New tourism strategies: Vienna, Linz and Innsbruck in focus!

New tourism strategies: Vienna, Linz and Innsbruck in focus!

Innsbruck, Österreich - On July 6, 2025, the ARGE conference of the state capitals took place in Innsbruck, in which representatives: inside the cities of Vienna, Innsbruck and Linz presented new strategies for urban tourism. Norbert Kettner from Wientourismus, Marie-Louise Cord arrow of Linz Tourismus and Barbara Plattner from Innsbruck Tourism gathered to talk about the future orientation and the growing potential of their cities. The impressive figures of the past year are particularly noteworthy: 12.93 million arrivals and 27.49 million overnight stays in the nine cities, which corresponds to an increase of 8% and 7% compared to the previous year, such as Leadersnet.at reported.

Even in the first four months of 2025, the nine cities show a positive picture with 7.548 million overnight stays, an increase of 6%. Kettner not only emphasized the satisfaction of the Viennese population with tourism, which is an impressive 90%, but also how important it is to pursue sustainable strategies. The City of Vienna has been a member of the "UN Tourism International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories" (INSTO) since April 2025 and is pursuing a "Visitor Economy Strategy", which was presented in 2019 and revised in 2025.

investments in the future

Innsbruck goes into the future with full vigor and invests 25 million euros in leisure quality over the next ten years. This also includes 1.4 million euros that will flow into an extensive summer event program. Innsbruck also plans to invest 15 million euros in sustainable solutions. Linz, on the other hand, is pursuing a future strategy with a focus on innovation and sustainability by 2030 in order to establish itself as an internationally competitive destination.

The representatives: Inside the three cities, there are also great opportunities in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), since both Innsbruck and Vienna apply as possible venues. This event could not only attract a large audience-the number of spectators increases annually, from 161 million in 2022 to 164 million in 2025, as reports Hospitalityinigth.Ehl.edu-but also inspire domestic tourism. The last issue of the ESC in Vienna in 2015 led to around 30 million euros in sales and over 100,000 guests.

opportunities through the ESC

Tourism State Secretary Elisabeth Zehenter sees a golden opportunity in the ESC 2026 to strengthen Austria as a cultural location and tourism country. The ESC brings extraordinary economic impulses: Basel, which was aligned with the 69th ESC, recorded a hotel occupancy rate of 95%during the events. The estimated added value was reported at around 64 million euros, such as [Rollingpin.ch] (https://www.rollingpin.ch/news/eurovision-song-contest-nach-oesterreich-holt-wer-turism Vienna, Innsbruck and Linz overall are confident that the application for the ESC will not only attract tourist flows at short notice, but can also have an impact on tourist development in the long term. It remains exciting which city will ultimately get the contract and what further steps the cities will take in the coming time.