Tourism is booming: Record overnight stays, but employers refuse fair collective bargaining agreement
While hotels and restaurants are celebrating record sales, employees are to forego inflation compensation. The trade union vida demands fair wages instead of real wage losses.
Tourism
Record numbers in tourism contradict the collective bargaining negotiations
Austrian tourism is setting new records. According to the latest figures from Statistics Austria, around 9.6 million overnight stays were recorded in May 2026 - more than ever before in a May since records began in 1973. The interim balance for the current year is also extremely positive, with more than 64 million overnight stays and an increase of 2.3 percent compared to the previous year.
"We will not stand idly by while the employees are left out in the cold despite record sales!"Vorsitzende des Fachbereichs Tourismus
For the trade union vida, these figures show one thing above all: Economically, the industry is doing excellently. It is all the more incomprehensible that the employers have broken off the collective agreement negotiations for the hotel and catering industry and do not want to grant employees full compensation for inflation.
Record prices for guests, loss of real wages for employees
While hotels and restaurants have massively increased their prices in recent years and are benefiting from strong demand, those who work for this success every day are supposed to forego purchasing power.
According to the union, this behaviour is disproportionate to the economic development of the industry. Record sales and historic overnight stays must also be reflected in fair wages.
Shortage of skilled workers is homemade
For years, employers have been complaining about a shortage of workers in tourism. For the trade union vida, however, the cause is not a lack of employees, but unattractive working conditions and low incomes.
Those who are urgently looking for staff cannot at the same time demand real wage losses. Fair pay, predictable working hours and good working conditions are the decisive factors in attracting people to careers in the hotel and catering industry in the long term and keeping them in the industry.
These are the demands made by the trade union vida
The trade union vida calls on the employers to return to the negotiating table and to enable a fair collective agreement to be concluded. The focus is on:
- full compensation for inflation so that there is no loss of real wages,
- a fair participation of employees in the economic success of the industry,
- better working conditions and attractive incomes as an effective response to labour shortages.
Tourism success must not be at the expense of employees
Record development in tourism is the result of the daily work of more than 200,000 employees. Those who benefit from historic overnight stays and rising revenues must also fairly reward those who make this success possible. Real wage losses despite record profits are neither economically comprehensible nor socially just.
