Swooping Down on Vienna

Even as four eagles fitted with cameras have been circling over Vienna capturing breathtaking images of the Austrian capital, on the ground the city has hosted 7.2 million travellers in January-June 2018 – a 4.1 per cent increase in tourist arrivals over the same period last year.

There was a 4.3 per cent rise in Indian tourists to Vienna this year with 66,828 bed nights clocked by them in the first six months. India is one of the high growth tourist markets for Vienna along with China and Russia. Last year in the same period, 64,075 Indians winged their way to Vienna.

Tourist arrivals rose to 30,445 in Jan-Jun 2018 recording a growth of 5 % (compared to 29,022 the same period last year). Month of June 2018 saw a growth of near 8 per cent with Indian travellers recording 23,499 bed nights. Tourist arrivals grew 11.7 % to 10,659 in the Jan-June 2018 period from 9543 in the year ago period.

The rising number of Indian travelers to the city of castles and palaces has been aided by growing direct air connectivity. India's national carrier Air India had been operating a direct Delhi-Vienna flight three days a week. This year, the Maharaja added one more flight to the Austrian capital in its summer schedule enhancing seating capacity by 33 per cent.