Discovering Austria

From snow-capped mountains, ski resorts and Christmas markets, to hot springs, wine regions and even a photo of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the spotlight was on Austria last night (Nov. 24) in Toronto.

Organized by the Consulate General of Austria – Commercial Section in Toronto, the third annual Discover Austria road show event was also held in Montreal earlier this week and is heading to Vancouver tomorrow.

“We are trying to attract more Canadian tourists to Austria. The figures now are about 120,000 per year and there’s definitely room to improve that,” Christian Lassnig, Consul & Trade Commissioner of Austria, told PressToday. “Austria is a destination that’s very diverse on a small plot of land. You will find culture in Vienna and Salzburg, the opera, music, you will find nature in the alpine regions, lakes with drinking water quality so everything is easily reachable with rental cars or by public transportation.”

Lassnig says the goal of the evening, which featured presentations by partners from Austrian Airlines, Vienna Tourism Board, Advantage Austria, Eurofun Touristic, Salzburg Tourism and Starwood Hotels and Resorts, is to get travel professionals acquainted with what Austria has to offer. While most North American visitors frequently visit the country in combination with other destinations, he says the goal is to increase tourism focused solely on Austria. The most popular cities for Canadian visitors are Vienna, Tirol and Salzburg.

“There is a direct flight from Toronto to Vienna with Austrian Airlines and it’s a code-sharing flight with Air Canada, so it’s really easy to reach,” he says.

Pictured (l-r) at Casa Loma are: Lassnig, Natalya Zubkova, Austrian Airlines/Lufthansa Group, Louisa Dimitrov, Austrian Airlines/Lufthansa Group, Marco Garcia, Advantage Austria, Sherif Sedhom, Lufthansa Group, Wael Seif, Austrian Airlines/Lufthansa Group and Daniel Pasquali, Starwood Hotels and Resorts.