Salzburg Ski Tourism Breaks Records: January 2025 Sets All-Time High for Overnight Stays

Salzburg Ski Regions Celebrate Record-Breaking Tourism in January 2025

Salzburg's winter tourism has reached unprecedented heights according to preliminary figures from the state statistics office. Businesses recorded more than 7.34 million overnight stays from November 2024 to January 2025, with January 2025 setting a new all-time record of nearly four million overnight stays.

"This is a top figure and exceeds the previous record in 2020 by around 13,200 overnight stays," highlights Christine Nagl from the state statistics office. The preliminary district figures for January show the remarkable distribution across Salzburg's ski regions:

• Pinzgau: 1,835,275 overnight stays (46.3 percent)
• Pongau: 1,482,256 overnight stays (37.4 percent)
• Lungau: 279,869 overnight stays (7.0 percent)
• City of Salzburg: 184,369 overnight stays (4.6 percent)
• Tennengau: 98,788 overnight stays (2.5 percent)
• Flachgau: 87,719 overnight stays (2.2 percent)

The Grand Hotel and Casino in Zell am See. Credit: SnowStash

Deputy Governor Stefan Schnöll noted, "The tourism engine in the state is running at full speed. This secures many jobs in the regions. In Pinzgau and Pongau in particular, the varied range of sports, events and culinary offerings attracts guests from all over the world. It is also positive that we can see an increase in overnight stays in all districts and that city tourism has picked up again. The so-called 'January gap' that used to exist after the Christmas holidays has also de facto disappeared."

The winter season's strong start from November to January was particularly evident in the districts south of the Lueg Pass. The leader in the district ranking is Pinzgau with around 3.1 million overnight stays (41.8 percent).

Here's an overview of the preliminary figures from the state statistics for the three-month period:

• Pinzgau: 3,072,955 overnight stays (41.8 percent)
• Pongau: 2,562,617 overnight stays (34.9 percent)
• City of Salzburg: 690,698 overnight stays (9.4 percent)
• Lungau: 481,501 overnight stays (6.5 percent)
• Flachgau: 319,263 overnight stays (4.4 percent)
• Tennengau: 214,466 overnight stays (3.0 percent)

Looking back towards Kaprun from Zell am See. Credit: SnowStash

Of the approximately 7.34 million overnight stays between November 2024 and January 2025, around 2.95 million were by tourists from Germany, representing 40.2 percent of all visitors. About 1.54 million Austrians (21.1 percent) spent their holidays in Salzburg, while around 805,000 came from the Netherlands (11 percent). The remaining 27.7 percent included visitors from the Czech Republic (around 252,000 overnight stays) and the United Kingdom (around 244,000 overnight stays).