South Tyrol puts a stop to a train voucher scheme for tourists

Unfortunate media leaking

Guests who had booked accommodation in South Tyrol between July 15 and September 15 received discounts on tickets if they traveled by rail. This was the core of the campaign that IDM launched together with its partner Trainline. Focusing on Italy, local taxes financed the scheme.

It was a pilot project designed to gather experience in order to find out how such an approach would be received and how it would need to be structured in detail. During the test run, IDM decided to switch from an initially personalized voucher code to a generic one.

The aim was to significantly increase the reach. All accommodation providers could pass the code to guests who had already booked a vacation in South Tyrol for the specified period. Relevant accommodation providers received the code exclusively for this purpose.

However, the initiative had to be stopped after the promo code was published by various media outlets.

“The aim of the campaign was to get thousands of cars off South Tyrol’s roads during rush hour,” said Wolfgang Töchterle, Marketing Director at IDM. “The campaign had the potential to do this. However, we had to stop the campaign because high-reach local media made public the promo code that enabled discounted travel.”

The leakage posed a big risk. A massive number of people could use the code without booked accommodation during the scheduled period. By immediately ending the campaign on July 17 -just two days after being launched- this was successfully prevented.

Trainline’s control mechanisms were also active for the generic code. Nevertheless, in view of the widespread and careless publication of the code, IDM South Tyrol decided also to deactivate it as a precaution.

The small town of Sterzing/Vitipeno, a top destination in South Tyrol. (Photo: CL/Cleverdis)

South Tyrol experienced a marked increase of Asian and USA overnights in 2024

“In the short time that the promotion ran, we were still able to gain some important initial insights,” said Töchterle. “I very much regret that the careless publication of the code meant that we were unable to carry out the campaign. It denied us a pragmatic approach to solving key transport problems. I would like to see us all pulling together in South Tyrol to find joint approaches. And really make a difference. Tourism is a joint task.”

South Tyrol, with a population of less than 600,000 inhabitants, is meanwhile a big player in Alpine tourism in Europe. The northernmost region of Italy is a fascinating blend of Austrian – the region belongs indeed to Austria until 1919- and Italian cultures. It offers breathtaking Alpine landscapes, numerous historical cities and sightseeing as well as superb gastronomy.

2024 was a record year for South Tyrol with 8.7 million arrivals generating overnight stays of 37.1 million. German and Italian travelers generate the majority of overnights with a respective market share of 47.3% and 28.3%. Austria, Benelux countries, and Switzerland follow with a respective market share between 3.5% and 4.5%.

Within the other countries, the increase in overnight stays from Asian countries is particularly striking. Total Asian overnights rose indeed from 94,927 to 527,126 between 2015 and 2024. This corresponded last year to 1.4% of all overnight stays.

The United States also recorded an increase in a decade, growing from 121,170 in 2015 to 443,783 overnight stays. This meant a share of 1.2% of total overnight stays in 2024.

From January to June 2025, South Tyrol welcomed 2.93 million arrivals (+1.7%) which generated 12.08 million overnights (+0.3%).