Future of Tyrolean tourism: opportunities and challenges discuss!

Future of Tyrolean tourism: opportunities and challenges discuss!

On June 5, 2025, around 100 experts from the domestic tourism industry met in the Haus der Musik in Innsbruck for a special event of the Tyrolean Sparkasse. In the tourism talk entitled "Challenges and success factors for Austrian tourism", the urgent topics and opportunities of the sector were discussed. Patrick Götz, board member of the Tyrolean Sparkasse, opened the event and clarified the remarkable economic importance of tourism in Tyrol: approx. 6 billion euros in added value and 24% of gross value added in Tyrol are eliminated.

The discussion was about the challenges with which the Tyrolean tourism sector is faced. Topics such as climate consequences, shortage of skilled workers, digitization and changed travel behavior have been highly examined. This commitment is all the more important when Tyrol was able to record over 154 million overnight stays in 2024, with a third of these overnight stays on the federal state. In the future, it is important to open up new target markets and invest in innovations to keep up with the challenges.

lectures and discussions

During the event, renowned speakers had several renowned speakers. Andreas Kapferer from Deloitte Tirol presented the tourism barometer in 2025 and explained the uncertainties that many companies suffer from, especially the declining profitability. Robert Steiger from the University of Innsbruck brought a behavioral perspective into play and conveyed insights into climate -related adaptation strategies.

Another important point was the strategic orientation of the industry. Florian Kahr von Tirol Werbung discussed motif -based target groups and their importance for the competitive advantage. Together with the discussants Hans Unterdorfer (Erste Bank Austria), Reinhard Klier (specialist group chairman Seilbahnen) and Martina Entner (woman in the Tyrol economy), the perspective of action for the future of Tyrolean tourism was discussed. Kerstin Polzer took over the moderation.

the need for efficiency

A central result of the discussion is the realization that rising guests alone are not sufficient to lead tourism concepts profitably. The companies have to work more efficiently and strategically design their prices. Current economic uncertainty is a challenge that some operators ask the question of whether they have to put or even deleted planned investments. Almost half of the companies complain about difficulties when accessing credit financing, which is particularly problematic in the system-intensive hotel industry, as reported.

For those involved, it was clear: Common efforts are required to successfully master the challenges of Tyrolean tourism. The political framework must be improved by dismantling unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles.

The tourism talk was not only a platform for the exchange of ideas, but also a warning that Austrian tourism must be designed to be sustainable. In view of the enormous values ​​he creates for Tyrol, all actors are responsible for bringing the industry forward with a good hand.

Further statistical data and valuable insights into the tourist labor market are visible via WKO, which impressively underpins the extensive economic importance of tourism in Austria.

In this sense, it can be hoped that the knowledge from this tourism talk will also be put into practice and that Tyrol can continue to shine as one of the leading tourism destinations in Austria.

The Tyrolean Sparkasse once again shows that it not only plays a central role in the financial world, but also as a key to inspiration for tourism. It remains exciting to see which innovative approaches will be developed next.