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Read more headlines about Austria's international business environment (which are not covered in the other topics, including commodity and currency markets)
Latest Headlines about other Business & Economic Developments
Tourism: Why Does Vienna Need So Many New Hotels?
Tourism in Vienna is booming and the number of overnight stays is rising. New hotels are currently being built all over Vienna, from international hotel chains and five-star palaces to boutique hotels for city travellers, some of which attract with exposed rooftop bars. The Andaz Vienna Am Belvedere and the Max Brown 7th District were recently opened. A further 10 hotels will be completed over the next two years.
July 12, 2019
Meinl Bank Rebranding - Anglo Austrian Bank Launches with Negative Result of EUR 4.5 Mio
As part of a rebranding, Meinl Bank of Julius Meinl V (59) has renamed itself Anglo Austrian Bank and is relaunching its operations in Vienna with 49 employees in order to respond to the increased demand for qualified asset management in the countries of the former Danube Monarchy and to provide clients with a bridge to the countries and financial markets of Western Europe.
June 28, 2019
Combat Climate Change - António Guterres' Remarks at the R20 Austrian World Summit
Because of climate change all around the world the sea level is rising, floods, drought, wildfires and extreme storms appear, and people are now losing their homes and being forced to migrate. Read what António Guterres had to say in Vienna after a trip to the South Pacific.
May 30, 2019
"Climate Kirtag" with Greta Thunberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger
The climate protection conference "R20 Austrian World Summit" at the Heldenplatz in Vienna ended with appeals by climate protection activist Greta Thunberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger at the "Climate Kirtag".
May 29, 2019
WeWork Cooperation to Facilitate Internationalization of Austrian Start-ups in the USA
The aim of the cooperation between shared workspace provider WeWork and AWS - Austria Wirtschaftsservice is to support innovative Austrian start-ups in their internationalisation in New York and on the US market.
April 26, 2019
Mobile Bank N26 Invests in Tech Centre in Vienna
Germany's mobile bank N26 plans to hire more than 300 software engineers, product managers and IT specialists in Vienna in the long term and up to 100 in the medium term. The office is scheduled to open in autumn 2019, and specialists will be recruited with immediate effect.
April 26, 2019
Former Finance Minister Schelling to Be Appointed to OMV Supervisory Board
Former ÖVP finance minister Hans Jörg Schelling is to move into the supervisory board of the partly state-owned OMV. Various media report that this is being done at the request of senior government officials.
April 25, 2019
Forty Tax Offices Become One Tax Office Austria
The structures will be flattened and work processes made more efficient in such a way that 40 authorities will become a single authority with 33 departments at the 79 existing facilities.
April 10, 2019
Casinos Austria Appoints Bettina Glatz-Kremsner as New CEO
Ms Bettina Glatz-Kremsner succeeds Mr Alexander Labak as Director of the Management Board of Casinos Austria AG.
April 6, 2019
Congress Tourism in Vienna Continues to Boom
Vienna as a congress destination is booming. Last year, the metropolis achieved record figures for conference participants and added value. Around 631,000 participants (plus three percent) attended 4,685 congresses and company events (plus 15 percent), which resulted in 1,925,000 overnight stays (plus three percent). A single congress participant spends 541 euros per day.
April 5, 2019
Economic Mission to Cambodia and Laos
The Vienna Chamber of Commerce visited the Southeast Asian countries Cambodia and Laos in the context of an economic mission with 15 participants to meet ministers and establish contacts for future participation in tenders for infrastructure projects.
April 4, 2019
Austria to Become Most Sustainable Tourism Destination in the World
Sustainability Minister Elisabeth Köstinger presented the "Plan T - Master Plan for Tourism" in Salzburg. This strategy paper is intended to ensure that Austria not only remains one of the leading tourist destinations, but that this position is further strengthened. For the first time sustainability is anchored as a basic principle for tourism. The strategic realignment of Österreich Werbung (ANTO Austrian National Tourist Office) is also on the agenda.
March 26, 2019
Viennese Merchants' Guild Prepares for Chinese Century
Something is happening in the Viennese school system. The VBS Vienna Business School will offer its students the opportunity to learn Chinese (Mandarin) at all six school locations from autumn onwards and to take advantage of an extensive range of Chinese language and culture courses.
March 18, 2019
Iraqi Expert Roundtable in Vienna - How to Reconstruct the City of Mosul?
More than 70 experts from Iraq, Austria and the relevant international community met in Vienna at the invitation of the Austro-Arab Chamber of Commerce to discuss the reconstruction of the devastated northern Iraqi city of Mosul and find solutions. Here is the report of the Expert's Round Table on the Reconstruction of the City of Mosul.
March 14, 2019
Austria is Booming with Chinese Tourists - Number of Overnight Stays Six Times Higher
In tourism, China is currently one of the most dynamically growing foreign markets of origin. In the 2018 calendar year, the number of overnight stays by Chinese guests in Austria increased almost sixfold (+491%) compared to 2008, reaching around 1.4 million overnight stays.
February 28, 2019
Founder of Global Peter Drucker Forum Honored as Excellent Management-Ambassador
Dr. Richard Straub, who resides in Paris for more than two decades, received the Grand Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (Große Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich) at the Austrian Embassy in Paris.
February 5, 2019
Business Mission and "Future Trip" to Tel Aviv as Part of the State Visit of Van der Bellen
On the occasion of the official state visit of Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, the Austrian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (WKO) is organising an economic mission entitled "Infrastructure" as well as the "Open Innovation for Corporates" future trip to Tel Aviv.
February 4, 2019
Hallstatt App 2.0 - Protective Measures against Chinese Tourists
The Upper Austrian community defends itself against too many tourists, especially from China and South Korea. Since the Chinese built an exact copy of the city in Guangdong Province, and the South Koreans partly shot a soap opera in Hallstatt, the popularity of the Dachstein community has increased enormously. As a result, more and more tourists come to Hallstatt as part of a bus tour classic with 4 destinations including Hallstatt. In the previous year there were exactly 19,344 coaches. For the first time in the history of Austria, a town is now defending its friendly visitors by implementing the new "Traffic Concept Hallstatt 2018" and by strictly controlling the entrance to the town centre.
January 29, 2019
Austrian Tourism: 45 Mio. Arrivals and 150 Mio. Overnight Stays in 2018 - Germans Return
With 149.75 million overnight stays in Austrian accommodation establishments, a new record was reached in 2018. Compared to the previous year, overnight stays increased by 5.25 million (+3.6%). At +5.0% (56.26 million), the number of overnight stays by Germans rose disproportionately strongly.
January 24, 2019
Population Development - City of Vienna at 1.9 Million Inhabitants
Last year Vienna grew by 11,000 inhabitants. The birth surplus was 4,000, the migration gain 7,000. Immigration from Great Britain was disproportionately high due to Brexit fears. Serbia is the strongest group of immigrants. The influx of refugees has fallen back to the level before the wave of refugees. In 2027 about 2 million people will live in Vienna.
January 22, 2019
Vienna Stock Exchange - New Start for the Third Market with 8 SME Quotations
As already announced by Vindobona.org in conjunction with the corresponding amendment to the Austrian Stock Corporation Act (Aktiengesetz), the VSE Vienna Stock Exchange is now offering two additional and easier options (direct market, direct market plus) for an initial public offering for SMEs as part of the new Third Market.
January 20, 2019
Inflation in Austria falls to 2.0% in 2018
According to calculations by Statistik Austria, the average inflation rate of the consumer price index (CPI 2015) was 2.0% in 2018, slightly below the level of 2017 (+2.1%) and well above the levels of 2016 and 2015 (+0.9% each).
January 18, 2019
Hollywood in Austria's Mountains - Avalanche Drama Film Follows Current Avalanche Danger
In Tyrol, a Hollywood drama about a married couple whose perfectly believed family life gets completely out of balance when they barely escape an avalanche is currently in the making. Austrian film funding supports the production of "Downhill" with Will Farell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. With a shooting time of 8 weeks, an added value of 7 million Euros and 10,000 overnight stays is expected.
January 18, 2019
Financial Times Ranking - Business School "WU Vienna" Remains Midfield Only
In the latest overall ranking of all European business schools published by renowned newspaper "Financial Times", WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business) ranked only 41st out of a total of 95 European business schools in the overall ranking. Although the university improved by three places compared to the previous year, it fell short of expectations. Much better results were achieved in the two partial competitions "Masters in Management 2018" (12th place out of 84 programmes) and "Executive MBA 2018" (22nd place out of 51 programmes).
December 7, 2018
Reinsurer VIG Re to Expand to Paris
After opening an office in Frankfurt a year ago, another West European representative office is now to follow in Paris. The new branch will be headed by Patrick Chevrel. As part of the Vienna Insurance Group, VIG Re has been founded in 2008 by being established as a core player in the reinsurance market in Austria and CEE, and now also in certain West European countries.
November 26, 2018
Labour Supply in Austria to Grow by 5% by 2050
The supply of labour in Austria will continue to increase in the future if the trends in immigration and labour market participation continue. In 2017 there were an annual average of 4.55 million labour force in Austria, in 2020 according to the trend variant of the forecast there will be 4.63 million (+2%) and in 2050 4.79 million (+5%). No further growth is expected in the second half of this century.
November 22, 2018
The New Location Development Act - Significance for Austria's Attractiveness as a Business Location
The Austrian government has passed the highly controversial Location Development Act in the Council of Ministers, which will speed up environmental impact assessments, be passed by the National Council this year and come into force on 1 January 2019. The new legislation will introduce automatic permits for certain energy infrastructure projects (eg, electricity grids and power plants). Positive reactions are coming from industry and politics. Various environmental associations criticise the new law.
November 22, 2018
Expat Survey: Vienna for Expats Highly Attractive and Newcomer-Friendly
A study commissioned by the City of Vienna confirms that four out of five international professionals and executives who came to Vienna had a good or very good start. 93.9 percent confirm the city's high international attractiveness, 89.3 percent would recommend Vienna as an expat destination.
November 22, 2018
Naturalizations in Austria in 2018 on the Rise
Austrian citizenship was granted to a total of 6,971 persons in the first three quarters of 2018. The Bosnians are ahead, followed by Turks, Serbs and Kosovars. In total, there were 115 more naturalisations than in the same period of the previous year (+1.7%).
November 15, 2018
Austria Strengthening Venture Capital Structures with Seoul and Shanghai
Margarete Schramböck, Austrian Federal Minister for Digitisation and Business, visited Seoul, the capital of South Korea and China's greater Shanghai metropolitan area, together with a high-ranking delegation of experts from the fields of digitisation, science and business, with the aim of strengthening Austria as a location for innovation.
November 9, 2018
Austria in E-Government ahead of Germany and Switzerland
Margarete Schramböck is on the right course. According to a recent study on the e-government situation in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Austria clearly holds the top position in the e-government country comparison.
November 7, 2018
Austrian National Bank Seeking Successors for Top Jobs
The Board of Governors of the OeNB Austrian National Bank has published a recruitment announcement for the new central bank governor, vice governor and two members of the Management Committee. Applications can be submitted until 5 December, according to the official gazette of the "Wiener Zeitung".
November 5, 2018
Austria Continues to Deteriorate in World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index 2019
The Ease of Doing Business Rankings provide measures of business regulations for local firms in 190 economies and selected cities at the subnational level. In 2019 Austria falls from 22nd to 26th place worldwide. Germany also loses ground, but remains one notch ahead of Austria. New Zealand leads the ranking for the third time in a row. The Kiwis replaced Singapore three years ago, which had previously held the top position for 10 years. In the 2019 Ease of doing business index, the following countries rank 3rd to 10th: Denmark, Hong Kong, South Korea, Georgia, Norway, United States, United Kingdom and Macedonia.
November 1, 2018
Growth of Foreign Controlled Enterprises in Austria
Statistics Austria reports a slight increase in the number of foreign-controlled companies in Austria. As at 31.12.2016 there were around 10,800 companies in Austria that are part of a foreign group. In comparison, the number of foreign subsidiaries of Austrian companies remained constant.
October 31, 2018
Tunisian-Austrian Business Relations about to be Expanded
The Austro-Arab Chamber of Commerce (AACC) and the Embassy of the Republic of Tunisia in Austria are organizing a networking event under the general theme "Economic Forum on Tunisia". Representatives of companies and institutions from Tunisia, Austria and other Arab countries are expected on 20 November at the SO/Vienna (former "Sofitel Vienna Stephansdom").
October 30, 2018
Facilitated Stock Exchange Access for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises at the VSE
As a result of an amendment to the Austrian Stock Corporation Act (Aktiengesetz), as of 21 January 2019 it will again be possible for small and medium-sized enterprises and growth companies registered in Austria in the legal form of a stock corporation (AG) with small free float to gain access to the Vienna Stock Exchange via the newly created market segments "direct market plus" and "direct market".
October 19, 2018
Agressive Southern Chinese Airline Launches Shenzhen-Vienna Service
The South Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines is pushing ahead with its expansion into Europe by adding Vienna - Shenzhen as the next non-stop route after Zurich at the end of August. The new twice-weekly flights will take off on October 20th, connecting Vienna with Shenzhen on Thursdays and Saturdays using the airline's Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft (see picture).
October 12, 2018
Austrian State and Industrial Holding will be Reorganized Again
The holding company of the Austrian federal shareholdings (ÖBIB) is to be restructured and given a new boss. The existing structures created by the red-black predecessor government will soon be history again. The law for a new holding company of the Republic is to be examined in the next few days. Its boss is to be Thomas Schmid, general secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance.
October 3, 2018
Outlook - Chinese Tourists and the Destination Austria
With around 900,000 arrivals (+23%) and 1.3 million overnight stays (+25%) in 2017, China is Austria's most important Asian market of origin with the greatest growth potential. From January to July 2018, Austria also recorded record figures with around 542,000 arrivals (+ 8.2) and around 781,000 overnight stays (+ 11.5 %) from China.
October 3, 2018 · Updated: October 11, 2018; 22:55
Danube Region Business Forum - Infrastructure and Its Implications on Business in CEE and SEE
The Danube Region is one of the traditionally important markets for Central European regions and companies. However, the infrastructure of this region does not yet meet the requirements of the economy. The 8th Danube Region Business Forum will take place on 9 October 2018 at the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber in Vienna. The aim of the forum is to ensure that the infrastructural quality and cooperations in the region meet the requirements of the economy.
October 3, 2018
ACV Austria Center Vienna: More than 100,000 International Participants for the First Time
Last year, Austria’s largest congress centre brought more than 100,000 international participants to Vienna for the first time. The venue also once again exceeded the record revenue figure from the previous year.
September 26, 2018 · Sponsored Content
Casinos Austria International Will Not Be Sold
Casinos Austria AG (CASAG) stops the sale of Casinos Austria International (CAI).
April 11, 2018
Opel-PSA Group Plans Job Cuts in Vienna
By summer, 140 employees are to leave the Opel plant in Aspern. A further reduction could be avoided thanks to a new transmission order from Opel parent Groupe PSA. Engines will be produced for the previous Opel owner General Motors (GM) until 2019/20. What comes after that is still uncertain.
April 6, 2018
Leadership Change: Mahrer Follows Leitl as Austrian Chamber of Commerce President
Harald Mahrer, President designate of the WKO Austrian Federal Chamber of Commerce, will take over from acting President Christoph Leitl on 18 May.
April 3, 2018
Repatriation of Austrian Gold Reserves Nearing Completion
This year, and not in 2020, the OeNB Austrian National Bank is already concluding its repatriation campaign for half of its gold reserves. By the end of the year, 140 tonnes of gold are to be stored in Austria, with the other 140 tonnes remaining in London (84 tonnes) and Switzerland (56 tonnes).
March 30, 2018
Austrian Support for Peace and Security Programm in Horn of Africa Region
Vienna based ADA - Austrian Development Agency signs an agreement on peace and security in the Horn of Africa with EU and IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Development). The EUTF - EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa provides 40 million euros. 35 million of this will be made available to ADA and 5 million directly to IGAD. The ADA passes on one million euros to IGAD. The Swedish International Development Agency SIDA will also contribute one million euros..
March 26, 2018
Austria's Double Budget 2018/2019 - Cautious Optimism
Finance Minister Hartwig Löger (ÖVP) presented his first budget. Austria's new federal government wants to earn more than it spends. The double budget for 2018 and 2019 should herald a new era. The Austrian state has been spending more than it takes for 65 years and this is to be reversed for the first time in 2019. Debt policy is to be ended. A budget surplus of 541 million euros is to be achieved and thus a turning point in budget policy. Most money should be spent on pensions, least on health.
March 22, 2018
VSE: International Investors Dominate Vienna Stock Exchange
International institutional investors are largest group of investors on the prime market of the VSE Vienna Stock Exchange. They account for some 78 percent of institutional free float of the prime market index ATX Prime stocks, according to a study.
April 12, 2016
Activ Solar Files for Reorganisation in Austria, Debts Reach EUR 500 Million
Vienna-based Activ Solar GmbH announced that it is bankrupt and that it has filed for reorganization in Austria due to its investment exposure in Ukraine. The company has amassed debts to the tune of EUR 500 million.
February 10, 2016
VSE's Operating Income Up 17% in 2014, CEESEG also Slightly Up
The Vienna Stock Exchange (VSE) and the CEE Stock Exchange Group report solid FY 2014 results. Vienna Stock Exchange's operating income is up 17% in 2014, mainly driven by the steadily increasing trading volume. Also, new members have been elected to the supervisory board.
June 23, 2015
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