Austria returns to the Arabian Travel Market this year, with the added advantage of a new supporting office in Dubai.
“We have been at the show since it opened, and we’re back with a slightly bigger stand and a total of 20 exhibitors,” Klaus Ehrenbrandtner, director, Middle East, Austrian National Tourist Office (ANTO), told TTN.
“Interest in Austria is increasing, and this is borne out by rising numbers, as well as by the tremendous feedback from the trade. There is also a high interest in new destinations beyond such usual staples as Zell am See,” he said. In the last three years arrivals and bednights from the Middle East to Austria have doubled, Ehrenbrandtner said.
In response to this increased interest, the ANTO has just launched its first comprehensive bilingual holiday guide to Austria in English and Arabic, which will be made available at the event, Ehrenbrandtner said. The 52-page brochure brings together 10 destinations in Austria that are likely to appeal to nationals and expatriates in the Middle East.
“The desire for a bilingual brochure that is directed exclusively to the traveller of the Middle East was so big that even before the production one third of the circulation was already reserved, so the guide will help to meet the demand for more information about Austria,” he said.
Among the new holiday ideas presented in the brochure are horse lessons at the 430-year-old Spanish Riding School in Vienna, visits to sites in Salzburg where The Sound of Music was filmed, the 13-event week-long Kitzbühel Golf Festival, the Beach Volleyball Grand Slam Klagenfurt and the Olympic ski jump on the Bergisel in Innsbruck which was designed by Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid.
Among the companies at the Austrian stand at ATM will be Austrian Airlines, the Grand Hotel Wien, Botros Incoming Vienna, Emad Tours, Eurotours International, Feratel Incoming, Mondial Destination Management, Top Hotels – Dachstein Tauern, Majestic Imperator, Premium Spa and the tourist offices of Salzburg, Vienna, Innsbruck and Zell am See.