Global Tourism Assessment 1 - Vienna

0594617 Global Tourism Assessment 1

Vienna is the Capital of the Republic of Austria and one of Europe’s most visited

tourist destinations. Vienna or (Wien) in German, attracts visitors with its numerous

historic sights and extensive array of events and entertainment (Dearsley 2016).

Vienna’s history dates back to the first post-Christian century when the Romans

established the military camp Vindobona. The city of Vienna has delighted in a long

history, conquering numerous contentions and issues throughout the hundreds of

years, with Duke Henry II of Austria honouring the city its prestigious title of Austrian

capital in 1155 (Austrian National Tourism Office, 2016). This essay will discuss in

chronological order, the history of Vienna from a tourism destination perspective.

The discussion will begin with identifying when Vienna was established as a

destination and take a look at Vienna throughout the ages up to the 21st century. In

doing so, will identify key historical social, economic, political, technological and

other developments which took place in and around Vienna which contributed

towards the establishments of tourism in that destination in order to get to where it

today as a renowned tourism hotspot.

Looking back to just before the beginning of the tenth century, it was the Babenberg

family who truly begun to invigorate the region to develop Vienna throughout the

Middle Ages. Vienna was located near the Austrian-Hungarian border and became

an important point of commerce as early as in the year 1000. Trade was the earliest

example of tourism development in Vienna, particularly because of the capital’s ideal

location alongside the Danube River which allowed the city to do trade with

Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade as well as other key cities located nearby

(Gingrich, Haidvogl & Krausmann, 2012). Trade via this route was not only for goods

as there was a high demand during the middle ages for skilled tradesmen,

particularly in building defensive walls and structures as this era was filled with great

conflict from surrounding nations wanting Vienna for themselves as it was so

strategically located. The flow of skilled labourers from numerous European locations

resulted in a population influx within the Austrian Capital which required housing,

religious establishments and further infrastructure improvements. These were started

by the Babenberg family until ruler ship changed hands to the House of Habsburg in

the 13th century (TravelSmart Ltd, 2016).

In the 13th century, optimistic not to be beaten by the flourishing city of Prague, the

Habsburg sovereignty dispatched numerous eager building ventures, including the

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extension of the effectively amazing St. Stephen's Church, beforehand finished in

1160. The outward sign of any medieval city was its surrounding wall. Vienna's city

wall was built around 1200. The community was granted its first privilege in 1221.

Vienna was termed one of the principal cities of the empire after Cologne

(TravelSmart Ltd, 2016). A major upgrading came with the granting of the so-called

"Stapelrecht". Under this privilege non-resident tradesman had to display their goods

for sale in the city. This afforded the Viennese the very profitable opportunity to act

as middlemen. The city's expansion and development is particularly reflected in the

increasing splendour and number of churches, although the foundations thereto had

been laid by the Babenbergs still. There was growing construction at the time even in

the suburban area, outside the walls, and development crystallised along the main

arteries leading into and out of the city (Vienna City Administration, 2016). The 14 th

century saw the prompting of wary financial approaches because of Rudolf IV, Duke

of Austria, and Vienna delighted in a period of much abundance. Rudolf was

additionally in charge of the foundation of the University of Vienna in 1365, which

became the capital’s most influential educational institutions and one of the most

revered universities in Europe during that time (TravelSmart Ltd, 2016).

Amid the 14th century the monetary backbone of the city was, from one viewpoint,

exchange, and, then again, wine-developing. Viticulture existed mainly in the

suburbs and outskirts. Wine was the chief fare, and this extensive wine creation was

ensured by import bans on outside, especially Hungarian, wines. Because of this, it

is not really shocking this led to much political distress during the 15 th century which

influenced Vienna's economy radically (FrommerMedia, 2016). Particularly the

"Stapelrecht" was turning out to be increasingly insufficient. The weight applied by

remote tradesmen who had been working together in the city for quite a while and

additionally the developing reliance of the Habsburgs on the money related ability of

effective exchange lines. In 1526, discontent within Vienna broke into civil war which

led to brutal repression and a new city charter that stated full control of the city was

now under Habsburg rule. If this was not disconcerting enough, in 1529 half of the

city was destroyed by fire and additionally in the same year Turkish armies laid siege

to the city for 18 days which left Vienna’s outer suburbs in smouldering ruins, despite

never beaching the walls. These events led to a mass departure of commoner level

citizens as the outer suburbs of Vienna became highly militarised and treacherous.

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However, the effective aversion of the Turkish besiegers in 1529 had earned the city

global prestige which resulted in an influx of upper class citizens (burghers),

especially those looking to further educate themselves at the University of Vienna

(Vienna City Administration, 2016).

The 15th-16th century in Vienna marked the beginning of the Classical Period and

arguably the biggest turning point for tourism within the capital. At this time Vienna

became the musical centre of Europe and works of the period are frequently alluded

to as being in the Viennese style. Authors originated from all over Europe to prepare

in and around Vienna, and step by step they created and formalized the standard

musical structures that were to prevail European musical society for the following

quite a few years. The Traditional period achieved its lofty finish with the mind

blowing orchestras, sonatas, and string quartets by the three extraordinary arrangers

of the Viennese school: Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and

Ludwig van Beethoven (Sherrane, 2012). As a result of the explosion in arts and

culture during this time, this gave birth to the Grand Tour. The Grand Tour was a

traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly the upper-class European elite in an

effort to broaden their horizons and learn about language, architecture, geography

and culture (Rosenberg, 2016). This custom flourished from about 1660 till 1789

because of the break out of the French Revolution. In addition to this, in the 1700’s

Vienna became a Baroque city. The most critical architects of this period were

Johann von Erlach and Johann von Hildebrandt. Marvelous, lavish royal residences

sprung up in the rural ranges, the most prominent of which are Modena Royal

residence, Schwarzenberg Royal residence and Liechtenstein Castle (Austrian

National Tourist Office, 2016).

All through the late seventeenth and mid eighteenth Hundreds of years, Vienna

experienced a plague, however thereafter appreciated a steady population

development, achieving 200,000 occupants by 1790. Its development was ascribed

to the industrialisation and development of processing plants, with the main

production line built up in Leopoldstadt, the city's second Area isolated from the focal

point of Vienna by the Danube Trench (Europe-cities, 2016) In 1848 the French

philosophy of middle-classed revolution reached Austria, yet the rebellion was

instantly crushed, and the foreign minister Klemens von Metternich reacted by

chopping down common freedoms and presenting a strict oversight. Metternich's

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predominance of Austria between 1815 and 1848 ushered in another golden age

(Vienna Unwrapped, 2016). The Biedermeier period was recognized by the

expanded flourishing of the white collar class. For all intents and purposes kept out

of legislative issues, the bourgeoisie focused on society. They assembled manors

and the primary huge condos and energized painting, music, and writing. An

increase in technology changed the horizon of Vienna as the nineteenth century

advanced. The first steamship organization to explore the Danube was built up in

1832, and Austria's first railroad line opened in 1837. Meanwhile, regardless of his

brightness as a global ambassador, Metternich ordered local approaches that just

about ensured common agitation. They prompted the annihilation of social liberties,

the after war inconvenience of a police state, and the production of a monetary

atmosphere that favoured industrialization to the detriment of wages and workers'

rights (Vienna Unwrapped, 2016).

Franz Joseph I's severe comportment made the ideal foil for a blast of artistic

development in the recently revived city. A noteworthy achievement was the

immeasurable Ringstrasse, the road that circles Vienna's first Locale. Franz Joseph

requested it worked over the old city dividers, and the development of the

"Ringstrassenzone" turned into a work of homogeneous city design unparalleled all

through Europe (Timelines.ws, 2015). Then, propelled innovation dispatched Vienna

into the Industrial Age, changing the city into a sparkling showcase. The realm's

tremendous assets were utilized to keep theatres, cafés, show corridors, royal

residences, and homes sufficiently bright, cleaned, and kept up. The water supply

was enhanced, and the Danube directed. Another town hall was fabricated, and

another park, the Stadtpark, opened. In 1890, a considerable lot of the city's external

rural areas were consolidated into the City of Vienna, and in 1900 a last twentieth

region, Brigittenau, was likewise included. In 1906, ladies got the privilege to vote

(Timelines.ws, 2015). By 1910, Vienna, with a populace of 2 million, was the fourth-

biggest city in Europe, after London, Paris, and Berlin. Also of note in the latter half

of the 19th century, Vienna started to receive a significant influx of British tourism

thanks to the international tourism firm founded by Thomas Cook. In addition to this,

the industrial revolution during the 19th century saw the early formation of mass

tourism and organised packaged tours which saw in particular European travellers

visiting in Vienna in masses for the culture and arts (TravelSmart Limited, 2016).

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Despite the global depression in the 1890s, tourism in Vienna in the early 20 th

century saw another explosion in arts and culture. However, this was no longer just

in the areas of music and architecture but had also diversified into the areas of

expressionist painting, writing and producing/acting. In amongst those of significance

included Anton Bruckner conducting his 9th Symphony, world famous Hollywood film

director Fred Zinnemann was born as was Otto Preminger another film director and

producer (FrommerMedia, 2016). In addition to the arts, tourism in Vienna, particular

within the Jewish community which was quite prominent at that time in Europe saw a

significant increase in regards to medical sciences. The first cornea transplant was

performed by Dr. Eduard Zirm and world renowned neurologist Sigmund Freud

made significant contributions into the studying and founding psychoanalysis. Also

taking off at this time (originating in Germany) was expressionism both in painting,

poetry which was quickly adopted by Venetian artists/poets at this time. Furthermore,

architects begun to adopt expressionism into their buildings and sculptures which

once again contributed towards tourism development within Vienna as tourists

flocked from all over to see these works of art. In 1897 a gigantic Vienna Ferris

Wheel was built in Prater which became a popular tourism attraction and survived

the preceding war (Brauner, 2015).

In 1914-1918 tourism in Vienna saw World War I which was its biggest threat since

the French Revolution. Although the war was not an immediate threat to Vienna in

general, it did lead to a significant lack in supplies due to the economic embargo

imposed by the Entente powers. This resulted in a huge shortage of food and

clothing not to mention the costs to economy during the war due to borrowing money

from other nations which resulted in inflation skyrocketing. In addition Germany tried

to (and succeeded in many cases) seize art works from Vienna galleries during the

war. This resulted in Austria enacting legislation in 1918 in order to keep artworks

from leaving the country (Gallagher, Gardner & Kadri, 2007). After the war Vienna,

as did most of Europe went through the great depression which once again dealt a

blow to tourism within Vienna. However, film producers, conductors, writers and

other individuals involved in the arts continued to persevere in order to sustain

tourism within the capital. To make things more difficult for the economy Austria had

formed an alliance with the United States in order to help fight Communist Russia.

However this did result in the United States lending Austria a great deal of money to

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sustain their efforts which allowed Austria to start to repay other nations they had

previously loaned money from and gradually begin to reduce inflation levels within

their economy as well as build many low cost residential estates (Schutter, 2010).

In 1939 with World War II, tourism within Vienna took one of the most significant

blows to date. Germany took over and fully occupied Austria which resulted in a

majority of the population within Austria now being German. The previously mass

percentage of Jewish population who had previously occupied Vienna either fled,

were placed in concentration camps or killed. During World War II, the city of Vienna

was bombed 52. The circumstance of the city was a long way from empowering.

More than 20 percent of the housing stock was halfway or totally obliterated, just

about 87,000 pads had gotten to be appalling. In the urban range, more than 3,000

bomb holes were included, numerous extensions were shambles, sewers, gas and

water funnels had endured extreme harm. The basic of the prompt after war period

was to take care of the most essential issues and recover the city to some degree of

working order. The above all else needs of the new city government were to

guarantee welfare programs for the youthful and the elderly, to repair the city-

possessed utilities and rebuild the city (Durning, 2014).

In 1948, there was an enormous economic upsurge felt across Europe. An important

contributing factor towards this was the Marshall Plan which was an American

initiative in order to aid Western Europe to help rebuild after the war. The tourism

industry in Vienna was seen as a vital part of economic benefit and amendments

were made to legislation within the industry increase pay for workers. Aviation

technology had significantly increased due to the war which made air travel more

comfortable, safer and faster which helped make way for the first ‘official’ mass

tourism. Expansions were made to the Vienna international airport in 1959 in order to

cater for larger and more frequent flights. In addition to international tourism through

air travel, there became a huge increase in the volume of private motorised traffic

both domestically and from surrounding nations. This resulted in a number of road

building programmes which unfortunately meant the destruction of historical

buildings and mass clearance of trees (

The 1960s-70s saw yet more innovations in technology and changing trends from a

social perspective in the tourism industry. In particular in the 1960’s cinematic

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tourism, especially across Europe took off. In 1960 Vienna launched its first

International Film Festival. Vienna film producers also inspired the Broadway musical

‘The Sound of Music’ which became the highest grossing film of all time. In addition

to film, Vienna begun to truly utilize the other areas of arts to benefit from cultural

tourism. They constructed a new opera building, the Vienna School of Realism and a

number of other important universities/galleries which specialised in promoting and

showcasing the numerous both current and historical art works in order to boost

tourism (WienTourismus, 2016). The 1970’s saw the creation of the 747 jumbo jet

which resulted in Vienna once again making further developments to their

international airport in order to maximize accessibility to Vienna as a prime tourist

destination. In addition to this, public transport in Vienna was improved by the

introduction of the new U-Bahn network, the first part of which was opened in 1978.

In the 1980’s tourism within Vienna continued to grow despite the slight dip in air

travel after Palestinian guerrillas opened fire inside the Rome and Vienna airports

killing 20 people. The late 1970’s and early 1980s also saw the opening of the first

underground railway line and the opening of Danube Island which became a new

recreation area. Both these major developments helped to further tourism within

Vienna (Dearsley, 2016).

Finally the 1990s saw rapid growth in tourism development in particular from the

internet which helped aid package tours and domestic and international travel. This

allowed Vienna to further promote and market their tourism products, particularly

within the art and culture areas but also begin to target other potential niche markets.

The Museumquartier complex was constructed in the 1990’s which helped Vienna

further promote both art, literature, history and architecture unique to that area.

Another type of attraction which rapidly took off were balls with Vienna being the last

great capital to showcase the 19th century ball. There are over 450 balls per year in

Vienna, some featuring as many as nine live orchestras. The final area of focus

which became popular in Venetian tourism during the 1990’s and still is today is

gastronomy. In particular wine, beer and coffee houses, many of which date back

centuries which have significantly helped launch tourism development in Vienna into

the 21st century (Austrian National Tourist Office, 2016).

In conclusion, looking back over the vast historical development of tourism within

Vienna, the ‘City of Music’ has come a long way. Starting out as just a city utilized for

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trade in the 10th-13th to the musical centre of Europe in arts and culture in the 15th-

16th century, which in turn benefited through the ‘Grand Tour’ as aristocratic class

travellers flocked to Vienna for educational and cultural purposes. The 17 th and 18th

centuries saw tourism in Vienna further develop through diversification within the arts

with an upsurge in early film production and scientific developments which allowed

tourism to further flourish. The 18th century saw a boom in economic activity within

Vienna and benefitting from Thomas Cook’s organised expeditions which led to

Vienna hitting the 2 million populace at the end of the century. The first half of the

20th century saw tourism take a huge blow from the World Wars and Global

Depressions whereas the 1950s saw a huge economic upsurge which resulted in

Vienna further developing its accessibility, infrastructure and greatly benefitting from

the birth of mass tourism. Finally, the 1960’s ushered in the age of film, the 1970s

the 747 jet and the finished construction of the U-Bahn and the 1980s and 90s an

upsurge in package tours and organised mass tourism including through the internet

which helped Vienna reach a larger target market. In addition the 90’s has seen the

significant boom in gastronomic tourism through wine, beer and cafes in Vienna.

Based on how tourism has developed within Vienna over time it is clear to see that

Vienna is a resilient tourist destination. Despite the hardships and challenges it has

faced over time tourism within Vienna has not managed to sustain itself but flourish.

Carrying on along the trend tourism in Vienna is travelling now it is arguable that

Vienna will still remain one of Europe’s top tourist destinations well into the future.

References

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Travel Guide to Austria:

http://www.austria.info/au/basic-facts/about-austria/history

Brauner, R. (2015). Vienna in Figures 2015. Vienna: statistical analyses on the City

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https://www.wien.info/en/sightseeing/architecture-design/modern-architecture-

vienna

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Global Tourism Assessment 1 - Vienna

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