P8 Survey 2023 "What Makes Austria Tick?"

Austria, 07 June 2023 – P8 Marketing has surveyed over 500 Austrians in the online survey “What makes Austria tick?”. Core topics of the survey are happiness factors & investments this year, desire to travel in summer & safety at home and abroad, shopping habits & purchase decision criteria, assessment of further economic and credit development as well as popular communication channels.

Austrians happy again despite multiple crises

Corona, inflation, and war. The happiness barometer has finally peaked again since 2020 despite multiple crises: at the end of the year, just under 15% were still “unhappy” to “very unhappy”. The current survey shows that “only” one in ten is now unhappy. Compared with April 2020, the mood is now finally at its highest level, with 3.4 out of a possible 5 mood points. (cf. 2020 – 3.1; 2021 – 2.8).

Happiness factors are virtually unchanged, but good looks are gaining in importance again. Values such as health (77%), no money worries (66%), an intact family (61%), a nice home (61%) and partnership (58%) count. Good looks are now an important factor for one in five. “People are leaving their own four walls again, and so good looks are becoming more significant,” analyzes P8 CEO Georg Hofherr.

Great yearning for experiences, longer trips planned at home and abroad

Meaningful investments in leisure and experiences play a major role this year. Almost 57% want to invest in travel, but leisure activities (46%), clothing (42%), health (36%) and restaurant visits (34%) are also very much in vogue.

Summer vacations are particularly booming. Just under half of respondents have planned a longer trip (5 days or more), while around a third are planning a short vacation (1-5 days). Destinations in Europe (66%) and outside Europe (13%) are very popular. But domestic vacations are also very popular – one in five is spending the summer in Austria. The car (56%) is just ahead of the plane (43%) as the means of transport to the destination. Fear of traveling abroad is rather low. Just under 20% of Austrians feel unsafe, the rest associate a neutral (35%) or safe feeling (47%) with a trip.

“With the end of Corona, the desire to travel at home and abroad has risen massively again. What counts now are nice trips, being in nature and enjoying good food with loved ones. Experience and relaxation are fully in vogue,” says Hofherr.

Habituation effect in inflation, further rise in lending rates expected

In response to inflation, the motto is “save, save, save”. Compared with the previous year, a slight downward trend can be seen: 67% (cf. 2022 – 70%) are trying to save energy and 45% (cf. 2022 – 45%) are saving additional money to cushion inflation.

This price awareness is also clearly evident in purchasing behavior. Just under 70% look more at the price and offers, 39% buy only what is necessary and one in five pays attention to regional products (cf. 2022 – 29%). Online shopping is losing importance. In times of the pandemic, around 40% shopped online more often, but this is now the case for only one in ten.

Although Austrians are more positive again about economic development – 44% expect the economy to remain at this level, 14% expect a positive development – the assessment of lending rates is negative. Almost 80% expect an additional slight (46%) or strong increase (34%) in interest rates.
“After the short-term shock at the turn of the year, people have now become accustomed to inflation. However, they are in a positive mood and believe in a good future,” Hofherr is convinced.

Modern media companies score with comprehensive offering

Popular “news” channels among Austrians continue to be television (3.6 out of 5 points), messenger services (3.4 out of 5 points), social networks (3.4 out of 5 points) and radio (3.4 out of 5 points). However, daily newspapers (print) (47%) are also regularly consumed daily to weekly for news – cf. 2022, this figure was 37.4%. Modern media companies score with a comprehensive offering and must play on all media to reach the various target groups.

Social media are used daily or several times a day by almost 90% of all respondents, predominantly to maintain social contacts (56%), to read news (49%), to bridge boredom (38%) and to stay up-to date (33%). “It turns out that quality journalism, regardless of channel, remains the ideal environment for advertisers. The more in-depth and qualitative the info, the more trustworthy the traditional media. When it comes to quick and general information, social media scores,” the marketing expert said.

The survey was conducted online from May 23 to 29, 2023. A total of more than 500 people from all regions and age groups in Austria took part.
P8 Marketing was founded in 1999 by Mag. Georg Hofherr and is one of the leading full service agencies in Austria. You can find the detailed results here: