The Austrian Ministry of Economy and State governments are in discussions over the establisment of a transferee fund that supports business takeovers in the tourism industry.

By 2020 around 2,000 hotels in Austria would be up for takeover, 80 percent of which are family-run businesses, for which an easier method of ownership transfer is needed, APA reported Thursday.

The fund would initially have 10 million euros (13 million U.S. dollars) available at the start of 2013 and financing would be through interest-free European Recovery Program (ERP) credit, and with a loan volume of 350,000 to 1,000,000 euros.

Austrian Minister of Economy, Family and Youth Reinhold Mitterlehner said the Austrian tourism industry fared well in 2012 with a four percent increase in overnight stays over 2011, and through the fund the country would hopefully see an investment impulse, particularly in the "quality" of tourism, he said.

E-tourism remained the greatest challenge to the industry as 76 percent of hotel bookings in Europe took place online, for which discussions were currently underway on how to improve online search results for Austrian businesses.

An emphasis would also be placed on "Cities and Culture" as part of advertising strategy which could be used to gain Austria more international attention. It would not just be about "high culture" but also about culture in Austrian daily life, which could done through interesting new tourism offers, Mitterlehner said. Endi

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