The Vienna Tourist Board's City Guide app is proving to be extremely popular – among international travelers and local residents alike. Only a short time after its launch in 2020, ivie was named Austria's best app in 2021 and has now been downloaded 900,000 times. Available free of charge in the Apple Store and Google Play Store, the dual-language English and German app includes more than 1,000 entries, from sights to public toilets, as well as around 20 walks (menu item: Walks) and guided tours (Guides). All of these features make for an especially informative and entertaining companion, with ivie encouraging people to make sustainable, eco-friendly choices as they explore the city on foot.

The Ringstrasse Walk – a circular route comprising 14 stops on what is one of the world’s most beautiful boulevards – was the most popular in 2023. The Schönbrunn Walk and Sisi Guide rounded out the app’s top three city tours for the year. Attracting 13,000 participants, the ivie World’s Fair Challenge (a competition to mark the 150th anniversary of the Vienna World’s Fair) also proved extremely popular. The top three search terms were “Hotel Imperial”, “Wurstelprater” and “(K. und K. Hofzuckerbäcker) Gerstner”.

Become a Vienna Expert with ivie

Introduced in 2023, the Vienna Tourist Board’s new ivie commercial delivered a humorous take on the strengths of the City Guide app. It centered on nine-year-old Rada, whose depth of knowledge when it came to Vienna's sights and museums was a source of great amazement to everyone around her. New functions within the app – including the ability to display personalized content – were introduced, as well as a glut of fresh food and drink-related content. To put it in a nutshell: ivie turns visitors and residents alike into Vienna experts and ambassadors for the city.

Vienna City Card: the Eco-Friendly Way to Explore the City – Including Exclusive Offers

Integrated into ivie, the Vienna City Card grants holders unlimited free travel on the capital’s public transportation network as well as numerous discounts and concessions. Always with an eye on sustainability, the scope covered by Vienna's official guest card – the world's first city card to be certified in accordance with the Austrian Ecolabel – is being expanded all the time. And to help visitors make even more sustainable decisions, in 2023 the app was adapted to only list hotels that have been awarded the Austrian Ecolabel or a comparable, internationally recognized environmental certificate. 225,470 Vienna City Cards were sold (up 52% on the previous year) in 2023 – the highest total since 2017.

450,000 Visitors Looked After by the Tourist Info Centers

The Vienna Tourist Board’s two Tourist Info centers (Albertinaplatz and Vienna International Airport) provided information related to Vienna as a destination to around 450,000 visitors in 2023. In addition, four mobile tourist offices called in at various locations in Vienna during the summer season.