Kate Connolly reports in the Guardian of today No room at the plush Austrian inn for Russians and their rubles that 16 out of 20 of Kitzbuehel’s four- and five-star hotels have agreed to limit Russian tourists to 10 % of total.
Sepp Schellhorn, president of the Austrian Hoteliers Association, condemned the Russian quota as “absurd” and “shortsighted”. “This is not in line with the wishes of those who promote Austria or the Austrian economy,” he said.
But the head of Sporthotel Mayr-Reisch, Rupert Mayr-Reisch, said: “We’ve learned from other resorts, like St Moritz. You get a bit of a nationality imbalance when one nation gets the upper hand. It’s more pleasant when there are not too many people from one country in the same hotel.”
However, Mr Schellhorn said that it was ridiculous to speak of a mix of nations: “Think about it: Kitzbuehel has a large number of Germans, but no one has ever thought of trying to limit their numbers.”