Austria Looks Forward to Next Winter
4th September 2026 | Simon Wilson, PlanetSKI
The Austria National Tourist Office says British visitor were up by 2.5% last winter on the previous season. There was a total of 2.3m overnight stays and it hopes to build on that for the coming winter. NEW
It was Schnapps and Riesling all the way at the Austrian National Tourist Office’s traditional winter season lookahead event in the City of London on Thursday night.
Representatives of a dozen different ski regions within Austria were on hand to brief journalists and a host of familiar faces from the UK ski travel industry.
The evening began on an emotional note when the event host, Chemmy Alcott, spoke of her hurt and anger at only being given four hours notice of the closure of Ski Sunday, the BBC programme she has been involved with as presenter and contributor for more than a decade.
And she hinted that British ski fans may not have to wait long for a new ski programme to hit domestic free-to-air TV:
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Martina Jamnig of the Austria National Tourist Office presented an upbeat assessment of the 25/26 season, saying that the number of British tourists visiting the country’s ski areas was up 2.5% on the previous year.
There were a total of 2.3 million overnight stays.
This makes Britain the third biggest ski market for Austria, after Germany and the Netherlands.
One of the regions represented was Innsbruck.
Innsbruck, Austria. Image © PlanetSKI
It provides access to no fewer than twelve separate ski areas and much more besides – as PlanetSKI has experienced first hand in recent years:
This winter, the region will once again be offering its SKI plus CITY pass.
It allows visitors onto all the slopes and gives entry to 23 other top visitor attractions in the city and the neighbouring Stubai valley.
“That’s our unique selling point and has been the focus of our work for the past five or six years”, said Collette Verra from Innsbruck tourist office who was at the London event.
Collette Verra, Innsbruck Tourism. Image © PlanetSKI.
And while a number of low-lying ski resorts around the Alps are having to adjust quickly to the changing climate and offer alternative activities, she feels this is something Innsbruck has long since been able to offer.
“You can go skiing all around the city and have a great time – but there is also so much else to do.”
PlanetSKI has reported on just that in the past:
Here at PlanetSKI we will a full-length post on all that is new for Austria next winter later in the autumn.
Do check back…
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