Simplified visa requirements boost visitor arrivals to Austria

Since visa requirements have been eased, Salzburg, Austria has doubled its number of visitor arrivals from Taiwan last year.

Salzburg Tourism Head Bert Brugger said that visitor numbers from Taiwan have increased to a record high ever since it was no longer necessary for Taiwanese to obtain a visa, the Salzburg times reported.

"Anything that eases the ability to visit Austria is going to show up straight away on the tourist numbers but in this case it really was significant,” Mr Brugger said.

"Last Year around 20,000 Taiwanese visited the city which is more than double what we had the year before. The dropping of the visa requirement has been like pressing the turbo button on tourism traffic from Taiwan."

Mr Brugger said that the number of Chinese visitors had increased significantly and are confident the Asian markets will bring the region another 20,000 to 50,000 visitors.

In addition to the increase in visitors from Taiwan and China, visitors from Russia rose by 28 percent last year, which was partly attributed to the easing of tourism visas.

"Visas to Austria from Russia can now be obtained from special service places across Russia. which has really boosted the attractiveness of a trip to the region," Mr Brugger said.