Tourism - Travel industry expects sales growth - more bookings for summer
In view of strong demand, the German travel industry is anticipating rising sales of vacation and private travel for the summer season. The industry association DRV expects that people in Germany will spend a total of 78 billion euros on services that are booked before the start of the vacation - both for package tours and individually arranged vacations.
Sales growth of four percent compared to the previous year was predicted for trips of at least one overnight stay. However, the number of travelers in the 2023/24 tourism year is also likely to fall short of the pre-coronavirus pandemic figure.
Consequences of the increased air travel tax still open
Due to high inflation, fewer people were already traveling with tour operators in 2022/2023 than before the pandemic. According to the data, it is not yet clear how the increase in air travel tax planned by the German government will affect prices and demand. "Obviously, many German citizens will no longer be able to afford a vacation trip in 2023 due to increased costs," said DRV President Norbert Fiebig. The German government should not make travel even more expensive.
However, according to the forecast, the majority of the population will not give up traveling. This is also indicated by the advance bookings of tour operator trips for the summer season, which have so far been significantly higher than last year and the pre-pandemic year 2019.
Turkey and Greece are likely to be the growth drivers for package tours. In long-haul travel, the DRV expects an increase in travelers of eleven percent and an increase in sales of 18 percent compared to the previous year. "Many long-haul destinations such as the USA, Australia, Thailand and Indonesia have only gradually recovered after the coronavirus pandemic," explained Fiebig. Catch-up effects are therefore still expected.
The association intends to publish the forecast, which has been compiled for the first time for the travel market as a whole, twice a year in future.
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Source: www.stern.de
