Vienna’s record year for tourism in 2016 is equalled by the city’s meetings industry, which reported top results in all relevant key indicators: the number of events rose 11%, triggering a 2% increase in bednights, which saw induced economic impact advance some 3% to pass the one billion euro mark for the second year in succession.
President of Vienna Tourist Board and Vienna City Councilor for Finance, Economic and International Affairs Renate Brauner, Director of Tourism Norbert Kettner and Christian Mutschlechner, Head of Vienna Convention Bureau, presented the results at a press conference hosted by the Vienna Tourist Board on March 22. Guest speaker Josef Eberhardsteiner, Vice Rector for Infrastructure at Vienna’s Technical University (TU Wien), gave an insight into TU Wien as an event location and explained the university’s strategy to expand its international horizons.
All-time-high: more than 4,000 meetings for the first time
«Congratulations to everyone involved in Vienna’s meetings industry», Renate Brauner began, «as they have played their part in achieving the best results in Vienna’s history as a meeting destination. Our city hosted 4,084 conferences, corporate events and incentives in 2016 – around 11% more than 2015. With around 567,000 participants during the year, meetings contributed 1,718,000 bednights in 2016, an increase of 2% on the previous year,” she continued.
Induced economic impact tops Euro 1 billion in 2016
«The meetings industry’s contribution to Austrian GDP was no less impressive», Renate Brauner said. «Compared with 2015, which exceeded the one billion mark for the first time, the contribution of Vienna’s meetings industry to the national economy increased in 2016 by additional 3% to EUR 1.072 billion». The induced economic impact includes direct expenditure by participants, conference organizers, exhibitors and accompanying persons, as well as income from upstream areas of the economy that is indirectly induced by the meetings (e.g. food and beverage suppliers, printers, construction companies, banks, insurance companies, communications companies etc.).
Meetings industry secures about 20,000 year-round jobs
«Vienna’s meetings industry once again proved to be a dependable employer, securing more than 19,700 year-round jobs nationwide», Brauner noted. «The records set in 2015 were surpassed with gains in all key indicators, with performances mirroring those of the capital’s thriving tourism sector in 2016».
One in eight visitor overnights in Vienna attributable to meetings
«The importance and volume of meetings and congress tourism for Vienna comes into sharp focus when this segment is compared to the rest of the capital’s tourism industry. Overnight stays generated by meetings, congresses and incentives accounted for 12% of the bednights reported by the Viennese tourism industry in 2016. In other words, one in every eight overnight stays in Vienna is accounted for by meetings», Kettner confirmed. The 4,084 events held in Vienna in 2016 break down as follows: 1,320 congresses (down 5%), whereof 581 national (down 10%) and 739 international (down 1%), and 2,764 (up 21%) corporate events, meetings and incentives, whereof 1,095 national (up 4%) and 1,669 international (up 34%).