Vienna's meetings making a bigger economic splash

Vienna is reporting a big (8%) rise in induced economic impact from meetings, with a figure of €1.163bn recorded for 2017 and a new record for event participant totals and overnights. Over the past 10 years the induced economic impact has risen 78%, with one in every eight overnight stays now accounted for by meetings and congresses. Vienna’s meetings industry secured around 21,000 year-round jobs in 2017, according to the latest figures, which signal the strongest ever annual results for the city. Although the number of events remained practically unchanged year-on-year, there were new all-time highs in terms of participant totals and bednights, as well as the induced economic impact attributable to congresses, corporate events and incentives. President of the Vienna Tourist Board and the Vienna city councillor for finance, economic and international affairs, Renate Brauner, director of tourism Norbert Kettner and Christian Mutschlechner, head of the Vienna Convention Bureau, presented the new test results at a press conference hosted by the Vienna Tourist Board on 16 April. Markus Griessler, head of the Vienna Economic Chamber’s leisure and tourism division emphasised the significance of meetings and congresses for numerous sectors of the capital’s economy. “For the second time now the city hosted more than 4,000 congresses, corporate events and incentives and there were strong improvements in all other key indicators: around 611,000 meeting participants translates into a year-on-year increase of 8%, and the 1,874,000 bednights they accounted for represented a jump of 9%, which set another new record,” Griessler noted. “The meetings industry’s contribution to Austrian GDP was no less impressive,” Brauner added. “The symbolic €1bn mark was reached and breached for the first time in 2015, and by 2017 induced economic impact had climbed to €1.163bn – an increase of 8% on the previous year,” she explained. The induced economic impact includes direct expenditure by participants, event organisers, exhibitors and accompanying persons, as well as income from upstream areas of the economy that is indirectly induced by the events (food and beverage suppliers, printers, construction companies, banks, insurance companies, communications companies etc.). The 21,000 year-round jobs nationwide is over 1,000 more than the previous year – and this contribution to the labour market should not be underestimated,” Brauner continued. “The records set in 2017 are a seamless extension of the capital’s other outstanding tourism statistics – at 15.5m, the number of overnight stays during the year surpassed the 15 million mark for the first time in 2017.” Twelve per cent of all overnights in Vienna are now attributable to meetings, with 2017 seeing 1,314 congresses taking place in the capital, 512 of which were national and 802 international (up 9%). There were also 2,760 corporate events, meetings and incentives, (806 national and 1,954 international). “The importance of meetings and congress tourism for Vienna is plain to see when expressed as a proportion of all overnights recorded in the capital during the year,” noted Vienna Tourist Board manager Norbert Kettner. “Meetings, congresses and incentives together accounted for 12% of the total number of overnight stays in Vienna in 2017. The city has the segment to thank for one in every eight bednights.” Meanwhile, the tax revenue from congresses, meetings and incentives in Vienna amounted to €321.37m in 2017. Of this total, €210.46m went to the Federal Government, €39.18m to Vienna and the remainder to the other Federal Provinces and municipalities. Meetings-related infrastructure is also being improved in Vienna. In mid-March the Austria Center Vienna (ACV) unveiled its largest construction project since the venue first opened around 30 years ago. A canopy – the DanubeSAIL – will be added to the square outside the building. By the time work is completed in 2022, this area will be transformed into a new communal space, and add a further 4,200sqm for events in either closed or open formats. “The ACV is making a long-term investment in the location and its own meetings infrastructure – a significant asset for marketing Vienna as a destination for meetings: the new access building featuring a Skywalk and three additional entrances allows different customers to use the levels in parallel, which is an important factor when it comes to acquiring large-scale events,” explained Christian Mutschlechner, head of the Vienna Tourist Board’s Vienna Convention Bureau. The Federal Administrative Court has also approved the construction of a third runway at Vienna International Airport and the tourist board is now forecasting 18m overnights in the city by 2020. “In the second half of the year Vienna’s meetings industry will be dominated by the presidency of the EU Council. This will see numerous small to mid-sized meetings added to the capital’s meetings statistics in 2018 – of the 350 meetings held during this time, more than 300 will take place in Vienna,” Mutschlechner added. The majority of the EU Council meetings will be held at the Austria Center Vienna, which has been granted the role of permanent meeting venue.”