Hotels quieter than usual for Euro 2008

Vienna's hotels are getting anxious as the Euro 2008 tourism rush that was predicted by industry experts has not yet turned into bookings for the tournament period.

The number of hotel reservations for the three weeks of the tournament are in fact significantly lower than for the same period last year which hotels are putting down to a sharp fall in Business bookings as Business people are put off by the football.

The head of the Vienna committee of the Austrian Association of Hoteliers, Michaela Reitterer, says that, "there are available hotel rooms in all categories for June but we expected to be fully booked months ago."

Despite the European Championship, there are more reservations for May than June so far. One reason for May’s positive outlook is that there are three public holidays, making it a good time for people to take a trip to the city.

Reitterer says that it is possible that hotels will see negative numbers for Vienna hotels in June as very few business trips to Vienna are expected during the tournament.

She said, "You shouldn’t forget that June is normally one of our strongest months because of the vast number of business and conference guests. Because of the football, that will fall flat."

The typical Euro 2008 guest will only be in Vienna for one game and most hotels currently have very few reservations for days between games. It is possible that many potential tourists do not realize that there are still rooms available, and so are not even getting as far as looking.

Reitterer says however that the hotels are seeing the bright side though as the tournament should promote a positive image of the city and boost long-term tourism.

18.04.2008 17:02:12