Please note: the following information has been compiled from the most important German-speaking Trade Media.
Current major topics within the tourism industry in the DACH region
- More than half plan to travel more sustainably in 2023: According to a survey of 2,411 travelers by the portal Urlaubspiraten, the willingness to book sustainably will increase significantly in 2023. At 53 percent, more than half of the participants say they want to travel more sustainably in the future. This represents a strong change from the previous year, where environmental protection and sustainability played a role in vacation planning for just under a third (32%). Survey participants said they planned longer vacations this year (52%), preferred environmentally friendly accommodations (49%) and wanted to travel by train (38%). A full 62 percent also attach importance to supporting local businesses when planning this year’s vacation. Another 30 percent want to offset their carbon footprint at least by paying an additional fee when booking flights. Read more
- These are the most hospitable places in the world: A record number of 1.36 million travel suppliers have been recognized for their hospitality by Booking.com this year with a Traveller Review Award 2023, including 10,539 in Switzerland. The online booking platform also presents the 10 most hospitable cities and towns in the world for 2023, with Polignano a Mare in Italy topping the list of the world’s most hospitable cities for the first time, and La Rioja in Spain also a new entry as the world’s most hospitable region in 2023. Based on over 240 million verified customer reviews on Booking.com, 1,364,415 accommodation partners, 230 car rental providers and 58 airport cab providers received a 2023 Traveller Review Award. Italy continues to lead the way in 2023 with a total of 170,638 accommodation awards, followed by Spain (108,217), France (103,365), Germany (76,479), Croatia (64,206), Poland (60,721), the UK (60,697), Greece (54,473), Brazil (53,658) and the US (46,839). Read more
- How TUI wants to compete with Booking.com & Co.: The Group is launching a hotel-only offer, which has been rolled out in Sweden as a first step. 15,000 hotels in 50 destinations are bookable in the first step via the new TUI hotel platform in Sweden. Further Nordic markets are to be added next month, followed by all major source markets in the course of the year. Anyone who calls up the Swedish TUI site and goes to the hotel-only offer will find an image familiar from the major hotel portals. A map on the right, the hotels next to it with a photo and key prices, and filter functions on the left edge. This is no coincidence: Just as Booking & Co. are increasingly offering complete travel packages, TUI wants to play a role in their segment in the future. Read more
- The desire to travel is unbroken, says Hanse-Merkur study: Despite the crisis, people’s desire to travel in Germany is unbroken. Travel agencies are not the only ones noticing this at the moment, as they can hardly keep themselves busy with inquiries. According to a population-representative online survey by insurer Hanse Merkur with the market research institute „Heute und Morgen,“ 86 percent of the 3,230 people surveyed are virtually sitting on packed suitcases. „The study shows that Germans are now particularly enjoying traveling again after years of the pandemic,“ says Johannes Ganser, board member for cooperation and travel sales at Hanse Merkur. 62 percent of respondents said that vacations had become an important resilience factor due to all the negative news. In addition, 61 percent said they would pay more attention to a positive balance. For 71 of the respondents aged 18 to 35, vacation is an escape from everyday life. Read more
- Business Travel Partners are optimistic for 2023: Industry-wide, booking figures in the business travel sector remain very low, and observers say that with regard to the flight segment, this is at a maximum of 50 to 60 percent of the pre-Corona level. The radically curtailed domestic flight connections are mainly to blame, but also the virtually non-existent long-distance traffic to destinations such as China. According to the Midoco Travel Index (MTIX), overall business travel revenue is currently 25 percent below 2019 and 2018 levels, before the Corona pandemic. Nevertheless, at the LCC Corporate Day in Frankfurt, the more than 60 business travel partners of the franchise association expressed optimism and high expectations for this year. „The year got off to a promising start. We will probably reach the pre-Corona level faster than planned,“ said LCC boss Markus Orth. In terms of products, he said he is focusing on mobility services in addition to factors such as duty of care, sustainability and travel costs. Read more
- EES introduction must be postponed: The EES, which was originally scheduled to go into effect in the spring and apply to all non-EU travelers going to a European country within the Schengen area for short stays of up to 90 days within a 180-day period, is apparently running into obstacles. The European Union’s agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems, known as EU-Lisa, said that it would not be possible to launch the EES as scheduled. Read more
Current topics within the transportation industry in Germany & Europe
- Salzburg Airport has exceeded passenger numbers targeted for 2022: Exactly 1,229,495 passengers were recorded at Salzburg Airport in the past calendar year. This is an increase of 310% compared to 2021 – a year that was almost a total loss for the airport. Just under half of the passengers in the previous year, 1,067,543, were on scheduled flights. After the first two pandemic years, charter traffic increased strongly in 2022: 161,952 passengers represent almost an eightfold increase compared to the „disaster year“ 2021. The number of aircraft movements rose to just over 54,300 (plus 18%). More than three-quarters of these were in the general aviation sector, i.e. flights with private, business and training aircraft, which had stagnated in the previous year. „We wanted to at least reach the million mark and are now pleased that this forecast has been exceeded with over 1.2 million passengers,“ announced airport managing director Bettina Ganghofer in a statement on Friday. However, it will take until the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025 to reach pre-crisis levels again. Read more
- Bus tourism sales slump: As part of the 42nd Day of Bus Tourism at CMT, new figures were presented on the turnover of businesses. According to figures from the WBO Trend Barometer, only 15 percent of respondents still had 90 percent of their pre-pandemic sales. Fourteen percent each reported around 60 and 70 percent of 2019 sales, respectively. A strong majority of 80 percent reported declines of 57 percent. It is therefore not surprising that some bus tour operators have exited the market. As Martin Becker, managing director of the gbk, says, „the number has declined by 11 percent to 2,650 companies since 2019.“ Read more
- Easyjet benefits from strong vacation demand: For the year-end quarter of 2021, Easyjet CEO Johan Lundgren still had to report a pre-tax loss of 213 million pounds. This loss for the months of October to December 2022 was already £80 million lower at £133 million (the equivalent of 150 million euros). And this is mainly due to tourism. The British low-cost carrier launched eleven new routes from the United Kingdom to popular vacation destinations alone. Its own tour operator brand, Easyjet Holidays, not only increased its range of services by 30 percent, but also boosted sales outside its own flight business by 232 percent to 93 million pounds (equivalent to 105 million euros). This makes this tour operator probably one of the fastest-growing in the UK. And it gets even better: 60 percent of the greatly expanded capacity for the summer season has already been sold – and at sharply rising prices. In total, Easyjet generated almost 1.5 billion pounds (just under 1.7 billion euros) in the 2022 year-end quarter. Of this, 975 million pounds (equivalent to 1.1 billion euros) came from air ticket sales and 406 million pounds (459 million euros) from ancillary revenue, respectively. Both divisions thus increased 78 and 77 percent, respectively. Read more
Destination news
- Austria: After two years of lockdowns and travel restrictions, 2022 was a much better year for Viennese hotels and guesthouses. The pre-pandemic level was reached by three quarters, and this despite a heavy CoV wave in spring. 13.2 million overnight stays were recorded in Vienna in the previous year. That is three quarters of the level in the pre-crisis year 2019. Hotel sales were even higher in October and November than in 2019, although inflation also plays an important role here.
- Dubai: The Kerzner Group’s new Atlantis The Royal hotel, where an overnight stay can cost up to $100,000, has just opened with great fanfare. Dubai is on a touristic upswing. New audiences are contributing; for example, Russians looking to move their wealth to safety, Israeli investors, cryptocurrency millionaires and hedge fund managers. The emirate had eased social restrictions and liberalized laws to consolidate its position as the region’s business hub.
- France: The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), together with Oxford Economics, has conducted a study entitled „Cities Economic Impact Report“ to determine the world’s strongest city travel destination. The results of the research show Paris in first place with a value of US$36 billion in 2022 – based on the real GDP of the domestic travel and tourism industry for the year. It is followed by Beijing, with a value of US$33 billion, as the world’s second most popular city travel destination.
- Peru: Due to ongoing domestic conflicts, tourists are once again denied access to the Inca city of Machu Picchu. More than 400 stranded tourists were taken to nearby Cusco. In addition, the airports in Ayacucho, Jaen and Juliaca were closed at the end of last week.
- Spain: Following Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, Valencia will also introduce an additional tax for vacationers at the end of this year. The tourist tax will then have to be paid by all travelers who want to stay in the region. It will apply to all tourists who want to stay in apartments, hostels and hotels or campsites. Once the tourist tax for Valencia comes into force, an amount between 50 cents and two euros per night will have to be paid. This means that the fee will depend on the type of accommodation, whether one chooses to stay in high-end hotels or rental accommodations. However, there are also groups of people who are exempt from the tax.
- Tanzania: The Corona test requirement has been lifted for entry to mainland Tanzania. This means that travelers no longer need to present a negative PCR test for entry. However, the obligation to provide proof of a test or vaccination still exists for entry to the island of Zanzibar.
- Turkey: After an eight-week delay, the 34-kilometer metro line stretching from Kagıthane station in the city center to Istanbul Airport has now opened. „Thanks to this metro line with a capacity of 800,000 passengers per day, it will be possible to reach İstanbul Airport from Kağıthane in 24 minutes,“ said President Erdogan.
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