Five years after the 2020 Vienna terror attack, Austria held a national commemoration on 2 November 2025 at Desider-Friedmann-Platz. During the ceremony, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner unveiled a ‘City-Safe Visitor Protocol’ (CSVP) designed to protect tourists and business travellers attending large events in the capital. The protocol introduces geofenced alert messages via the ID Austria app, multi-lingual evacuation signage, and a requirement that hotels with more than 150 rooms conduct quarterly security drills.
Karner told reporters that Vienna welcomed more than 1.8 million international business visitors in 2024 and that ‘credible security guarantees are vital for congress tourism and the wider mobility ecosystem.’ The CSVP has been piloted with the Vienna Convention Bureau and major venues such as Messe Wien and Austria Center Vienna.
![Austria marks Vienna terror anniversary with new visitor-security protocol]()
Travel managers in multinational firms praised the clarity on roles: venue operators must now supply clients with a ‘security fact-sheet’ covering nearest safe rooms, medical points, and police contact channels. Insurers said premiums for meetings and incentive trips could fall by up to 7 % if the protocol is fully adopted.
Civil-liberties groups welcomed the fact that geofencing relies on voluntary opt-in, but warned that aggregated location data should be deleted after 24 hours to avoid mission creep. The Ministry insists the system meets GDPR standards and will undergo an external audit before the first large-scale test at the European Oncology Congress in February 2026.
Karner told reporters that Vienna welcomed more than 1.8 million international business visitors in 2024 and that ‘credible security guarantees are vital for congress tourism and the wider mobility ecosystem.’ The CSVP has been piloted with the Vienna Convention Bureau and major venues such as Messe Wien and Austria Center Vienna.
Travel managers in multinational firms praised the clarity on roles: venue operators must now supply clients with a ‘security fact-sheet’ covering nearest safe rooms, medical points, and police contact channels. Insurers said premiums for meetings and incentive trips could fall by up to 7 % if the protocol is fully adopted.
Civil-liberties groups welcomed the fact that geofencing relies on voluntary opt-in, but warned that aggregated location data should be deleted after 24 hours to avoid mission creep. The Ministry insists the system meets GDPR standards and will undergo an external audit before the first large-scale test at the European Oncology Congress in February 2026.
