Price must be right

Where Upper Austrians are heading this summer

Skiathos was on the program from Linz for the first time in 2024, Springer Reisen is offering the destination in Greece again this year.(Bild: Springer Reisen)

When are we going on vacation this year and where are we going? Many Upper Austrians are in the process of finalizing their plans for this year. For those traveling by car, Italy and Croatia remain the most popular destinations. And when it comes to air travel? More and more people are booking a trip to Turkey. The reason: the price-performance ratio.

Four flights a week to Crete, two to Rhodes, plus a direct connection to Kos, Kefalonia, Lefkas/Epirus and Skiathos once a week - if you look at the summer flight schedule at Linz Airport, you will see a traditionally wide range of flights to Greece. "Greece is also the most popular destination in summer," says Norbert Draskovits, Managing Director of Linz Airport, which, thanks to the comeback of Ryanair, now also has Bari and Alicante on offer from spring in addition to London. "Then there's Spain," confirms Reisewelt boss Felix König. 

Egypt is also more in demand in summer
König, who is also deputy chairman of the travel agency section of the Upper Austrian Chamber of Commerce, sees one destination increasingly gaining ground: Turkey. "The hotels there are simply bigger, so they can also offer better value for money - Turkey does this particularly well in the high season," says Draskovits. König has also noticed a sustained increase in demand for vacations in Turkey. "Last summer, Egypt also played a role in the summer, and this trend is intensifying," says the travel expert.

"Package tours are popular because there is one point of contact," says Felix König from Reisewelt.(Bild: MecGreenie)

In times of rising costs in all areas and growing uncertainty in the job market, cheaper destinations are becoming more popular. König notes that Tunisia and Bulgaria are therefore also being booked more often, "where you can go on vacation at a very good price-performance ratio".

Lack of airplanes reduces the chances of last-minute bargains
Waiting for last-minute offers is no longer really advisable. The reason for this is the current shortage of aircraft, which has already meant that it was no longer possible to station the European Air charter aircraft in Linz. "There were last-minute flights at times when there was overcapacity on the market, but that has been a thing of the past since coronavirus," says König.