Structure & Budget

The Vienna Tourist Board’s structure and budget are governed by Vienna’s Promotion of Tourism Act. This legislation also sets out the Board’s remit – specifically representing the interests of Vienna's tourism sector, as well as destination marketing and management. It also determines the local taxes that the Vienna Tourist Board receives. The Vienna Tourist Board is led by a President (nominated by the provincial government of Vienna) and a Director of Tourism. The Supervisory Board (Tourism Commission) – which approves the underlying guidelines for the Vienna Tourist Board’s work and its budget – comprises the President and 17 members. 14 members of the Commission are appointed by the provincial government of Vienna. The Vienna Economic Chamber, the Vienna Chamber of Labor and the Vienna Chamber of Agriculture each appoint one member.

In 2021 the Vienna Tourist Board had a budget of EUR 28.6 million. This figure includes budget adjustments made in the course of the financial year as well as funding of EUR 4 million from the City of Vienna to support the Vienna congress and meeting industry. Of this total, EUR 1 million remained available in 2022. In June 2022, the Vienna Meeting Fund was increased by a further EUR 4 million. In 2021, reserves of EUR 6 million were reversed as planned to finance ongoing operations.

The budget for 2022 is EUR 31.5 million. After another year of the pandemic and the continued shortfall in local tax revenue, an agreement was reached with the City of Vienna for it to provide funding of EUR 22 million, which amounts to approximately 70% of the total budget. In February, the City Of Vienna approved a special budget of EUR 2 million for the Vienna Film Incentive (a tourism-related film funding program exclusively available for international productions), in addition to EUR 0.5 million aimed at strengthening the partnership between the Vienna Tourist Board and Austrian Airlines, with a view to ensuring an enhanced presence on the markets during the current phase of the pandemic. The remainder comes from the Vienna Chamber of Commerce and the Board’s own revenues and reserves.

Around EUR 13.5 million of the 2022 budget was allocated to marketing (incl. Meeting Fund and Vienna Film Incentive). The largest individual items are B2C marketing including production of advertising materials, with a budget of around EUR 3.9 million; B2B marketing including the Vienna Convention Bureau at around EUR 2.8 million; media management at around EUR 1.5 million, and destination management at around EUR 0.7 million.

In 2022, 49% of the Vienna Tourist Board's expenditure will be accounted for by marketing (communication campaigns, advertising materials, market management, media management, Vienna Convention Bureau etc.), 38% by staff costs and 13% by operating expenditure (rent, electricity, maintenance of the headquarters, tourist information centers, travel costs, depreciation, communication costs etc.).

Corporation under public law pursuant to the law on the promotion of tourism in Vienna (WTFG of 17 June 1955), on a non-profit basis