Vienna in the year 2020: 18 million bednights, 1 billion euros in turnover by the hospitality sector, and direct flights from an additional 20 cities throughout the world - these are the objectives of Vienna's 2020 Tourism Strategy recently presented by the Vienna Tourist Board.
"The new long-term strategy for Vienna's destination development is based on the theme 'Global.Smart.Premium'," explains Director of Tourism Norbert Kettner. "Vienna is consolidating its status as a cosmopolitan metropolis and economic hub of Central Europe, and profiling itself through its living culture of sustainability, sophisticated urban technologies, intelligent mobility solutions and its high standards as a green city - as a 'smart and glamorous city'.
Vienna is a green city and a city on the water
Vienna is one of the world’s greenest metropolises – almost half of the municipal territory (close to 200 square kilometres) is covered by green spaces.
According to the current Urban Development Plan, all of Vienna’s green spaces are to be closely networked, so that it will be possible to reach a green zone from any point of the city in a three-minute walk at most.
The city is home to 850 public parks and gardens with a total surface of approx. 19 million square metres.
Danube Island alone boasts 42 kilometres of beachfront right in the city; together with Danube Canal, the Old Danube, Lobau, etc., Vienna offers numerous direct points of access to water bodies.
Vienna is a liveable and socially sustainable city
In all rankings, Vienna occupies top places with regard to liveability – the ranking of the global corporate consulting firm Mercer has been placing
Vienna right at the top for the past five years; in 2014, the renowned forecast and research team of the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Vienna second after Melbourne.31
According to the UN study “State of the World’s Cities 2012/2013”, Vienna is the most successful and prosperous city worldwide, because it is not only productive, but also socially equitable and ecologically sustainable.
Liveability and affordability make Vienna one of the world’s most popular cities among students.
95 percent of the city’s drinking water is mountain spring water from the Lower Austrian and Styrian Alps.
The objectives can be condensed into a simple formula: 5 x 400 + 20 = 2020. Kettner: "Our aim is five million more bednights by 2020, as well as 400 million euros more net room revenues over 2013, and 20 more cities worldwide offering direct flights to Vienna than today." Bednights would then be around 18 million, breaking the one billion euro barrier for net room revenues.
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