In 2003–2008 the
Austrian tourism industry enjoyed a six-year streak of growth, with each year beating the previous record by an average 2.1%. Tourism generated 8.4% of Austrian
gross domestic product (23.6 billion Euros) and provided 181 thousand jobs. The "top ten" of Vienna's tourist attractions in this period included the
Schönbrunn Palace,
Tiergarten Schönbrunn, the
Albertina, the
Wiener Riesenrad, the
Hofburg Palace museums, the
Belvedere, the
Kunsthistorisches and
Naturhistorisches museums, the
KunstHausWien and the
Donauturm observation deck. The crisis hit the Austrian tourist industry in the first quarter of 2009, when international tourist arrivals dropped by 8.6%. Museum attendance suffered disproportionately higher losses. Ticket sales at Hofburg palace exhibitions dropped by 20%. Tickets sales at the
Albertina, the most visited art collection in Vienna, dropped by more than a third, from 997 thousand in 2008 to 630 thousand in 2009. Its former third place in the list of Viennese attractions was taken over by the
Wiener Riesenrad. The Schönbrunn Palace also recorded a drop in visitors, but its profits actually
increased by a third. Tiergarten Schönbrunn reported a "record drop" of 70% in February 2009 (50% for the first quarter of 2009). Practically all museums and zoos increased ticket prices, by an average of 16.7%, the first price hike since the
introduction of the Euro in 2002. According to the Vienna Tourist Board, in 2009 the city's hotels recorded 4.385 million visitors (2008: 4.593 million). 20% of the visitors were Austrians, 24% were Germans, 5% Italians and 5% Americans. The worst losses were recorded among tourists from Asia, North America and Eastern Europe. The state responded with promoting Austria in the neighbouring countries to compensate the losses in long-distance international tourism. In the end of 2009, the trend reversed with an increase in tourists from
Japan,
Italy,
Spain,
Greece and
Russia. ==Ranking of tourist attractions==