Tourism is an important part of the Austrian economy, representing nearly 9% of gross Austriangross. In 2007, the number of tourist stays overnight is approximately the same for summer and winter, with peaks in February and July / August
In 2007, Austria ranked ninth in the world of international tourism receipts, with $ 18.9 billion U.S.. The arrival of international tourists spot, Austria ranked 12th with 20.8 million tourists.
Vienna attracts mainly tourists, in summer and winter. Salzburg receives about one fifth of the tourists spend the night from Vienna, which was ranked second in the summer. In winter, a number of ski resorts in western Austria Salzburg exceed the number of tourists stayed overnight in Sölden, Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Ischgl, St. Anton am Arlberg, and Obertauern.
Visits to Austria mostly include trips to Vienna with its Cathedral, "Heurigen" (wine pubs) and romantic Waltz music events. Worth a visit are Salzburg, birthplace of Mozart, Innsbruck, capital of Tyrol, surrounded by the Alps, and theDanube valley with its vineyards, for example, or Dunkelsteinerwald Wachau, Melk and Krems, who enters. In the western province of Vorarlberg reaches the Lake Constance in the east of Lake Neusiedl. The three most visited sites in Austria Schonbrunn Palace (2.59 million visitors per year), Tiergarten Schönbrunn (2,453,987 visitors) and the Basilica of Mariazell (1,500,000 visitors) .
Visit important is the size of Austrian skiing, hiking and mountain resorts in the Alps as well as recreation areas for families (eg water witches at Tyrol). The same applies to many lakes in Austria (eg Wolfgangsee and other lakes in the east of Salzburg and Carinthia Wörthersee theSalzkammergut).
For visitors who are interested in Media Arts is Ars Electronica Center in Linz. Since 1979, the center hosted Ars Electronica Festival and Prix Ars Electronica is presented, the higher the price the world ranking of media art.
