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Austrian Retailers Reporting Strong Start To Summer With Lockdown Easing

The summer of 2021 will also be remembered as a Covid summer. The pandemic continues to dominate our daily lives. But the current summer temperatures, a large-scale test campaign and a high vaccination rate – over 60% of the Austrian population has received at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine – have led to a drop in the number of infections and, at least for the time being, are allowing at least a part of the “new normal” to take shape.

BY BJOERN BETTERMANN

After the first stage of easing restrictions in May, when travel bans were reduced and hotels and restaurants reopened, the situation has become noticeably more lively. Further opening steps in June and July will make our daily lives easier again. However, the so-called 3G rules are in force, i.e. you have to have recovered (“genesen”) from Covid-19, to be fully vaccinated (“geimpft”) or to have a recent negative test (“getestet”) in order to be allowed to benefit from the re-openings. In shops, the occupancy restrictions and the obligation to wear an FFP2 mask will be dropped at the beginning of July, thus further alleviating the situation in the trade sector. Events, cultural activities and the opening of restaurants and bars at night will be allowed again. However, hygiene and social distancing rules will still have to be observed. At present, the so-called Delta variant is a cause for concern among experts and leaves room for speculation as to what will happen in the autumn/winter season. So, there is still a very big question mark hanging over the coming winter season!

In parallel to the opening steps, the general business situation in Austria is showing a more positive trend compared to the previous year. However, it remains well below the pre-crisis levels of 2019. But the economic forecasts of Austrian companies have improved across all sectors. Only in those sectors that were economically impacted in a negative way, either directly or indirectly, by the COVID-19 measures imposed by the authorities, did the sentiment for the most part remain gloomy. Basically, however, there are signs of a trend reversal in the direction of an economic upturn. Private consumption has risen significantly. This is also being perceived by businesses, as the “lack of demand” has decreased again and rather a “lack of materials, capacity and manpower” is now the perceived hurdle. As for the important tourism sector, a significant improvement is expected in comparison to last year, but the winter season, which was almost completely cancelled due to the lockdown, ended up with a drop of 90%, which cannot really be made up for. Nevertheless, the summer season is expected to be almost at the pre-crisis level in 2019, especially in the final months of August to October. The tourism development in the rural regions in particular, with their traditionally high share of domestic guests, topographical attributes such as lakes or alpine landscapes and the wide range of recreational and active sports offers, is expected to thrive. In contrast, city tourism continues to have a very pessimistic outlook.

Parallels can also be drawn to the retail of boardsports equipment and I was able to obtain an assessment from Andreas Portenschlager of Pure Surf Shop in Rankweil and Christian Rainer, who runs the sports shop of the same name, Sport Rainer, in Zillertal. Andreas describes the situation as basically good, with only the supply problems across all product categories in the water sports sector hindering growth. In this regard, he mentions surfskates in particular, which are selling very well but are very hard to get hold of. The summer season has started off well. The early availability of goods made it possible to get very good results from online sales and even to attract international customers, as he reports. The domestic customers are probably also inclined to spend their holidays at home and have invested their budgets in SUP, windsurf, kite and the like in order to conquer the local lakes. At Pure Surf Shop, he reports good business in all areas and expects a strong summer season until August. This is additionally supported by the three SUP rental facilities he operates, which function as test centres. He sees a trend in the wingfoil sector. He hopes for a certain price stability there, as this sector is very demanding in terms of service and support that have to be provided.

Christian from the Sport Rainer Shop in Uderns, Zillertal, also reports on a positive summer so far. A weak start caused by the weather has been compensated for by a high number of repeat customers and by the lifting of travel restrictions. Streetwear and outdoor clothing have sold very well so far, and here he mentions kids’ streetwear in particular. All in all, he expects a good summer season. However, a question mark remains over the coming winter season, so let’s wait and see! See you soon in the mountains!