Interview with the boss

Graz attracts tourists even as a “second city”!

Graz is simply cool

(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

With the arrival of spring, tourism in Graz is also flourishing again - and after a great year in 2023, the prospects are good again, as tourism boss Dieter Hardt-Stremayr optimistically predicts. 

Mr. Hardt-Stremayr, how has Graz started the year?
As always, January and February are not so great in terms of vacation guests. But things pick up again in spring.

How will it be this year?
Of course, you'd have to have a crystal ball or be able to read coffee brew. No, seriously, I'm very optimistic as far as the heads are concerned. After all, we had 1,290,000 overnight stays again last year. That's actually the very best year so far, even better than 2019 with 1,250,000. Nobody would have expected the situation to recover so quickly after corona and even improve.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV, Christian Jauschowtz)

You're stressing heads like that?
Just like I'm not cheering about a record year. Because these figures are correct and make us optimistic. But that shouldn't obscure the fact that sales often can't keep up and that some stores and restaurants are facing challenges. There are many construction sites.

A good keyword: how much do the location, the many excavation works and the traffic jams bother tourists?
Not as much as we do ourselves, in surveys this never becomes an issue. Of course, there is a difference between having the construction sites on your doorstep every day and having to drive around them in traffic jams. Or whether you have them for four days when you are relaxed and on vacation anyway.

Is anything happening on the accommodation scene? Is the long-discussed campsite coming this year?
No, it's still a long time coming. In terms of hotels, there is a new opening and the former Roomz at the trade fair is reopening as the "Plaza Inn".

What new things are happening in Graz?
If you mean events, apart from this year's Long Table of the Capital of Pleasure and the Aufsteirern, nothing sensational, not even a new major event. And I'm not saying that coyly or anything. Graz scores with what makes it special: the ambience, the old town, the culture, the cuisine. Simply Graz.

There are many great cities in Austria, so why did you choose Graz??
Also because Graz has the potential to be a "second city"! This means that many tourists have already visited major cities such as Vienna and Salzburg and now want to see a "second city" in Austria. And they come back - because our recommendation and revisit rate is 98 percent!