Good news from Austria this week, where Vienna has set a new record for overnight stays: From January to June of 2013, about 5.7 million overnight guests were registered, a full 3.1 percent more than during the same period in 2012.
With 276,000 overnights, the U.S. was still Vienna's most important overseas market. Canada ranked in 25th place amongst Vienna’s top markets with 50,000 overnights.
Among Vienna's top 10 markets, Germany leads with 1,146,000 overnight stays (up 3 percent against last year’s period), followed by Austria (1,116,000, +2 percent), Russia (363,000, +14 percent), the USA (276,000, +/- 0 percent), and Italy (245,000, -10 percent). Following them in 6th to 10th place are the UK (203,000, +8 percent), Switzerland (183,000, +2 percent), France (165,000, +/-0 percent), Japan (136,000, +4 percent) and Spain (133,000, -1 percent). Vienna also showed heavy growth in 2012 in visitors from South Korea (53,000 overnight stays, +29 percent), Brazil (51,000, +13 percent), and the Arab countries in Asia (38,000, +15 percent). International overnights represent an 80.3 percent share of Vienna's total count. The average occupancy of Vienna's beds was 50.3 percent at the half year (1-6/2012: 52.6 percent), available beds having increased by 5,530 from June 2012 to June 2013. Overall, the city currently has a lodging capacity of 58,500 beds.
Vienna also continues to lead the world as a convention capital: In 2012 – when the city hosted to 195 international meetings – the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) affirmed its status as number one convention city for the eighth time in a row.