
1.3

Overview of the Vienna Tourist Board
Marketing and Service on a Non-Profit Basis
Leading the Way: President, Tourism Commission and Director of Tourism
Financing of the Vienna Tourist Board

2
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4

The Vienna Tourism Industry and its Economic Importance
Visitor Economy Strategy: Adding value for the city
What Surveys and Statistics tell us about the “average VISITOR”
From Luxury HotelS to Simple PensionS: 74,000 beds
Meetings, congresses, Incentives

3
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6

The Departments of the Vienna Tourist Board
Destination Management: Strategic Destination Development
Brand Management & B2C Marketing: International Marketing of the Destination
Media House: Media Experience of Vienna from Curation to Media Relations
B2B management
Corporate Public Relations: The Vienna Tourist Board in the Public Eye
Commercial Services: Organizational Backbone of the Vienna Tourist Board

1

Overview of the Vienna Tourist Board

The Vienna Tourist Board is the official destination marketing and management organization
for the City of Vienna. Established in 1955, the board’s mandate includes representing the tourist
interests of the city, promoting the destination worldwide, assisting private visitors and meeting
participants with information and services, contributing to tourism measures instigated by themunicipality, and promoting an understanding among local residents for the tourism industry andits economic, cultural and social significance.
1.1

MARKETING AND SERVICE ON A NON-PROFIT BASISThe Vienna Tourist Board’s Destination Marketing department specifically targets thosegroups which make the greatest contributions towards achieving the goals set out in the Visitor
Economy Strategy. The Vienna Tourist Board and its teams work closely with tour operators andgate keepers (luxury segment), maintain close ties with top international media representatives,
help meeting organizers plan and prepare meetings and incentives in Vienna and offer informationand hotel booking services for international travelers. In 2024, the main focus will be on 12 markets(primarily Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Spain, France and Italy, as well as the USA,
Canada, Arab countries, Japan, China and South Korea). In addition, partnerships relating to air
and rail service development will also continue to be pursued with a view to enhancing Vienna’s
links to international rail and air travel networks. The luxury travel and meetings industry segments
are being adressed globally as well. The Vienna Tourist Board also provides visitor services in
Vienna from its main tourist information center behind the Vienna State Opera, a welcome points
at Vienna International Airport, as well as several mobile tourist info points. In addition, the Vienna
Tourist Board is involved in destination management activities in cooperation with stakeholders
from various areas with a view to further improving the city for visitors and local residents alike.
1.2

LEADING THE WAY: PRESIDENT, TOURISM COMMISSION AND DIRECTOR OF TOURISM

Peter Hanke, Executive City Councilor of Finance, Business, Labour, International Affairs andVienna Public Utilities, has been President of the Vienna Tourist Board since June 19, 2018. Norbert
Kettner was appointed Managing Director (Director of Tourism) in September 2007. The President
is nominated by the Vienna city government, and the Managing Director by the Tourism
Commission (the supervisory board) on the President’s recommendation. The Tourism
Commission consists of the President, two Vice Presidents, and 15 other members, most of whom
are appointed by the municipality. It is responsible for the budget and for other essential matters.
1.3

FINANCING OF THE VIENNA TOURIST BOARD

The budget for 2024 is EUR 32.7 million. Before the pandemic, a local accommodation tax of 3.2%of net room rates, levied under Vienna’s Promotion of Tourism Act, accounted for 85% of the total.
Due to the shortfall in local tax revenue due to the Covid-19 pandemic, an agreement was reachedwith the City of Vienna under which it agreed to contribute EUR 22m. For 2024, funding from theCity of Vienna, which is adjusted in line with inflation, will amount to EUR 25.6 million, which
accounts for about 78.1% of the Vienna Tourist Board’s total budget. The remainder comes fromthe Vienna Chamber of Commerce (1.99%) and the Board’s own revenues.

2

The Vienna Tourism Industry and its Economic ImportanceFor many years, the greater Vienna area (City of Vienna plus surrounding municipalities) has
been ranked amongst the top 10 cities in Europe in the annual City Destinations Alliance (formerly:
European Cities Marketing) benchmarking report. In 2019 the greater Vienna area recorded
around 18.6 million bednights. This included around 17.6 million bednights for the core area within
the city limits alone: over 83% of these were attributable to foreign visitors, who accounted for 7.9
million arrivals. As a result, net revenue generated by Vienna’s hotel industry surpassed the EUR 1
billion mark the first time in 2019 (EUR 1.02bn).
After the sharp downturns in 2020 and 2021 and the onset of recovery from 2022 onwards
the picture for 2023 reveals clear signs of normalization: between January and December 2023
Vienna posted 17.3 million visitor overnights, which represented a 31% year-on-year increase on
2022 and was equivalent to 98% of the total recorded in 2019 before the outbreak of the crisis. In
2023 net revenue from overnights at Vienna’s commercial accommodation providers amounted
to EUR 1.236 billion – up 40% on 2022 and up 21% on 2019.
Economic studies show that the annual induced economic impact usually generated by
tourism in the core Vienna area (direct and indirect benefits) amounts to some EUR 4.7 billion(reporting year 2018). This represents approximately 4.8% of Vienna’s gross regional product, andapproximately one Fifth of the induced economic impact from tourism for the whole of Austria.
In addition to the 4.7 billion euros in direct value added in Vienna, tourism in Vienna
generates 900 million euros in value added for the rest of Austria (excluding Vienna). Tourism inVienna ranked second among all of Austria’s federal provinces (behind Tyrol and ahead ofSalzburg) – in terms of both direct and induced economic impact, as well as tourist spending (EUR
7.2 billion).
Tourism is an important source of jobs for Vienna: according to the Statistics Austria Tourism
Satellite Account (TSA) and the Austrian Institute of Economic Research Vienna (WIFO), Vienna’s
tourism and leisure industry sustains every ninth full-time job in Vienna. In good times, the industry
stands for 103,300 full-time jobs (reporting year 2018).

The ongoing representative survey conducted by the Vienna Tourist Board on local
residents’ acceptance to tourism shows that locals are overwhelmingly supportive of tourism –with 9 out of 10 people living in Vienna seeing tourism as positive for the city (3, 600 respondents
in 2023).
Visitors to Vienna (core area) come from all over the world. In 2023, 82% of overnight stays
were accounted for by visitors from abroad. Main markets before the crisis in 2019 and 2023,
measured in terms of total overnights, are:
#

2019

2023

1
2

Germany
Austria

19%
17%

Germany
Austria

19%
18%

3
4
5

USA
Italy
United Kingdom

6%
5%
4%

USA
Italy
United Kingdom

6%
5%
4%

6
7
8
9
10

Spain
China
FranceRussiaSwitzerland

4%
3%
3%
3%
3%

Spain
France, Monaco
PolandSwitzerland, Liechtenstein
Romania

3%
3%
3%
2%
2%

Sources: City of Vienna Municipal Department 6 – Accounting Services, Duties and Charges & Municipal Department 23 –Economy, Labor and Statistics, City DNA Benchmarking Report, TSA – Statistics Austria/WIFO

2.1

VISITOR ECONOMY STRATEGY: ADDING VALUE FOR THE CITY

The Vienna Tourist Board presented its Visitor Economy Strategy in fall 2019. Inspired by the
motto of Shaping Vienna, the new strategy completely redefines travel as a phenomenon and its
effect on the destination, while targeting sustainable development and balancing the needs ofboth residents and visitors. The emphasis is on adding value for the city, its residents andbusinesses. While the fundamental strategy remains unchanged, the targets set were adjusted toreflect the shift in demand and change in circumstances triggered by the coronavirus crisis. The
focus is on economic, environmental and social sustainability and resilience – in other words, thedestination’s ability to learn from and withstand crises.
2.2

WHAT SURVEYS AND STATISTICS TELL US ABOUT THE “AVERAGE VISITOR”

According to the 2022/2023 Visitor Survey (around 3,000 respondents), the typical visitor
to Vienna is 47.8 years old, a salaried employee, well educated, usually with one other person. Just
under half of guests (47%) were visiting for the first time, around 22% had already been to Vienna
once before and around a third (32%) were returning to Vienna for at least the third time. 75% ofvisitors named sights and culture as one of the reasons for choosing the destination. 39% ofvisitors travel to Vienna by air, 31% by train, while 23% travel by car and 4% by bus. A small numberof visitors reached the city by another means of transportation − with alternatives ranging frommotorhomes to yachts and bicycles. What do visitors to Vienna do? The list is topped bysightseeing, followed by walking through the city, dining at restaurants, visiting museums andexhibitions, and going to coffeehouses.
2.3

FROM LUXURY HOTELS TO SIMPLE PENSIONS: 74,000 BEDS

Vienna offers a wide range of overnight accommodation, from palaces and international
hotel chains to family-run establishments. Palais Württemberg for example has become the 5-starsuperior Hotel Imperial, and the palace of Archduke Leopold Salvator is now the 4-star Austria
Trend Hotel Schloss Wilhelminenberg. The international chains include familiar names such as The
Ritz-Carlton, InterContinental, Hilton, Anantara, Marriott, Le Méridien, Radisson, Renaissance,
Mercure, Holiday Inn or NH; the Austrian chains range from Austria Trend Hotels to family-run
hotels such as the 5-star superior Hotel Sacher, the 4-star Hotel Stefanie and the 4-star Altstadt
Vienna. Of the approximately 74,400 beds in 410 hotels and pensions (including seasonal hotels
open only in summer), around 60% are in the luxury or premium 4 and 5-star category. In 2023,
the average length of stay was 2.33 nights, and average bed occupancy around 54%. This isequivalent to a room occupancy of around 69%. Over the entire year Vienna has the highest bed
occupancy rate in Austria.
2.4

MEETINGS, CONGRESSES, INCENTIVESCongresses, corporate meetings and incentives are an important part of Vienna’s tourism
industry. An analysis of the long-term average reveals that this segment accounted for one ineleven overnight stays. The 2023 Vienna meetings industry statistics showed that the 6,454
meetings (congresses and corporate events) held during the year represent a 49% increase over2022 and 18% more meetings compared to the pre-pandemic 2019 total. Participant numbers atthese meetings amounted to around 633,000 in 2023. Together they generated around 1,591,000
overnights (2019: 1.6 million) The meeting industry is one of the main sources of revenue for thecity’s visitor economy. Congress participants generate significantly higher revenues than leisure
tourists. At an average of EUR 550, their daily expenditure is about twice as high as that of theaverage visitor to Vienna.
The city’s outstanding meeting infrastructure, the high service standards of meeting service
providers (travel agents caterers, interpreters, etc. specializing in meetings and its cultural appeal
all help make Vienna one of the top destinations for international congresses and meetings. The
statistics published by the two leading organizations – the International Congress and Convention
Association (ICCA) and the Union of International Associations (UIA) – regularly show Vienna in a

top position among cities around the world. The latest international congress totals confirmed by
ICCA for 2023 saw Vienna claim fourth place worldwide with 141 events, the list was topped by
Paris (156), Singapore (152) and Lisbon (151). After Vienna, the rest of the top ten was made up ofBarcelona (139), Prague (134), Rome (119), Madrid (109), Dublin (104) and Seoul (103). And in thelatest UIA congress ranking for 2023, Vienna placed second worldwide (298 meetings). The list
was topped by Brussels (620). After Vienna, the rest of the top ten was made up of Tokyo (226),
Seoul (200), Lisbon (147), London (139), Paris (124), Madrid (116), Barcelona (115) and Dubai (114).

3

The Departments of the Vienna Tourist Board

The Vienna Tourist Board is organized into five departments and one staff unit. The following
paragraphs describe the responsibilities of these permanent entities. The Vienna Tourist Board
also makes use of interdepartmental task forces to ensure that the different departments can pool
their resources to meet new challenges and respond quickly to changing circumstances.
3.1

DESTINATION MANAGEMENT: STRATEGIC DESTINATION DEVELOPMENT

Destination management means targeted promotion of local partner networking, including
the target group of residents, and actively addressing the important strategic challenges that city
tourism will face over the coming years.
This department is responsible for the development of the current Destination Strategy,
market and trend research, statistics and forecasts as well as visitor and resident surveys. The
scope of the department’s responsibilities also extends to the organization of industry events suchas the annual Tourism Conference and training initiatives such as the Vienna Experts Club. The
club’s members, primarily consisting of employees of hotels in Vienna and incoming travel
agencies, are given free training on Vienna as a tourism product. The department’s Industry
Services team is the central point of contact for Vienna’s tourist industry, and accommodation
providers in particular. The Vienna Experts Club currently has around 600 members.
The task of the Vienna Tourist Board’s visitor services (assigned to this department) range
from providing information and making hotel reservations to handling complaints. At the central
tourist information office on Albertinaplatz, visitors can obtain information in person as well as
brochures in eight different languages, while a commercial partner sells tickets for cultural eventsand sightseeing tours. The Vienna Tourist Board’s information counter at Vienna International
Airport is also open every day. During the warmer months of the year, mobile tourist information
points (Vienna-branded cargo bikes) provide visitors and residents with advice aboutneighborhoods outside the first district.

3.2

BRAND MANAGEMENT & B2C MARKETING: INTERNATIONAL MARKETING OF THE
DESTINATIONThe Brand Management & B2C Marketing department is responsible for strategic andoperational management of Vienna as a tourism brand as well as for developing and implementing
the Tourist Board’s corporate identity. It also plans and realizes integrated, innovative B2C
campaigns for the international travel market using a contemporary communications mix. Central
image and video management, production of promotional materials and giveaways, as well as
cooperation campaigns with strategic partners, also come under the department ’s remit.
The goal of B2C Marketing is to anchor the Vienna brand in target audiences’ minds andinspire prospective visitors to come to the city. This is accomplished in 360° communications
campaigns as well as data-driven contacts via digital channels, as well as personal communicationand inspiration on social media. The team is also responsible for central image and video
management as well as running the photo.vienna.info and footage.vienna.info image and video
databases, which contain around 1,000 images and one terabyte of video footage . The
department also handles production of all the Vienna Tourist Board’s advertising materials andinformation tools. Advertising sales are an important factor in the production of informationmaterials, as they generate revenue which significantly contributes to the production costs formany publications (such as the city map in eight languages).
In 2016 a new brand strategy was developed in collaboration with Munich’s Nymphenburg
Group using insights gained from neuromarketing. Encouraging Enjoyment was defined as thebrand core, and – based on a comprehensive analysis of the target group – five brand assets ofdecisive importance to the success of Vienna’s destination brand were identified. The strongestof these is Vienna’s imperial heritage, followed by its music and cultural attractions, its culinary
culture, aspects of Vienna’s status as a modern, livable city, and its healthy balance of urban
ambience and green spaces. The advertising strategy implemented worldwide by the Vienna
Tourist Board since October 2016 is based on these brand assets.
International target audiences: in its international market development activities, the Vienna
Tourist Board focuses on identifying and reaching out to prospective visitors to Vienna who aremost likely to find it appealing as a quality destination with a premium offering and respond b est
to its sustainable development ambitions, and who can make a contribution to the city’s qualities
through their cultural diversity and their behavior. Using pre-defined quality criteria, a target group
was identified who can either be reached directly or via multipliers, consisting of people for whom
Vienna is most relevant as a travel destination and who match the criteria. In terms of Limbic types,
they are Open connoisseurs and Performers. Additionally, the special segments of luxury, LGBTand business are targeted.

3.3

MEDIA HOUSE: MEDIA EXPERIENCE OF VIENNA FROM CURATION TO MEDIA RELATIONSThe Media House department (comprising the Content Creation, Channel Management andInternational Media teams) brings together the organization’s content creation activities and its
channel and media-specific variations.
The www.vienna.info website acts as a central information and inspiration platform for
visitors to the city and residents alike, expressing the spirit of the city in 12 languages. Additionalfeatures including an online booking service for Vienna’s accommodations, a comprehensive
event database, detailed information on key locations in the capital and customizable travel
itineraries complete the picture.
In 2020 the Vienna Tourist Board established another innovative channel with a wide reach:
The digital city guide ivie includes more than 1,000 locations, as well as routes for numerous city
walks, an event database and details of around 800 cafés, bars and restaurants. Facts and figures– and in some cases out-of-the-ordinary stories – bring the individual entries to life, helping visitors
connect with some of Vienna’s lesser-known sides. Among the app’s other features is a functionthat shows how busy the location in question is. Users can also purchase the Vienna City Cardthrough the ivie app.
Usually sent out once a month, the German and English versions of the Vienna Tourist Board
newsletter keep fans all over the world up to speed on all the latest that Vienna has to offer.
The department’s media relations managers are the contacts for international media andalso host international media representatives, who the Vienna Tourist Board assists with theirresearch in Vienna. In this way, journalists from print and online media as well as radio, TV and film
teams and influencers receive efficient support with their research and filming work. New topics
and offerings in Vienna are presented in defined markets at press events and through regularpress releases. The media team also provides access to extensive research texts on a wide varietyof themes ranging from architecture to Viennese wine. Each normal year, the Vienna Tourist board
is able to verify up to 3,000 media reports on Vienna worldwide which have been initiated by thisintensive media work.
The Media House department also plays a leading role in creating the content featured inthe Vienna Tourist Board’s printed materials. From new magazine Vienna, Intl. to the city maps, itsgoal is always to produce high-quality content that is both inspiring and informative.

3.4

B2B MANAGEMENT

The B2B Management department comprises experts from the Vienna Convention Bureau,
International B2B Relations and B2B Marketing Communications teams. The Convention Bureau’s
principal task is the global acquisition of congresses, corporate meetings and incentives and toprovide comprehensive support for meeting organizers. As the main contact for the travelindustry, the International B2B Relations team acts as an interface between the Vienna travelindustry and its international counterparts. Its focus is on planning and organizing marketingmeasures for defined incoming tourist markets. The B2B Marketing Communications team is
responsible for B2B communications initiatives targeting the travel, international mobility andmeeting industry sectors. Market development is focused on the premium target group,
positioning Vienna above all as a city of art and culture, as well as advancing air and rail service
development, and the luxury travel segment.
The Vienna Convention Bureau (VCB) regularly organizes Sales Calls and represents themeeting destination at specialist workshops and fairs, usually including IMEX Frankfurt, IMEX
America in Las Vegas and IBTM World Barcelona. In Vienna, it assists meeting organizers at site
inspections and famtrips. Vienna is represented at around 40 specialist workshops each year andsupports hundreds of meeting organizers in the city. The VCB website meeting.vienna.info
provides detailed information on Vienna as a meeting destination. It publishes the annual Meetings
Industry Report as well as the brochure Meeting in Vienna, which summarizes Vienna’s assets forconference organizers at a glance in five languages.
The new Meeting Destination Vienna communications concept was launched in 2019.
Aligned to the brand strategy for the destination as a whole, in terms of content it draws on thehigh quality of service and expertise offered by Vienna’s meetings industry. T he central
communicative idea runs through all the elements of the brand: ‘Vienna makes it easy for you’ –to plan, organize and enjoy an event. The target audience is addressed directly – one of themessages from Vienna is ‘Meet exceptional perspectives through local eyes’. The feeling of people
meeting and interacting with one another is encapsulated in the slogan, which, in turn, is a smart
extension of the umbrella brand for Vienna. ‘Vienna Now. Forever’ has been extended to ‘Meeting
Destination Vienna. Now. Together’.
The International B2B Relations team is responsible for making sure that Vienna isrepresented in international travel industry offerings. Each year, its staff represent Vienna on up
to one hundred business trips to industry and public events (workshops, fairs, sales calls, etc.) andorganize participation in these events for numerous tourism partners. In Vienna, they assist
hundreds of representatives from the international travel industry each year.

The scope of the department’s responsibilities also extends to managing the Vienna Experts
Club International which is a customer loyalty program for the global travel industry. It currently
has around 17,500 members in 90 different countries.
Servicing the Luxury Guest target audience is primarily accomplished through targetedmarketing measures which are used to forge closer contacts with gatekeepers and raiseawareness of Vienna as a destination among luxury travelers. The Vienna Tourist Board is amember of the Virtuoso and Serandipians by Traveller Made luxury travel networks.
Under the Air Service Development agreement, the Vienna Tourist Board and Vienna
International Airport have been working together since 2016 on pioneering projects to bring new
direct flights to the capital from major cities all over the world. Rail service development is anotherkey aspect for nearby markets. This includes work with Austrian National Railways (ÖBB) and
Deutsche Bahn.
3.5

CORPORATE PUBLIC RELATIONS: THE VIENNA TOURIST BOARD IN THE PUBLIC EYECorporate Public Relations is the executive department responsible for the way in which theVienna Tourist Board is perceived by the general public. The department's task is to keep
journalists, industry representatives and (through media relations) also the city’s residents
informed both of the Vienna Tourist Board’s activities and tourism-related developments in thecity with an emphasis on the economic, cultural and social significance of tourism. In regular press
releases and press conferences as well as in its regularly published industry newsletter, theCorporate PR team reports on the latest tourist figures, marketing highlights, congressacquisitions and trade events. The department is also charged with handling media requests,
producing the annual report and writing articles for trade publications.

3.6

COMMERCIAL SERVICES: ORGANIZATIONAL BACKBONE OF THE VIENNA TOURIST BOARD

As the organizational backbone of the Vienna Tourist Board, the Commercial Services
department is responsible for a wide range of areas, from HR, controlling and accounts, toemployer branding and organizational development. Cooperations and regional partn erships arealso the responsibility of this department, alongside IT, logistics and facility management. The
goal of the department is to ensure smooth processes tailored to the needs of users, especiallythrough the use of digitalization and automation.
The Commercial Services department is also in charge of the Vienna Film Incentive, which
promotes international film productions in the city. Of central importance for Vienna as a tourist
location, they are an important source of value creation for Vienna's Visitor Economy and a key

driver of the city’s continued internationalization. Sustainability is also anchored in the department
as a core strategic focus – it is where the various threads come together as regards the
management and coordination of internal company measures and projects as well as formallyrecording and documenting them.
Ongoing development of the Vienna City Card, the Vienna Tourist Board’s official visitor
card, also falls under the responsibility of this department. The Vienna City Card entitles holders
to numerous discounts as well as unlimited travel on the Wiener Linien public transportation
network. It is also available with add-ons, including transfer to and from the airport and hop-on
hop-off bus tours. The Vienna City Card was certified in accordance with the Austrian
Umweltzeichen ecolabel in November 2022, making it the world's first green visitor card.

vienna.info
b2b.vienna.info
ivie.vienna.info
meeting.vienna.info

facebook.com/ViennaTouristBoard
instagram.com/vienna
tiktok.com/@vienna.info
pinterest.at/viennatouristboard

youtube.com/Vienna
twitter.com/ViennaInfob2b
WeChatweibo.com/welcometovienna

shaping.vienna.info

linkedin.com/company/vienna-tourist-board

Little Red Book (维也纳旅游局)#ViennaNow

linkedin.com/company/vienna-convention-bureau

Vienna City Card

Vienna Tourist Board, Invalidenstrasse 6, 1030 Vienna, tel. +43 1 211 14 0, E-mail: info@vienna.info