Austria is a highly industrialized economy, which has made the country consistently rank well in GDP per capita terms. While it is a free market economy, labor unions are very influential and exercise a lot of clout on economic decisions. Apart from industry, international tourism is one of the most critical sectors for Austria.
Tourism makes about 9% of the Austrian GDP with the country earning $18.9 billion from the industry in 2007. As a member of the EU, Austria has attracted a lot of foreign direct investment and access to the European market.
However, Austria was impacted by the 2008 financial crisis in which many private finance companies such as Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International had to be bought out by the bank. However, the service industry is Austria’s most important sector that contributes much to the country’s GDP. Vienna has become a consulting and finance metropole that is the gateway to the East.