The Austrian Tourist Office

The Austrian National Tourist Office (ANTO) is Austria’s national tourism organization. Since 1955 the main objective of the association (in the beginning called „Österreichische Fremdenverkehrswerbung“ and since 1989 “Österreich Werbung”) has been the promotion of Austria as a vacation destination. ANTO’s central goal is to secure and expand tourism country Austria’s competitiveness in cooperation with all Austrian tourism partners. By doing so, ANTO contributes essentially to increasing Austria’s market share in international tourism.

Budget

ANTO’s budget is made up of membership fees from the Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy (75 %) and the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (25 %) as well as of the Austrian tourism trade’s (provincial tourist boards, regions and tourism operations) partnership contributions for marketing services.

The membership fees from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy and the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber amount to 32 million Euros (FMEFY 24 million Euros, FEC 8 million Euros). The overall budget for 2014 amounts to about 50 million Euros.

Core competencies of the Austrian National Tourist Office are:

  • Development of the brand “Vacation in Austria”: This brand differentiates Austria from other vacation destinations and conveys the emotional added value of a stay in Austria.
  • Opening up the internationally most promising markets with innovative and modern marketing.
  • Partner of Austrian tourism businesses and essential platform of tourism networking: The tourist industry profits from ANTO’s always up-to-date expert knowledge. 

Those three core competencies are being financed through public funding. Offers and services are being offered to all partners in the travel industry. The Austrian Tourist Office provides basic funding for marketing campaigns where partners in the industry are invited to participate.

Activities 

ANTO focuses its marketing efforts on three regions: Western Europe, CEE and overseas countries. The markets in these regions cover around 96 per cent of all overnights (2012: some 131 million), presenting the biggest potential for Austria’s tourism. In the remaining countries ANTO is the first contact for tourism-related projects.

The range of activities include above-the-line advertising for tourism country Austria, media cooperation, the production of special-interest brochures, the organization of fairs and sales platforms as well as cooperation with local tour operators, travel agents and trainings for the travel agency and event sector.
 
ANTO also supports Austrian tourism suppliers with customized marketing activities tailored to the respective needs and market chances.

The heart of ANTO’s guest information, besides ANTO’s Information Center (the most comprehensive service and information center for Vacation in Austria), is the Internet portal www.austria.info. Austria’s largest tourism platform on the Internet provides potential guests with ample information and attractions from all over Austria, in 20 languages at the moment.