T-MONA Study On Winter Holidays: Daily Spending Increased, Skiing Remains Popular

The T-MONA guest survey paints a detailed picture of guests and their activities in the 2022/23 winter season. Study on winter holidays: daily spending increased, skiing remains popular

Who are our guests in winter? Which accommodation do they prefer, how long do they stay, how much do they spend on vacation? Austria Advertising collected this together with the nine state tourism organizations, destinations and the market research institute MANOVA. The most important results from the guest survey “T-MONA: Austrian guests in winter 2022/23” at a glance.

Winter guests come as couples and families

According to this, over half (54 percent) of the guests have an academic degree. Also over half (53 percent) have a household net income of over 4,000 euros.

Most guests arrive as couples (31 percent). The second largest group are families with children or young people (30 percent). Only 8 percent spend their winter vacation alone.

Winter guests are regular guests and go skiing

The proportion of regular guests is high: 77 percent come regularly (every one to two years) or even several times a year.

The majority (62 percent) say they are going on a “winter sports vacation.” 27 percent go on a “relaxation vacation,” 14 percent on a “nature vacation” and 13 percent on a “city vacation.” Another 12 percent come for a “winter vacation in the snow” (without sports).

When it comes to winter sports activities, skiing is still by far the most popular: 60 percent of winter guests go skiing. Tobogganing/sledding (11 percent), snowboarding (9 percent), cross-country skiing (7 percent), snowshoeing (5 percent) and ski touring (5 percent) are also in demand.

“Skiing is and remains the most important winter activity. In a long-term comparison, we see that topics such as wellness, touring skiing and, above all, winter hiking are becoming more important,” says Holger Sicking, head of the Tourism Research & Data Analytics team at Austria Advertising.

The affinity for winter sports also varies depending on the market of origin. 92 percent of Dutch and 81 percent of Czech guests come for a winter sports holiday. Guests from France and Italy, on the other hand, primarily spend a city or cultural holiday in Austria.

Winter guests spend 207 euros per day

The average spending of guests in winter 2022/23 is 207 euros per day (accommodation and expenses on site, excluding travel). That is 15 euros higher than in winter 2021/22. In particular, spending on accommodation has increased.

On average, guests stay 5.8 nights. The proportion of short vacations with up to three nights is 27 percent.

The most popular accommodation categories are 4-star hotels (31 percent), holiday apartments (27 percent) and 3-star hotels (17 percent). 3 percent of respondents stay in 5-star hotels.

Satisfaction with winter holidays is high

The study also asked guests about their satisfaction with various aspects of their vacation. Conclusion: The guests are satisfied with their stay and rate it 1.6 (scale from 1 to 6, school grade logic). The ski area, landscape and nature, winter sports and hospitality were also rated 1.6. A proud 92 percent of those surveyed would recommend a vacation in the respective destination.

Study free for the industry

Österreich Werbe makes the results of the survey available to local tourism free of charge. Austrian tourism professionals can request the full study “T-MONA: Austrian guests in winter 2022/23” here >>>>

The T-MONA guest survey (“Tourism Monitor Austria”) is a cooperation between Austrian Advertising and the nine state tourism organizations that has existed since 2004, with the participation of Austrian tourism destinations. The implementation is carried out by the market research company MANOVA.