Agriculture chamber seeks one-euro tourist levy

The president of Austria’s Chamber of Agriculture, Josef Moosbrugger, is calling for a one-euro overnight levy to support farmers, arguing that their work maintaining the landscape and alpine farming also benefits tourism, ORF reported. The hotel industry and the Chamber of Commerce oppose the proposal.

Under Moosbrugger’s plan, hotels would collect one euro per guest per night and pass the money on to mountain farmers. He renewed the proposal in an ORF interview over the weekend after the government agreed on a 240 million euro drought aid package for farmers following lengthy negotiations.

Moosbrugger said small-scale farms were needed to maintain agricultural land across the country and preserve the landscape. Without them, he argued, tourism in those areas would also have no future.

He said tourists would probably accept the charge because many visit for the landscape. He added that he was convinced there would be broad support if holidaymakers were asked whether they would make one euro available to farmers.

Tourism industry rejects proposal

The tourism industry has clearly rejected the overnight levy. Philipp Fasser, head of the Wälder Tourismus tourism organisation and mayor of Lingenau, said hotels already supported mountain farmers by buying their products.

“In a region like the Bregenzerwald, it is important that everyone participates,” Fasser told ORF. However, he said simply providing more money was not the solution. Although guests were happy to visit, he warned that they might eventually say they had had enough of additional charges.

Hotelier Dietmar Nußbaumer of the Krone hotel in Hittisau also rejected the proposal. He said farmers in the region often opposed tourism projects, including a planned project in Schetteregg and possible mountain-bike trails and visitor management measures.

Nußbaumer said this was not criticism of alpine farming, which he considered very important and said the hotel supported as much as possible. But he said he did not understand the demand for an overnight levy when some farmers were blocking tourism initiatives.

Chamber of Commerce also opposes levy

Karlheinz Kopf, president of the Vorarlberg Chamber of Commerce, said on Monday that there would be “certainly no overnight euro from the hotel industry for agriculture”. He said hotels were under heavy cost and competitive pressure, and that another euro per overnight stay would reduce already narrow profit margins.

Kopf said that strong overnight-stay figures did not automatically mean that businesses were profitable. He added that the achievements of agriculture were worthy of recognition, but benefited the entire population and were already heavily supported with public money.

According to Kopf, taxpayers provided around 1.7 billion euros in 2025 and 2026 for the common agricultural policy and rural development, in addition to other subsidies. He said taxpayers were also supporting farmers during the current crisis.

The issue was therefore not whether guests considered farmers or the landscape worth an additional euro, Kopf said. “Additional pocket money from another sector’s coffers is therefore completely out of the question,” he added.