Conference tourism continues to grow in Austria in 2014

Austria's appeal as a place to hold meetings has continued to increase in 2014, with 17,028 congresses, corporate meetings, and seminars held over the year representing a 9.7 percent increase over 2013.

The statistics from the Meeting Industry Report Austria 2014, the Austrian Convention Bureau (ACB) and Austria Tourism (OeW) revealed at a press conference Tuesday also showed 1.46 million people had attended these events, a 2.1 percent increase over the previous year.

The attendees are estimated to have contributed 2.8 million overnight hotel stays for the year, up from 2.7 million the year before. Guests also stayed longer, averaging 3.2 days per visitor, and spent more money than before.

"It is exciting that we can continue to grow, as all over the world convention facilities are being expanded," OeW Director Petra Stolba told the APA. As such many countries are working very hard on their appeal and competitiveness is increasingly sharply, she added.

2015 also looks promising so far, Stolba said, with a considerable number of major events booked.

ACB President Christian Mutschlechner said in order to keep up Austrian companies are also having to invest in modernisation, with about 118 million U.S. dollars spent on technology, equipment, and modernisation between 2012 and 2014.

The funds can however be considered well-spent. Mutschlechner said the contribution of such meetings to the Austrian GDP increased 3.69 percent in 2014 to reach 1.46 billion dollars. Endit