Austria is proactively enhancing its sports tourism sector—both winter and summer—to create a more sustainable, diverse, year-round, and high-quality experience for visitors.
Many alpine regions are strategically reducing their reliance on skiing by promoting summer sports, hiking, biking, wellness, and other nature-based activities.
Golf, in particular, is emerging as a key strategy for attracting off-season tourism. A prime example of this initiative is the upcoming Austrian Alpine Open 2026 (Prize Money: $2.75 million), scheduled to take place at the Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith golf course from May 28 to 31, 2026.
This event aims to increase visibility, elevate the quality of offerings, and enhance appeal beyond the winter season.
Recent data demonstrates positive trends in summer tourism, with overnight stays in the municipalities of Kitzbühel, Reith, Aurach, and Jochberg increasing from the previous year between May and July 2024.
Sport-related activities such as walking, cycling, golf, and wellness are significant contributors to this growth.
While Kitzbühel is making impressive strides, it also faces typical challenges associated with alpine and premium destinations.
Addressing these challenges will be key to sustaining progress and further improving the experience for all visitors.
Here are some challenges:
- Capacity & Infrastructure Stress: Accommodations, transport, and lift infrastructure must keep pace with growing demand; maintaining high quality while scaling is expensive.
- Balancing Residents’ Needs & Tourism: Ensuring that tourism development doesn’t degrade local quality of life — factors such as housing costs, traffic, and ecological impact — is always a sensitive issue in high-tourism alpine towns.
- Maintaining Brand & Premium Positioning: To justify premium pricing and attract ‘luxury’ tourism, continuous investment is needed in quality (both in experience and facilities), as well as in marketing.
Outlook & Opportunities
- Off-Peak (Shoulder Seasons) Focus: Events like the Austrian Alpine Open are scheduled in early summer to extend the tourism season. More offers (e.g. wellness, hiking, festivals) in spring and autumn can help reduce seasonality.
- Strengthening Sustainable Certifications & Green Credentials: Continuing to obtain ecolabels/sustainability seals, improving transport options (public transport, e-mobility), and enhancing ecological infrastructure (renewable energy, waste management, habitat preservation) can help meet the growing demand from eco-conscious travellers.
- Partnerships & Destination Alliances: Collaborations with Salzburg & surrounding regions (as in the golf event), or merging ski areas can create scale, share costs, and increase attractiveness to international guests.
The organizers of the Austrian Alpine Open 2026 are expecting about 36,000 overnight stays in the Kitzbühel region during tournament week alone. The prize money will be $2.75 million.
I found an interesting statistic of the DP World Tour event visitor numbers.
So for larger, marquee events on the tour, a typical attendance might be somewhere between 70,000 and 110,000+ over the duration of the tournament:
- The BMW PGA Championship in Great Britain had about 109,635 spectators in 2023.
- The DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, a Rolex Series event, drew in excess of 79,000 spectators over its four days in 2023.
- The Genesis Scottish Open had about 72,517 spectators in 2023.
2026 Austrian Alpine Open – details
The most successful Austrian golfer of all time, Sepp Straka, currently ranked number 15 in the world and a proud 2-time Ryder Cup winner and 4-time PGA Tour champion, will tee off at the highly anticipated 2026 Austrian Alpine Open presented by Kitzbühel-Tirol.
Following its triumphant debut at GC Gut Altentann in 2025 in SalzburgerLand, Austria’s largest golf event will soar to new heights in Tyrol as planned in 2026.
This remarkable tournament will unfold from May 28-31, 2026, at the scenic Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith golf course and will be an integral part of the prestigious DP World Tour Race to Dubai 2026.
Golf Tirol
The upcoming return of the largest domestic golf event significantly underscores Kitzbühel’s esteemed status as Austria’s capital of sport.
In addition to the renowned Hahnenkamm Race and the Generali Open, golf will now receive an elevated platform featuring prominent players such as Sepp Straka and others.
In partnership with Golfland Tirol, the event will showcase the region’s finest offerings.
More than 20 golf clubs, including 16 partner facilities of “Golf Tirol,” will invite participants to experience the breathtaking landscapes of the area.
The Golf Tirol Card affords access to 16 premier facilities, encapsulating the best golfing experiences that the Alps can provide—from leisurely 9-hole rounds to championship courses situated at remarkable altitudes.