WienTourismus invited endowed professor Cornelia Dlabaja and lecturer Daniela Wagner to review their Visitor Economy Strategy in the Wiener Börsensäle. Together with experts and decision-makers from the industry, they discussed possible topics that will concern both the Viennese tourism industry and the city’s residents in the future.
Important questions were asked: How can we increase the appeal and acceptance of tourism among the population? What added value does the Visitor Economy Strategy bring to the quality of life in the city? And how can we ensure that the needs of the Viennese population are considered?
“The core of the Visitor Economy Strategy focusses on the sustainable development of Vienna for the benefit of the Viennese people,” says Vienna Tourism Director Norbert Kettner about this project.
To set the scene, Norbert Kettner presented an interim review of the Visitor Economy Strategy 2025 and emphasised the importance of quality and sustainability for continuous further development. Johannes Lutter, Urban Innovation Vienna, spoke about global challenges for cities in times of the “omnicrisis” and highlighted the local framework conditions in Vienna, particularly regarding growth and sustainability. Andreas Reiter from ZTB Zukunftsbüro addressed the key question of what a good city life can look like for all stakeholders and gave international examples.
Participative approach with FH experts
The review process kicked off in October 2023. Following an initial analysis and discussion of the challenges and opportunities of urban and tourism development, this event marked the start of the participatory involvement process. This aims to identify relevant future topics, joint activities and partnerships for a refresh of the Visitor Economy Strategy. In moderated world café rounds with eight action topics (such as “City of international encounters”, “Future of Viennese flair” or “Connectivity and digital networking”) there was a lively exchange from the diverse perspectives of the participants.
Cornelia Dlabaja accompanied the topic “Appeal and acceptance of tourism among the population” as an expert and discussed the following questions with the participants: How can the appeal and acceptance of tourism among the population be maintained or further increased? What added value does the visitor economy create for the quality of life in the city? How can the visitor economy position itself as an attractive employer?
What does Vienna’s successful model of sustainable development look like? And how can the visitor economy become effective throughout the city? – Daniela Wagner addressed these questions as a panellist.