Record year for Vienna tourism

Vienna attracted a record number of tourists last year, with the number of overnight stays up five percent from 2010 and hotel revenues on course to have risen almost 10 percent, figures showed Monday.

"This result is no coincidence. Vienna is a wonderful city, but we are not sitting on our laurels and have implemented a very intensive and diversified publicity strategy," the Austrian capital's deputy mayor Renate Brauner said.

Overnight stays were 11.4 million and January-to-November hotel revenues were up 9.2 percent at 446.7 million euros ($581.9 million), with December - the time of Vienna's famous Christmas markets - looking to have ensured a bumper 2011.

Tourism board chief Norbert Kettner said the success was thanks to the city's strategy of attracting visitors from new markets, most notably Russia, Asia and central and south America, particularly Brazil.

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