Croatia among the most sought-after foreign destinations for Austrians

According to the results of a survey on the travel plans of the Austrian population in 2022, conducted by the association of national tourism organizations Corps Touristique Austria, Croatia is among the top five most sought-after foreign destinations for Austrians!

The list is led by Italy with 58%, Croatia is second with 46%, and among the most popular destinations are Germany, Greece and Spain.

"The research results confirm that, despite all the challenges and circumstances, we have successfully maintained our position as one of the leading and most popular foreign destinations among Austrians. We are also pleased with the indicators according to which 83% of Austrians plan to travel this year, of which around 66% plan to travel abroad. Compared to last year, these new indicators represent an increase in interest and demand for travel of around 20%, which indicates a continuation of positive trends this year.", said Branimir Tončinić, director of the Croatian Tourist Board's Representative Office in Austria. 

When we talk about the part of the year when Austrians will travel the most, the results show that it will be during the main summer season with a trend of increased interest in holidays in September.

"Austria is traditionally one of the most important source markets for Croatian tourism. Last year, we achieved around 6,4 million overnight stays by Austrians, who thus took a high fourth place in terms of achieved results. This year, we expect even better results and a significant convergence with the trends from pre-pandemic 2019.", said the director of the Croatian Tourist Board, Kristjan Staničić, adding that Austrians spent the most nights last year in Istria, Kvarner and Zadar County.

Let's add that the results of the research show that the demand of Austrians will be this year most pronounced for bathing vacation, city break tourism, wellness and cultural tourism, while they will most likely choose hotels, holiday homes and apartments for accommodation. However, the most important criteria by which Austrians will choose destinations include cleanliness and hygiene, safety and weather and climate.

Cars and airplanes are the most popular means of transportation.

The use of personal cars increased compared to the previous year (from 72,3% to 76,6%), while the use of airplanes decreased (from 58,0% to 53,5%) and the use of trains as a means of transport increased (from 26,7% to 30,8%)).

The development of the booking channel is interesting.

Global booking platforms remain at the top (from 59,4% last year to 56,5% this year) as do direct bookings (from 49,2% to 48,9% this year) but are declining, while travel agencies are experiencing strong growth, from 32,1% last year to 41,9% this year.

The travel budget remains more or less unchanged (median: €3.000), with significantly more respondents (62,7%) wanting to spend up to €2.000 on their main holiday than the previous year (56%).