Experience Vienna Now And Forever
From music and culture to a thriving culinary scene, the spotlight was on Vienna last night (May 16) as Austria’s capital city presented its new slogan, “Vienna Now. Forever.,” along with destination highlights at a trade event in Toronto ahead of stops in Montreal, New York and Boston.
Presented by the Vienna Tourist Board and partners, including SalzburgTourist Office, Vienna Airport, Austrian Airlines, Hotel Sacher and Swarovski Kristallwelten, the gala evening featured presentations, dinner and a special performance by Mezzo-Soprano Vivien Shotwell, accompanied by Adam Sherkin.
“The goal is to increase Canadian visitors to Vienna,” Elke Bachner, market management for the Vienna Tourist Board, told PressToday. “The Canadian market is a big market, it’s an important market, in the world ranking we’re No. 15 right now, so we’re doing quite well and in the last few years the Canadian market is constantly increasing. We have 150,000 to 160,000 overnights in a year. We have direct flights from Toronto to Vienna so this is a good way to come!”
For agents booking clients to Vienna, she says the new Vienna City Card, which provides unlimited transit for 24, 48 and 72 hours, is commissionable at 5%.
Klemens Kollenz, international marketing and sales manager, Salzburg Tourist Office, says Canadians frequently bundle his city with Vienna when visiting Austria.
“Salzburg is a huge classical music hub with over 4,500 cultural events every year so there’s something for every one basically,” he says. “If you are interested in the city of Mozart, in history, in classical music, in The Sound of Music, you’d definitely have to come into Vienna, into Salzburg and combine those two destinations. It is how you know it from the movie, it’s nothing made up, it’s an authentic place which you can really experience and I think this makes the whole destination a very romantic place.”
Pictured at the Ritz Carlton are: Sherif Sedhom, account manager, Lufthansa Group; Elke Bachner, market management for the Vienna Tourist Board; Nicole Lindner, channel marketing tourism and sales senior professional lead, Swarovski Kristallwelten; Peter Zwickl, director of sales, Hotel Sacher; Ursula Pusch, manager, the Americas, aviation marketing and business development, Vienna International Airport; Armando Mendonca, owner, AMPM; Belina Neumann, vice president, aviation marketing and business development, Vienna International Airport and Klemens Kollenz, international marketing and sales manager, Salzburg.
