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Halloween in Vienna: appealing dark tourism

Vienna, city of the Habsburgs and the Empress Sissi, famous for its beautiful music and the Viennese Waltz. But far from the palaces and rides in horse-drawn carriages, the Austrian capital has a dark side. More and more visitors come to discover the many morbid curiosities throughout the city, so much that the city has undertaken to turn it into an original and unique tourism development focus.

Vienna and his fumeral Curiosities

Historical tragedies are so intriguing that they have transformed some places into real tourist attractions. There is a long list of sordid things to discover in Vienna, such as the Imperial Crypt of the Habsburg dynasty with the remains of 149 royals, a must for thrill seekers. The catacombs built over the centuries under the city and containing mummified bodies provide eerie entertainment, as does the cemetery with more than 3 million corpses. For lovers of the purely sinister, visit the museum of anatomical malformations housed in a former asylum. Here you can discover the “Devil”, nothing other than a baby’s body preserved in formaldehyde. In short, for horror film fans, Vienna is THE ideal Halloween destination.

Some will see a disturbing “Disneylandisation” of heritage, others an opportunity to raise awareness of important historical events. Either way, the city has decided to play on this mournful aspect and make macabre tourism one of its attractions.

“Vienna’s dark, even morbid aspects, are an exceptional asset to promote the city”

Florian Wiesinger, Tourist Board official.

When death becomes business

Morbid curiosities delight hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. It is not by chance that Vienna is a world leader of distinguished cities for its heritage, and that its airports are by far the busiest in the country. The number of passengers handled in November 2016 was
1,766,913, an increase of 5.9% from the previous year. Macabre tourism is a real success in Vienna and is likely to continue growing in the years to come. Hotels, restaurants, museums, tourist attractions, amusement parks, travel agencies and tour operators; this is an opportunity not to be missed. PxCom proposes to attract tourists to Vienna for Halloween with affordable and accessible inflight advertising. Contact us !