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

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

On July 6, 2025, the ARGE conference of the state capitals took place in Innsbruck, at which representatives from the cities of Vienna, Innsbruck and Linz presented new strategies for urban tourism. Norbert Kettner from WienTourismus, Marie-Louise Schnurpfeil from Linz Tourism and Barbara Plattner from Innsbruck Tourism gathered to talk about the future direction and growing potential of their cities. Of particular note are the impressive figures of last year: 12.93 million arrivals and 27.49 million overnight stays in the nine cities, an increase of 8% and 7% compared to the previous year, as leadersnet.at reports.

In the first four months of 2025, the nine cities also show a positive picture with 7.548 million overnight stays, an increase of 6%. Kettner emphasized not only the satisfaction of the Viennese population with tourism, which is an impressive 90%, but also the importance of pursuing 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” that was presented in 2019 and revised in 2025.

Investments in the future

Innsbruck is moving into the future with full enthusiasm and is investing 25 million euros in the quality of leisure time over the next ten years. This also includes 1.4 million euros, which will flow into an extensive summer events program. Innsbruck also plans to invest 15 million euros in sustainable solutions. Linz, on the other hand, is pursuing a future strategy until 2030 with a focus on innovation and sustainability in order to establish itself as an internationally competitive destination.

The representatives of the three cities also see great opportunities in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), as both Innsbruck and Vienna are applying as possible venues. This event could not only attract a large audience - viewership is increasing annually, from 161 million in 2022 to an expected 164 million in 2025, as hospitalityinsights.ehl.edu reports - but also boost domestic tourism. The last ESC event in Vienna in 2015 resulted in around 30 million euros in sales and over 100,000 guests.

Opportunities through the ESC

Tourism State Secretary Elisabeth Zehnter sees the ESC 2026 as a golden opportunity to strengthen Austria as a cultural location and tourism country. The ESC brings extraordinary economic stimulus: Basel, which hosted the 69th ESC, recorded a hotel occupancy rate of 95% during the events. The estimated added value was around 64 million euros, as rollingpin.ch reports.

Overall, Vienna, Innsbruck and Linz are confident that the application for the ESC will not only attract tourist flows in the short term, but can also have a long-term impact on tourism development. It remains exciting to see which city will ultimately win the contract and what further steps the cities will take in the coming period.