What will be the impact of the 2026 Austrian Alpine Open on off-season tourism?

Austria is proactively improving its sports tourism sector – both winter and summer – to create a more sustainable, diverse, high-quality experience for visitors all year round.

Many Alpine areas are strategically reducing their dependence on skiing by promoting summer sports, hiking, cycling, wellness and other nature-based activities.

Golfin particular emerged as an important strategy to attract tourism out of season. A good example of this initiative is the upcoming initiative Austrian Alpine Open 2026 (prize money: $2.75 million), planned for the Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith golf course from May 28 to 31, 2026.

This event aims increase visibility and increase the quality of the offerand increase its appeal even after the winter season.

Recent data shows positive trends in summer tourism, with the number of overnight stays in the municipalities of Kitzbühel, Reith, Aurach and Jochberg increasing between May and July 2024 compared to the previous year.

Sports-related activities such as walking, cycling, golfand well-being make an important contribution to this growth.

As Kitzbühel makes impressive progress, it does faces typical challenges associated with alpine and premium destinations.

Addressing these challenges will be critical to sustaining progress further improving the experience for all visitors.

Here are some challenges:

• Capacity and infrastructure stress: Accommodations, transportation and lift infrastructure must keep pace with growing demand; maintaining high quality while scaling up is expensive.
• Balance between the needs and tourism of the residents: Ensuring that tourism development does not affect local quality of life — factors such as housing costs, traffic and ecological impact – is always a sensitive issue in highly touristy mountain towns.
• Maintain brand and premium positioning: To justify premium prices and attract ‘luxury’ tourism, continued investment is needed in quality (both in experience and facilities), as well as in marketing.

Prospects and opportunities

• Focus off peak hours (shoulder seasons).: Events such as the Austrian Alpine Open are scheduled in early summer to extend the tourist season. More offers (e.g. wellness, hiking, festivals) in spring and autumn can help reduce seasonality.
• Strengthening sustainable certifications and green credentials: Continuing to obtain eco-labels/sustainability seals, improving transport options (public transport, e-mobility) and improving ecological infrastructure (renewable energy, waste management, habitat conservation) can help meet the growing demand from environmentally conscious travelers.
• Partnerships and destination alliances: Collaborations with Salzburg and surrounding regions (such as the golf event), or merging ski areas can create scale, share costs and increase attractiveness for international guests.

The organizers of the 2026 Austrian Alpine Open expect approx 36,000 overnight stays in the Kitzbühel region alone during tournament week. The prize money will be $2.75 million.

I found an interesting statistic of attendance at the DP World Tour event.

So for larger events on the tour, average attendance may be somewhere in between 70,000 and 110,000+ during the duration of the tournament:

• The BMW PGA Championship in Great Britain was transferred 109,635 spectators in 2023.
• The DP World Tour Championship in Dubaia Rolex Series event, attracted more than 79,000 spectators during the four days in 2023.
• The Genesis Scottish Open was over 72,517 spectators in 2023.

2026 Austrian Alpine Open – details

The most successful Austrian golfer of all time, Sep Strakacurrently ranked number 15 in the world and a proud two-time Ryder Cup winner and four-time PGA Tour champion, will tee off at the highly anticipated 2026 Austrian Alpine Open presented by Kitzbühel-Tirol.

After his triumphant debut at GC Gut Altentann in 2025 in SalzburgerLand, Austria’s largest golf event will reach new heights in Tyrol as planned in 2026.

This remarkable tournament will unfold from May 28-31, 2026on the scenic Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith golf course and will have a integral part of the prestigious DP World Tour Race to Dubai 2026.

Golf Tyrol

The imminent return of the largest domestic golf event significantly underlines Kitzbühel’s esteemed status as the sporting capital of Austria.

Besides the well-known ones Hahnenkamm race and the Generally opengolf now gets an elevated platform with prominent players such as Sepp Straka and others.

In collaboration with Golfland Tirolthe event will highlight the best offerings from the region.

More than 20 golf clubsincluding 16 partner facilities of “Golf Tirol”, invite participants to experience the breathtaking landscapes of the area.

The Golf Tirol Card offers access to 16 first-class facilitieswhich summarizes the best golf experiences the Alps have to offer – from relaxed 9-hole rounds to championship courses located at remarkable heights.