Shortage of personnel

“One solution: open up the quota for seasonal skiers”

Austria's State Secretary for Tourism, Susanne Kraus-Winkler, spoke to the "Krone" newspaper at the ITB in Berlin about the future of skiing and the seasonal worker quota. "It won't work without employees from abroad," says the State Secretary. 

"Krone": There is a lot of discussion about sustainability at the ITB in Berlin. How sustainable is Austria's ski tourism? And how long will it continue to exist? 
Susanne Kraus-Winkler: Ski tourism - or rather snow tourism with many different activities - will remain important for Tyrol and Austria in any case. It is not true that winter tourism is not sustainable. Hardly any other industry thinks as much about saving energy and resources as the cable car industry. And it is constantly investing a great deal in energy-saving technologies. We still have some catching up to do in buildings, for example when it comes to heating in hotels.

State Secretary for Tourism Susanne Kraus-Winkler at the ITB in Berlin in a lively exchange with the two Tyrolean hoteliers Franz Staggl (left) from Pitztal and Harald Ultsch from Innsbruck.

(Bild: Thurner Claudia)

You can't do without employees from abroad. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find staff in the EU.

Susanne Kraus-Winkler

Tyrol is heavily burdened by traffic from tourism. Do you see a way out? 
We have two challenges: getting here and mobility in the regions. We currently manage eight percent rail travel. 100 percent is unrealistic. But there are some levers: for example, equalizing travel times. Almost everyone still travels at the same time. Artificial intelligence can help us here. With its support, traffic flows can be controlled and arrival times staggered. Local traffic is a challenge for the regions. In winter, it is already working well for holidaymakers to leave their cars at home and take the ski bus. In summer, however, everyone wants to be independent.

There is a huge shortage of staff in tourism. How can politics help? 
Austria has an enormously strong tourism industry for the size of the country. You can't do without employees from abroad. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find staff in the EU. Opening up the seasonal worker quota would be one solution.