André Rieu Receives Austrian Award

Rieu Receives Award From The Austrian National Tourist Office

Vienna (TP/OTS)
UTL: Dutch Artist as Ambassador of The Austrian Music Culture Honored

Following his acclaimed concert at the Wiener Stadthalle yesterday evening, Dr. Petra Stolba, Managing Director of the Austrian National Tourist Office, honored André Rieu for his contributions to the Austrian culture in the terms of tourism ~ in particular, in Australia.

During the course of his last world tour, the Dutch violinist and his Johann Strauss Orchestra conducted 11 concerts in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane in front of 300,000 enthusiastic Australians. As a backdrop, the Schönbrunn Palace, in its origional size, accompanied him.

The concerts were titled "A Romantic Night in Vienna". The enthusiasm was so great that within a few weeks, almost 200,000 DVDs of the concert were sold. Over 12,000 persons visited the Austrian National Tourist Office in Sydney to learn more about holidays in Austria, and hoping to win a trip to Vienna (sponsored by Emirates Airline). The enormous interest in Austria which Rieu created in Australia, gave the Austrian Tourist office the opportunity to honor the musician."André Rieu is a true ambassador of the Viennese waltz," remarked Dr. Petra Stolba as she recognized the achievements of this artist.

The award of the Honorary Medal of the Austrian National Tourist Office for special contributions to the Austrian tourism is a gesture, with which we want to express how much we appreciate his connection to the Austrian music. The enthusiasms which André Rieu creates in his concerts are more than anything imaginable. Austria and its culture benefit from the love of such a recognized artist.

This enthusiasm is true not only in the music alone, said Stolba in her presentation. The fact that the tradition of the Viennese Ball(et) is also part of the show (with debutantes from the Viennese dance school Elmayer), has the audience longing for holidays in Austria.

The fact that Australians love Vienna, could also be considered André Rieu's merrits: the last two months of the year 2008, there was despite the financial crisis and weak dollar, a double growth rate in tourism (50.8% in arrivals in November, December +24,4%) Of these, a total of just under 50,000 Australians visited Vienna and created around 117,000 overnight stays. The increase of Australian visitors in the whole of Austria in 2008 amounted to 121,000 arrivals (+4.5% vs. 2007) and 291,000 overnight stays (+4.6% vs. 2007).

Thank You to John for translating the full article for us!