The 2025/26 winter tourism season in Austria was the country’s strongest season on record, with overnight stays and guest arrivals hitting new highs, according to preliminary figures from Statistics Austria.
The country registered 74.23 million overnight stays between November 2025 and April 2026, up 2.5% on the previous winter season, while arrivals increased by 3.4% to 21.33 million guests.
“Austrian tourism can look back on a winter season 2025/26 with high numbers of overnight stays,” commented Manuela Lenk, director general, statistics, at Statistics Austria. “The 2.5% increase in overnight stays compared with the previous winter season to over 74 million, and the 3.4% rise in arrivals to more than 21 million guests in Austrian hotels, guesthouses and holiday apartments, have resulted in the highest figures since electronic records began in 1973/74.”
As the data showed, overnight stays by domestic visitors increased by 0.8% to 16.67 million, while stays by international guests rose by 3.1% to 57.56 million.
Non-resident arrivals climbed by 3.9% to 15.24 million, while domestic arrivals increased by 2.4% to 6.09 million.
Tyrol and Salzburg continued to dominate Austria’s winter tourism market, accounting for 42.92 million overnight stays between them, equivalent to 57.8% of the national total. Overnight stays across the two provinces increased by 2.3% compared with the previous season.
Vienna recorded one of the strongest performances among Austria’s federal provinces, with overnight stays increasing by 6.1% year-on-year.
Carinthia (+4.2%), Upper Austria (+3.2%) and Styria (+2.1%) also reported gains.
Visitors from Germany
Germany remained Austria’s largest international tourism market during the winter season. German visitors accounted for 26.49 million overnight stays, up 2.1% on the previous season and representing almost half of all international overnight stays.
The Netherlands remained the second-largest foreign source market, with overnight stays increasing by 2% to 6.97 million.
Guests from Germany, Austria and the Netherlands combined accounted for 68% of all overnight stays during the season.
Busy months
In terms of the busiest months for winter tourism in Austria, January and February remained the peak months, accounting for almost half of all overnight stays during the season with 34.63 million nights, or 46.7% of the total.
December 2025 also recorded particularly strong growth, with overnight stays increasing by 10% year-on-year to 13.92 million.
In April 2026, the final month of the winter season, overnight stays declined by 5.9% to 7.81 million compared with April 2025.
Strong start to 2026
Between January and April 2026, Austria recorded 54.54 million overnight stays overall, representing a 0.6% increase compared with the same period in 2025.
Statistics Austria said 14.73 million arrivals were recorded during the first four months of the year, with international guests accounting for more than 10.6 million arrivals. Read more here.
