Sharp decline in bed occupancy in the tourism year 2019/20

Press release: 12.420-011/21

Vienna, 2021-01-22 - According to Statistics Austria, bed occupancy in Austrian lodging establishments was 30.5% in the 2019/20 winter season (November 2019 to April 2020), down 7.2 percentage points from the previous season. In commercial accommodation establishments - with the exception of camping - occupancy was 33.3% (-8.4 percentage points), while in private establishments it was 22.5% (-3.8 percentage points; see Table 1).

'In the Corona year 2020, many beds remained empty. If the 2019/20 winter tourist season was already affected by Corona-related business closures and travel restrictions for a month and a half, the decline in the 2020 summer season was even more pronounced: 'The pandemic caused foreign guests to stay away, and despite 'Holidays in Austria,' bed occupancy fell by 12.4 percentage points to 24.1 percent,' says Statistics Austria Director General Tobias Thomas.

Commercial lodging establishments (excluding camping) were just as affected in Corona Summer 2020, with a drop of 15.8 percentage points and an occupancy rate of 26.3%, as private establishments, which had an occupancy rate of 18.0%, 3.3 percentage points lower than in the previous summer.

More accommodation establishments and beds

In the tourism year 2019/20 (November 2019 to October 2020), around 1.14 million beds were available in 68.402 accommodation establishments (not including camping). Thus, the number of beds rose by 0.9% and the number of establishments by 1.5% compared to the previous year. 50.6% of the available beds were registered in Tyrol (352,010; +0.4%) and Salzburg (226,675; +1.7%).

73.5% of the total number of beds available in the 2019/20 tourism year were in commercial and 26.5% in private establishments; 81.5% of the nights spent were in commercial and 18.5% in private accommodation. However, there were significantly fewer commercial (32.5% of all accommodation establishments; including camping) than private establishments (share: 67.5%).

Highest number of beds per 1 000 inhabitants in Obertauern and Ischgl

The largest bed providers were Vienna (82 465 beds in winter 2019/20 and 81 377 in summer 2020), followed by Saalbach-Hinterglemm (winter: 17 696), and the city of Salzburg with 16 121 beds in summer. The highest number of beds per 1 000 inhabitants had Obertauern (12 791 in winter) and Ischgl (7 154 in summer).

The highest share of private beds was recorded in Zell am See (winter: 34.8%, summer: 36.1%). The commercial bed share was highest in the city of Salzburg (winter 97.7% and summer 97.6%). The average size of accommodation establishments in Salzburg was 84 beds per accommodation establishment in winter and 81 beds in summer, the lowest was in winter in Schladming, Zell am See and St. Anton am Arlberg with 17 beds per accommodation establishment.

For more detailed information please refer to the German version or our website.

For further inquiries please contact Directorate Spacial Statistics, Statistics Austria:
Peter LAIMER, tel.: [phone] resp. [e-mail]
Christa SCHISCHEG, tel.: [phone] resp. [e-mail]

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