WIESBADEN (dpa-AFX) - Tourism in Germany is heading for a record year in 2024 despite the economic crisis. The industry has long since left the slump in the Corona pandemic behind it and is achieving overnight accommodation figures that even exceed pre-crisis levels, according to new data from the Federal Statistical Office. Travel agents are reporting strong bookings for 2025. Consumers are therefore happy to spend money on vacations even when the economy is sluggish.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, hotels, inns, campsites and other accommodation providers in the country recorded 32.3 million overnight stays in November, 4.8 percent more than a year earlier.
More overnight stays than before Corona
From January to November, overnight stays thus totaled 465.3 million. This is 1.8 percent more than in the same period of the previous year and slightly more than the previous record for the first eleven months of a year from the pre-corona year 2019. At that time, there were 464.7 million overnight stays.
In November 2024, the number of overnight stays by domestic guests climbed by 4.9 percent to 26.6 million. A strong increase of 4.2 percent to 5.7 million was also recorded for foreign visitors, according to statistics that take into account larger establishments with at least ten overnight accommodation options.
Stable demand even in the off-season
"The fact that overnight stays increased in November despite the changeable weather and the Christmas holidays is an extremely positive sign," said Norbert Kunz, managing director of the German Tourism Association (DTV). Destinations have managed to maintain stable demand even in the off-season.
The German tourism industry had already recorded growth over the first three quarters. Although many people are holding their money together after the wave of inflation, German citizens have traditionally been willing to spend money on vacations.
"Wanderlust unabated"
The industry reports strong bookings for the new year. The tour operator Dertour, for example, has seen record bookings for the summer. "The Germans' desire to travel continues unabated," Dertour manager Mark Tantz recently told the German Press Agency.
Industry leader Tui is also profiting. Group CEO Sebastian Ebel expects further growth in 2025. The winter season has started well and for the summer, there are already seven percent more bookings than a year ago, Ebel said in December. "Germany is particularly strong."'
The weak economy has not dampened the desire to travel. "We have seen time and again, even in economically difficult situations, that customers want to travel, want to take a vacation."/als/DP/nas