Market Update – March 02, 2023

Market Update – March 02, 2023

Market Update – March 02, 2023 6912 3456 fame creative lab
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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

  • ITB Berlin focuses on social and ecological sustainability: A wide range of panel discussions, seminars and lectures at ITB Berlin 2023 will focus on social and ecological sustainability. This will be ensured in particular by the „Responsible Tourism Track“ at the ITB Berlin Convention and the 18th „Green Business Forum for Tourism Professionals“ from March 7 to 9. The Responsible Tourism Track traditionally brings together a large number of exhibitors in Hall 4.1 who are particularly committed to socially responsible and environmentally compatible tourism. At the „Green Business Forum for Tourism Professionals“ in the same hall, exhibitors and internationally renowned experts from tourism, business and science will address topics such as overtourism, marine protection and pollution, and bicycle tourism. In addition, the Diversity & Inclusion Track and the Sustainable Destination Track will be discussion platforms for the development of sustainable destinations. Read more


  • Expedia study shows international travel trends for 2023: Bleisure, city and beach tourism are in vogue for tourism in 2023. In addition, tourists are increasingly booking via app – and, against the backdrop of economic uncertainty, are placing more emphasis on value for money. These and other trends emerge from Expedia Group’s latest quarterly Traveler Insights Report. For example, 28 percent of respondents in a new study say they plan to take a trip that combines work and vacation in the next year. In addition, about one-third of participants say they pay particular attention to low-cost, value-for-money deals when booking. Loyalty programs also play a role in this, according to the report: data from Expedia.com and Hotels.com indicate that hotels with loyalty programs show around three times faster growth in terms of revenue. Read more

 

  • Business travel significantly weaker than expected: The business travel industry in Europe continues to make progress towards full recovery to pre-pandemic revenue levels (around 370 billion euros). However, the recovery is progressing more slowly than recently predicted by many industry observers. The recovery is also proceeding very differently in the regions – particularly sluggishly in Germany. This is according to the latest annual forecast and Business Travel Index Outlook (2022) from the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), the international business travel association. According to the report, business travel spending in Europe now accounts for about 20 percent of global spending. In 2019, Europe still had a 27 percent share. However, according to the study, Western Europe in particular is expected to experience one of the strongest recoveries by 2026. This year, business travel spending in Europe would increase by 25.3 percent – more than anywhere else in the world. Read more

 

  • German vacations and car trips continue to be a trend: According to ADAC, around 5,000 people aged 18 and over were surveyed nationwide in December 2022 in online interviews for the study. According to the automobile club, 68 percent of Germans took a vacation trip in 2022 (2020: 51%, 2021: 61%). The number of short and longer trips, as well as overnight stays, also largely returned to 2019 levels. According to ADAC findings, Germany as a vacation destination still benefited from growth in Corona times, even after the elimination of most restrictions. It remained around ten percentage points above pre-crisis levels, with a share of 45 percent. The share of foreign travel did rise again in 2022 to 43 percent in Europe and twelve percent outside Europe. However, 42 percent of respondents expressed the conviction that vacations in Germany would continue to gain in importance in view of the current challenges. According to their own statements, 32 percent learned to appreciate Germany as a vacation destination during the pandemic and want to continue vacationing here in the future. The development in the choice of means of transport is analogous to this: the car increased its share in 2022 and, as the most frequent main means of transport for travel, remained above the pre-crisis level of 2019 (+6 percentage points) at 50 percent. By contrast, air travel (27%) lost eight percentage points of share. Rail increased its share by three percentage points. Bus, boat and camper van remained almost the same, according to ADAC. Read more

 

  • Winter tourism almost at pre-Corona level: With 30.8 million overnight stays in domestic accommodation establishments, only 8% were still missing the pre-Corona period, according to preliminary data from Statistics Austria. Compared to the same period last year, bookings (then: 19.6 million) increased by a good 57%. „Tourism started the new year with an increase in overnight stays of 48.1% compared to January 2022 – however, Corona-related restrictions still applied in January 2022,“ reported Statistics Austria head Tobias Thomas. This year in January there were 15.14 million bookings. For the halfway point of the current winter season, „a similar picture“ emerges. The first half of the 2022/23 winter tourism season, with 30.81 million overnight stays, was still below the pre-crisis level of 33.50 million. Overnight stays by both foreign and domestic visitors (23.6 million and 7.2 million, respectively) fell 8.4% and 6.9% short of the same period in 2019/20. Read more

 

  • Bookings exceed 2019 level: With the evaluation of January sales, Travel Data & Analytics (TDA) draws a current balance. And the results are very good. For example, January 2023 sales have increased by twelve percent compared to pre-Corona January 2019. The 2022/23 winter season is only nine percent below pre-Corona levels, and the 2023 summer season improves to a 16 percent gap over summer 2019. Two-thirds of the vacation travel sales booked in January 2023 are for the upcoming summer season, with travel months from May through October. In addition to Spain, the focus of vacationers will be on the travel countries in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkey, Greece and Egypt alone already account for around 40 percent of monthly sales. Read more

  • Cost-consciousness, nature and „workation“ are in vogue: Germans‘ desire to travel is unbroken this year, despite the political and economic situation, according to the publisher. The five most important travel trends in 2023 identified by the study included outdoor and survival vacations and the linking of vacation and work. One evaluated results from more than 25 studies of independent opinion research institutes and surveys of routistic service providers, communicates the travel book publishing house. The analysis also included data-based key figures from Internet search engines, with a particular focus on the booking behavior of younger travelers – millennials and members of Generation Z. One result of the study, he said, was that the catch-up effects due to the restrictions caused by the pandemic, which were already noticeable in 2022, also stimulated the tourism industry this year. Germans are once again increasingly drawn out into the world. However, this year Germans were more price-conscious than before: by making smart use of online discounts or switching to the cheaper off- and mid-season, those willing to travel obviously wanted to compensate for the inflation-related rise in the cost of living without giving up the lure of faraway places. Depending on the target group and its needs, the meta-study predicts on the one hand an unabated trend toward nature experiences with inexpensive overnight stays in tents. On the other hand, travelers still like to fall back on the luxury segment – especially if hotels score points with individual charm, are family-run and also offer their guests cooking, sports or self-awareness courses. The issue of sustainability also plays a major role, at least in the early stages of travel planning: Germans want to travel, but no one wants to be considered an environmental polluter. Read more

 

 

Current topics within the transportation industry in Germany & Europe  

  • Amsterdam-Schiphol caps air traffic: Last year, handling problems caused by staff shortages at Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport already led to a drastic reduction in the number of flights. Now a limit is to be enforced in the future as well. The reason for the decision: Aircraft noise and pollution remain an ongoing issue at Europe’s third-largest airport and are a constant source of debate. In order to protect local residents from the noise and exhaust fumes of air traffic, the government plans to drastically reduce the number of aircraft movements at the KLM hub over the next few years. Initially, there was a cap of 440,000 aircraft movements per year – eleven percent less than in 2019 (496,000 flights) – but now a compromise is emerging. The current plan is to cap aircraft movements at 460,000 takeoffs and landings in Amsterdam. This corresponds to a reduction of just over seven percent. Read more

  • Condor with another Flex fare: Holiday carrier Condor is expanding its range of Flex fares. Effective immediately, flight tickets can be booked at the „Flex Plus“ fare, which allows free rebooking and cancellation. Condor is thus responding to the increased demand for more flexibility, according to a statement from the airline. With the new fare option, passengers can rebook or cancel free of charge on all routes and in all classes of carriage up to 24 hours before departure. With the previous Flex offer, the fees ranged from 25 to 200 euros, depending on the route and cabin class. Read more

 

Destination news

  • China: Due to the massive Corona wave with hundreds of thousands of deaths and even more people falling ill, Germany and other countries had introduced the obligation for people entering the country from China to present a negative Corona test. This no longer applies.
  • Germany: Germany tourism sees itself this year on the way to the record level of the time before the Corona pandemic. „It is quite possible that we will reach the overnight stay figures of 2019,“ Reinhard Meyer, president of the German Tourism Association, told DPA a week before the start of the ITB international travel trade show in Berlin (March 7-9). He added that an exact forecast is difficult because of people’s short-term booking behavior, but Germany is likely to remain the favorite travel destination of the majority of German citizens this year.
  • Greece: Tourist arrivals in Athens exceeded pre-pandemic levels in February, showing a five percent increase compared to February 2019. „In the first 19 days of February, passenger traffic at Athens airport registered an increase of 2.8 percent compared to January and of five percent compared to 2019,“ said Greek Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias. He added that the forecasts for the peak season are optimistic based on the Tourism Ministry’s projections. In addition, the tourism season is also expected to be extended. „Tourism brought enormous revenues to Athens, Attica and the whole of Greece,“ „Greek Travel Pages“ quoted Kikilias as saying.
  • Seychelles: The pandemic slump was already overcome again in the Seychelles in 2022. After the lockdown in August 2020, visitor numbers rose steadily again, and the 2019 level was only just missed last year. In the source market rating, Switzerland is currently (period January 1, 2023 – February 19, 2023) in seventh place. However, with the highest package price, the Swiss are in the lead. April, July and October – the classic school holiday periods – are the most popular months. Since the Seychelles are not predominantly considered a family destination, this is nevertheless surprising.
  • Spain: The winter low „Juliette“ has hit Mallorca also on Tuesday with gale-force winds almost in hurricane force and heavy precipitation, partly as snow. The authorities urged locals and holidaymakers to stay at home. Many overland roads were impassable because of the snow or fallen trees, as the „Mallorca Zeitung“ reported. Partly it snowed also in the lowlands and even on the beaches. In the bathing bays, however, the snow did not remain for long. Palma and the Ballermann were largely spared from the white splendor. Only in the higher district of Son Vida, where, among other things, ex-footballer Bastian Schweinsteiger lives, a few snowflakes formed.
  • USA: A rare winter storm has brought a lot of snow and rain to the US state of California, which is actually spoiled by the sun. Closed roads, flooding, freezing temperatures and power outages paralyzed life in parts of the West Coast state. About 79,000 households in California were without power Sunday night, according to a count by the site „poweroutage.us.“ While it occasionally snows even in the warmer parts of Southern California – a snowstorm on this scale is quite unusual.

 

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