Privacy policy

Data protection and data security during the use of our website are very important to us and we want you to feel safe when visiting our internet pages. Therefore, this page will give you information about which personal data we record when you visit our website and the purposes for which the data is used.

Since changes to legislation or alterations to our internal processes can require adjustments to this Privacy Policy please read through the Privacy Policy regularly.

1 Scope of validity

This privacy policy applies to the Vienna Tourist Board’s website, which can be accessed under the domain names www.wien.info, www.vienna.info, www.vienna.convention.at, www.viennaphoto.com, www.weiyena.info, and the various subdomains (hereinafter referred to as "our website").

2 Controller

The control over the gathering, processing and use of personal data as defined in the General Data Protection Regulation (which will be referred to below as the "GDPR") lies with the Vienna Tourist Board, Invalidenstraße 6, 1030 Vienna, Email: info@vienna.info (referred to below as "the Vienna Tourist Board" or "we").

3 What is personal data?

Personal data is information which can be used to find out personal or factual details about you (for example, your name, address, telephone number or email address). Information from which we cannot make any connection to you personally (or can only do so with disproportionate effort), such as by making the information anonymous is not personal data.

4 Automatic data collection

You can use most of our website without giving any personal data.

For technical reasons, the following user data, transmitted to the Vienna Tourist Board by the user’s Internet browser, is captured:

browser type and version;
user’s operating system;
website from which the user is visiting our website (referrer URL);
website visited by the user;
date and time of access;
Internet Protocol (IP) address of the user’s computer.

This data is stored separately from any user data disclosed and is analyzed for statistical purposes. This is in order to resolve technical problems and improve performance, and never establishes a connection with the identity of the user.

4.1 Cookies linked with the use of the services on our website

The Vienna Tourist Board employs cookies in order to carry out the services on its website and to transmit information. This means that the Vienna Tourist Board is able to recognize if the same user has visited our website several times. What is stored includes consent to the use of cookies (cookie dialog), the language setting selected (I18N_LANGUAGE), whether the user is willing to complete a survey (survey-ID) and the evaluation of a page (rate_ID). These cookies are effective for up to one year. Creating and saving of a travel plan using myVienna requires a cookie to be set (wieninfo.user.myvienna). The user identification is stored as an encrypted ID and remains on the browser for 30 days. Similarly, your login to the Vienna Experts Club (International) is stored as an encrypted ID for user authentication purposes in a cookie (vecclub) which remains on the browser for 30 days.

By using our website, you consent to the processing of the data collected in the manner and for the purposes described above. You can delete existing cookies from your browser (for example in Mozilla Firefox: about:preferences#privacy – "show cookies"; Google Chrome: chrome://settings/siteData) or you can prevent the storage of cookies with an appropriate setting in your browser software (for example in Mozilla Firefox: about:preferences#privacy; Google Chrome: chrome://settings/content/cookies). We would, however, point out that, if you do so, you can make only limited use of our website.

4.2 Tracking and retargeting

The Vienna Tourist Board uses Google Analytics, a web analysis service by Google Inc. (referred to below as "Google"), to improve and optimize its internet presence. Google Analytics uses cookies to analyze a user's use of our website. The Vienna Tourist Board has activated "_anonymizeIP()" for its website. With this extension, IP addresses are processed in an abbreviated form in order to prevent direct association with an individual: due to the IP anonymization on this website, the IP addresses of a user within the Member States of the European Union or within contracting states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area are first shortened by Google. Only in exceptional cases is the full IP address sent to a Google server in the USA and shortened there. The information collected through the use of Google Analytics on our website will be processed by Google in its role as a processor for the Vienna Tourist Board to analyze the use of the website, to compile reports on the website activities and to provide the Vienna Tourist Board with additional services in connection with the use of the website and the internet. The IP address transmitted by a user's browser in connection with Google Analytics will not be associated with other data held by Google.

In addition, the Vienna Tourist Board uses partner companies to carry out online advertising. Your browser will be assigned a unique ID the first time you contact a partner network. The observations collected under this ID are subsequently used by the partner networks to offer you personalized advertising tailored to your needs. The partners used and the cookies placed for this are: Cookies

In addition, we use the web analysis tool "Piwik". This creates user profiles using pseudonyms. To achieve this, an item of pseudonymized data is stored on your device inside a cookie (or small text file). However, you can object to the creation of user profiles at any time. To do this, please go the page at this link (https://stats.datenschutz-nord.de/optout.html) and then select the appropriate settings. Alternatively, you can use your browser settings to deactivate the use of cookies or to activate the Do Not Track function. If you do that, we will not use web tracking. These steps mean that we are able to guarantee that our web tracking complies with the legal requirements for data protection.

5 Social media activities

Social media channels in a range of languages and on diverse platforms are also used in the course of our information activities. For details on the data protection provisions applicable in this context, please refer to your license agreements for the respective platform. A suitable management tool is used for the coordination and administration of channels and campaigns. This processing is performed based on our legitimate interest according to Art. 6 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). All data removed from the social media platforms will be automatically erased from our systems after 6 (six) months. If you have any questions regarding data protection, please contact our data protection officer at datenschutz@wien.info

6 Hyperlinks to external websites

On our website you will find hyperlinks to other providers' websites. If you activate these hyperlinks you will be transferred directly to the other provider's website. You will recognize this from the change of URL. We cannot accept any responsibility for the confidential handling of your data on these third party websites, since we have no influence over these companies' compliance with the data protection provisions. We recommend that you look for information about how these companies handle your personal data on their websites. You will find legal information about hyperlinks in our website information section (https://www.vienna.info/de/impressum).

7Processing and use of your data

If you would like to take advantage of services offered on our website, such as requesting a newsletter, you will need to provide further data. This involves the data relevant to the particular type of processing; so, if you are requesting a newsletter, we need your email address.

We process your personal data exclusively in order to offer you a comprehensive service via our website or, if you use our contact form, to answer your questions, to deal with an application from you or to send you information you have requested about our offers or other services you would like us to carry out for you.

In particular, personal data are processed as follows:

8 Registration - newsletter

The data you give us when registering for one of our newsletters will be used only for sending you the newsletter. The information collected, such as your email address, country (tailored to your region), language (information regarding your language) and company data are needed so that we can provide you with the newsletter. Your data is saved in our database, and will be erased or anonymized in the event of a withdrawal. Processing is carried out based on your consent under the terms of Article 6 GDPR. You can withdraw your consent at any time. The simplest way to withdraw your consent is to use the unsubscribe link in the newsletter. Or you can contact our Data Protection Officer directly at any time at datenschutz@wien.info. We do not give your data to third parties except in the situations described at Item Data transfer to a third party.

9 Registration - MyVienna

The registration details needed for myVienna are collected and processed on the basis of your consent under the terms of Article 6 GDPR for the purpose of identification, saving your travel plans and contacting you for these purposes. The provision of the data is necessary because we cannot carry out the service otherwise. The Vienna Tourist Board only evaluates the travel plans anonymously for the purpose of statistical surveys. You can erase this data yourself in your account settings. Or you can contact our Data Protection Officer at datenschutz@wien.info. If you register for myVienna via Google+ or Facebook, we do not collect or process any personal data you have entered in Google+ or Facebook. Authentication by Google+ or Facebook is subject to the terms and conditions of use of the respective provider.

10 Registration – Events of the Vienna Tourist Board

The data you provide when registering for one of our events will be processed only for the preparation and handling of and communication about the event. Processing is carried out based on your consent in accordance with Article 6 GDPR. By participating in the event, you also consent to the production and publication of photographs for the purpose of reporting on the event. You may revoke this consent at any time by replying to the address of the sender of the invitation, whereby your registration will be canceled and you will not be able to participate in the event. Alternatively, you can contact our Data Protection Officer directly at any time at datenschutz@wien.info. Your data will be stored until further notice, but for a maximum of 3 years, and then deleted. We will not pass your data to third parties except in the situations described in the point “Forwarding of data to third parties”.

11 Registration – Vienna Experts Club / Vienna Experts Club International

When you register for the Vienna Experts Club (VEC) or Vienna Experts Club International (VECI), you consent to the processing of your data (name, gender, year of birth, profession, company, address, communication details) for the purpose of checks before you are admitted to the VEC/VECI and for communication with you in this regard.

Processing is carried out based on your consent under the terms of Article 6 GDPR. You can withdraw your registration at experts.club@wien.info. If you withdraw your registration or refuse membership, If you withdraw your registration or refuse membership, your data will be deleted at the latest after 12 months.

When you are admitted to the VEC / VECI, we process, in addition to your existing data, correspondence, participation, recommendations and your photo for the purposes of managing the membership directory, issuing the membership card, administering access to the club area, invitation to / facilitation of attendance at events, sending information material, holding prize draws and evaluating members' interests. To communicate with Club members, we send regular newsletters, which are an integral part of Club membership. If you unsubscribe from the newsletter, this signifies that you are ending your Club membership.

You can end your membership at any time by communicating with the Club office. Or you can contact our Data Protection Officer directly at datenschutz@wien.info. Your data will be erased at the latest 12 months after you end your membership.

We do not give your data to third parties except in the situations described at Item Data transfer to a third party such as when database storage and access data to the club area are handled by a processor.

12 Registration – photo.vienna.info

When you register with image database photo.vienna.info you are giving your consent to the processing of your data (name, gender, institution, address, email address) for the purposes of administering your access data, your image downloads and communicating with you in this regard.

Processing is carried out based on the fulfilment of contract under the terms of Article 6 GDPR. You can withdraw your registration at foto@wien.info. Or you can contact our Data Protection Officer directly at any time at datenschutz@wien.info.

If you have not yet downloaded an image, your data will be erased immediately following your withdrawal of consent. If you already downloaded images from the database, your details will be retained for seven years as proof that you obtained the relevant images and will then be erased.

We do not give your data to third parties except in the situations described at Item Data transfer to a third party such as when database storage and access data are handled by a processor.

13 Requesting information material

When you order brochures and promotional material your contact details are collected so that your order can be processed smoothly, and processed in order to fulfill the contact in accordance with Article 6 GDPR. Completion of the order is impossible without this data. We do not give your data to third parties except in the situations described at Item Data transfer to a third party such as to the logistics service provider tasked with delivery. After four weeks (i.e. once a reasonable period of time has passed to allow for you to respond to us, bearing in mind the postal delivery period in both directions) your data will be automatically erased. If you have any questions about data security, please contact our Data Protection Officer at datenschutz@wien.info.

Special case: requesting information material for conferences:

In order to fulfill our performance criteria in the realm of meeting management, we reserve the right to synchronize an order for information material with our CRM database and, where appropriate, to respond to you with offers of assistance.

14 HRS – hotel search

You can search for hotel rooms in Vienna using our website. The Vienna Tourist Board acts purely as a middleman (intermediary) in this regard. This service is free of charge to the user. The Vienna Tourist Board does not collect any personal data during your hotel search.

The hotel rooms available for searching via our website are offered by the HRS hotel reservations system belonging to Robert Ragge GmbH, Blaubach 32, 50676 Cologne, Germany (www.hrs.com; referred to below as "HRS"), which is accessed via hyperlinks from the website. Once the user has input his search criteria and clicked on the Search or Hotel Search button and then clicked on a hotel description, he is transferred directly to the HRS online range.

Bookings are made via the HRS hotel reservation system directly with the hotel selected by the user. The contractual relationship for the reserved hotel room is established directly between the user and the accommodation provider. The hotel search in the HRS hotel reservation system is covered by the Robert Ragge GmbH General Terms and Conditions, just as the booking is covered by the agreement between the user and accommodation provider and the latter's General Terms and Conditions. The Vienna Tourist Board stands outside these contractual relationships. Payments should be made directly to the accommodation provider. The Vienna Tourist Board does not offer any travel services in its own name and does not appear as a travel agent in the sense of § 31 b of the Employment Protection Act.

All hotel descriptions and evaluations within the HRS booking system originate from the HRS booking system. The accommodation classification using stars offers a non-binding indication of the hotel standard. The hotel classification is based on self-assessment by the hotels, which is also, where appropriate, checked by the HRS using its own evaluation system, together with experiences collected by HRS and HRS customers. Other hotel information and descriptions are based on information provided by the hotels.

A telephone inquiry to Vienna Hotels & Info or an inquiry addressed to info@vienna.info results in processing in the HRS system. In this context the Vienna Tourist Board handles your personal data as a processor for HRS. The Controller, as defined in GDPR, is HRS. If you have questions about data protection, please contact datenschutz@hrs.de directly. General data protection information relating to HRS may be found on their website at https://www.hrs.de/web3/showCmsPage.do?pageId=legals

15 Feedback on the websites

The data entered on the feedback form on our website (title, gender, name, email address) are used only for communication with you in connection with your message. The provision of the data is considered to be consent under the terms of Article 6 GDPR. You can withdraw your consent at any time, in which case we will not be able to assist you further. After processing your request, the data will be kept for 3 years and then erased.

16 Participation in prize draws

When you participate in a prize draw, you are consenting to the collection and processing of your personal data for the purposes of organizing and managing the prize draw and notifying you if you win. The provision of the data is required for your participation in the prize draw. We will keep your data on file until the winner has been established. You can withdraw your consent at any time by sending us a message. Your data will then be erased.

If you win, we will process your data (name and address) in order that we can manage your win and so that you can claim your prize; we will erase your data when the statutory retention period of 10 years has expired.

Only if you win will your personal data will be forwarded to the prize draw partner in order that they can manage your prize (airline, hotel, etc.) (see Item Data transfer to a third party)

If you have any questions about data security, please contact our Data Protection Officer at datenschutz@wien.info.

17 Participation in surveys

Participation in surveys is anonymous and no personal data will be processed. However, at the end of a survey you have the opportunity to sign up for a follow-up survey; You will be required to provide your data in order to sign up. To this end, we collect and process your email address and store it until you revoke permission for us to store it. Processing is carried out based on your consent under the terms of Article 6 GDPR. Your email address will be used by us purely to invite you to participate in surveys and will not be forwarded to third parties – except to our data processors (see Item Data transfer to a third party).

If you have any questions about data security, please contact our Data Protection Officer at datenschutz@wien.info.

18 Inquiry about an event

By transmitting the data provided in the query form you provide your consent to the processing for the purposes of supporting planning for the event and to aid communication with you. Provision of your data is required so that we can process your inquiry. The information you provide, such as name, address, contact and business data are stored in our database and are erased or anonymized when you withdraw your consent. You can withdraw your consent at any time by sending a message to convention@vienna.info, in which case we will not be able to assist you further. Or you can contact our Data Protection Officer at datenschutz@wien.info. We do not give your data to third parties except in the situations described at Item Data transfer to a third party, such as when data storage is handled by a processor. In the event that you provide separate consent, we may forward your details to venues/hotels in order to prepare quotes and communicate with you.

19 Event registration

The data provided by you when registering an event are processed for the purposes of inquiries and the statistical evaluation based on the legitimate interest pursuant to Art. 6 GDPR. Data subjects may have a right to objection pursuant to Art. 21 GDPR. All data are saved in our database, and will be erased or anonymized in the event of a withdrawal. In the event that you provide separate consent, data of the section “Event details” will also be published on our website and in the Meeting Calendar on the website of the Austrian Convention Bureau. You can withdraw this separate consent at any time by sending a message to convention@vienna.info. Or you can contact our Data Protection Officer directly at datenschutz@wien.info. We do not give your data to third parties except in the situations described in the item “Data transfer to a third party”, such as when data storage is handled by a processor.

20 Forwarding application documents

Your application documents are required for the selection of candidates, are treated by us as confidential and will not be forwarded to third parties, except in the situations described at Item Data transfer to a third party. Processing takes places based on the need for steps prior to entering into a contract pursuant to Article 6 GDPR. In the event of an unsuccessful application the details provided by you will be erased after 6 months following the expiry of the complaints period pursuant to the Austrian Equality Act [Gleichbehandlungsgesetz]. If you have any questions about data security, please contact our Data Protection Officer at datenschutz@wien.info.

21 Vienna Hotels & Info

If you contact Wien Hotels & Info by telephone or email via info@vienna.info regarding information about offers in Vienna, ordering information material or requesting or booking accommodation, we will store and process the data you have provided for this purpose in a database and on the email server. If there is no legal obligation to store the data, we will delete it again after 12 months. We will not pass your data to third parties, except for inquiries and bookings of accommodation as described under point 13 and the cases described in the point “Forwarding data to third parties”, e.g. the storage of the data at a contract processor, such as our email provider. If you have any questions about data security, please contact our Data Protection Officer at datenschutz@wien.info.

22 ivie - iOS & Android Application

The Vienna Tourist Board is publisher of the Digital City Advisor App "ivie" and responsible for all content and features. This information app, which is available for iOS and Android in the official Appstores, only uses data in anonymized form, to provide this service. If you have any questions about the use of your data, please contact our Data Protection Officer at datenschutz@wien.info

The digital City Advisor is using data from your device, to provide it's services: Your location data is used for basic functions to show your location on the map and locations nearby, for ivies tipps we use your location in background to send you push notifications if you are near an interesting place (see 22.1). The list of favourites and own locations are saved in your profile. We are not analyzing that data. The data is only used and processed in an anonymized way. A conclusion on your identity is not possible and is not sought by us or our partners. For information on automated processing of your data see 22.1 and 22.2.

For certain additional functions expressly requested by the user (purchase of a Vienna City Card Experience Edition to call up and display the map), the user must create a personalized user profile. The list of favorites remains stored only locally in the device; we do not perform any evaluation on them. The specification of the user data is necessary because otherwise the additional function cannot be provided. The processing of the data for the additional function is carried out for the fulfillment of the contract (Art. 6 para 1 lit b DSGVO) and is personalized until the user deletes the user profile in the account settings. For the technical processing of the Vienna City Cards, the following service providers may access personal data under certain circumstances:
- Vienna Sightseeing Tours situated in Vienna

In case of registration via Google ,Facebook or Apple, we do not collect and process any personal data entered by you in Google or Facebook. Authentication via Google, Apple or Facebook is subject to the terms of use of the respective provider. For information on the processing of anonymous data for statistical evaluation in connection with the digital City-Advisor ivie, please refer to item (22.2). For further data protection information of the Vienna Tourist Board - in particular on the rights of data subjects - see [link to point 26 of this data protection declaration. For more detailed information on the use of data or if you have any further questions regarding data protection, please contact datenschutz@wien.info.

22.1. Location Permission in background

For the Service "ivies tips" we need your permission to track your location in background, as well as the permission for push notifications. We use the background location to check if you are near an interesting place to send you a push notification with tips about those places. In this way, we want to send you location based info, even if you are just walking through the city and you are not using the app actively, which are relevant at this place to not miss out on highlights or hidden gems. You can change this permissions always via the app settings "Permissions & Notifications" within your device settings.

22.2. Statistical use of ivie data

Vienna Tourist Board uses statistical data of the ivie application for improvement, troubleshooting and analysis of usage in Google Firebase and Google Analytics.

The information collected through the use of Google Firebase & Analytics will be processed by Google in its role as a processor for the Vienna Tourist Board to analyze the use of the application, to compile reports on the application activities and to provide the Vienna Tourist Board with additional services in connection with the use of the website and the internet. This User ID is not merged with other data from google (see https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy)

In addition, we gather aggregated movement data with our partner upstream (https://www.upstream-mobility.at), which are anonymus and used for motion current analysis in Vienna.

Both tracking permissions are asked at the first start of the App under "Analytical Cookies" and can be activated and deactivated in the App settings under "Tracking Settings".

23 Data transfer to a third party

The Vienna Tourist Board explicitly states that no personal data is forwarded to third parties. The exception to this is the forwarding of data in the context of processing; this includes the sending and storage of emails and storage of data in a secure data center. This refers to processors as defined in Article 4 Item 8 GDPR, who are carefully selected and are under contractual obligation to adhere to the same data protection standards. The processors obtain access to your data solely within the scope and for the period of time necessary to perform the relevant services, within the scope for which you have consented to the data processing and use.

24 Data security

We implement technical and organizational security measures to protect your data from unauthorized access. Besides safeguarding the operational environment, we use the latest technological encryption standards to ensure safe transmission of your data.

25 Information about, rectification of and erasure of your data

The Vienna Tourist Board will be happy to help you to exercise your rights under the GDPR.
Your rights are:

The right of access (Article 15)
– Which data about you are we processing? We will give you information.
Rectification (Article 16)
– Is your data incorrect? We will correct it.
Erasure (Article 17, DSG §4 Para 2)
– Would you like us to erase your data? We will check whether the processing (especially the retention period) and the technical enforceability are legally permissible, and we will erase your data in accordance with the statutory provisions.
Data transmission (Article 20)
– Would you like to use your data yourself? We will make available to you, in accordance with the law, the data we have in our possession.
Objection to processing (Article 21)
– Would you like us to stop processing your data? If you send us a legitimate objection to the processing, we will cease the processing.
Withdrawal of consent (Article 4 (3))
– Would you like to withdraw a consent you have given? We will heed your wishes.

In response to an inquiry from you, we will provide you with information as to which of your data we are storing and how it is being used. If the data relating to you stored with the Vienna Tourist Board is incorrect, we will correct it accordingly. You can withdraw your consent to the processing of your data at any time. In the case of processing which does not need consent, such as the fulfillment of a contract, you can submit an objection. You have the right to have the personal data which is stored with the Vienna Tourist Board erased. If erasure is prevented under contractual, taxation, commercial or other legislation concerning retention of data, we cannot erase your data, we can only block it. In order to exercise these rights, please contact the Vienna Tourist Board Data Protection Officer at datenschutz@wien.info.

If you believe that the processing of your data contravenes data protection legislation or that your legal rights to the protection of your data are being infringed in some other way, you have the right to complain to the data protection supervisory authority.

26 Questions about data protection

Please address your questions to the Vienna Tourist Board Data Protection Officer:

Vienna Tourist Board
Data Protection Officer
Invalidenstraße 6
1030 Vienna

Email: datenschutz@wien.info

So that we can send you an appropriate response, please provide the following information:

When did you have contact with the Vienna Tourist Board?
In what capacity did you contact us
(tourist, journalist, newsletter subscriber, supplier, etc.)?
Do you have a contact name at the Vienna Tourist Board?

Please mention any contact information you may have used to communicate with us (email address, telephone number, postal address).

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