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
- This is what travel trends look like in 2023: The year 2023 will be all about creative redefinition amid global chaos, according to Booking.com’s travel trends for 2023. Travelers are looking for balance in a world of contradictions. With an optimistic outlook on travel in 2023, Booking.com conducted an extensive survey of more than 24,000 travelers from 32 countries and regions and combined it with its own insights and knowledge as a digital travel platform to create seven emerging travel trends. Conclusion: vacations remain at the top of the agenda. In 2023, leisure travelers are trying to break out by looking for Culture shock experiences, be it linguistic or new experiences in unfamiliar areas. And they’re doing it all on a smart budget. Read more
- DACH travel industry founds Klimalink: While travel to emerging and developing countries makes a significant contribution to value creation, job security and social stability, the global travel industry also contributes eight percent of all global warming emissions. The integrity of nature and living conditions in the travel countries is the livelihood of the industry, which is why it wants to play an active, formative role in the reduction of greenhouse gases. In order to achieve transparency for tour operators, sales and travelers with regard to the climate-damaging emissions of the trips offered, a uniform standard for calculating CO2 emissions is required. This gap will be closed by the Klimalink association: The goal is to provide emission data digitally based on a uniform CO2 calculation standard and to develop and update this data on a regular basis. Emissions data for all relevant travel components (flight, hotel, cruise, train, bus, car) are to be made available in a single data source (one-stop platform) for companies, but also for travelers. Read more
- „Crazy demand“ for golf tours: The specialists for golf vacations speak of an „enormous“ travel demand. In November, hotspots such as Tenerife or Gran Canaria are practically booked out, the effort for the alternatives is increasing. Cyprus as a popular alternative with after all four golf courses is also „well to very well booked“, it is said unisono. „We had already in the summer very many short term bookings, now we have many inquiries which reach into the spring“, reports for example Marco Nuzzo, gulf specialist with Knecht journeys, owner of the specialist Green gulf in Lucerne, over the travel desire of the Golfer. „We can hardly keep up with sending all the offers to our existing customers in time,“ says Roly Petermann, as the effort required to find something suitable in November or December has increased significantly. Read more
- Vacation home landlords also feel restraint: The energy crisis and inflation are also causing problems for vacation home landlords, even if there is no mood of crisis. This is shown by a survey of the German Holiday Home Association among more than 1,100 landlords. The restraint is noticeable and business is becoming more short-term. Just under half of the hosts state that advance bookings for next year are below the level of October 2021. This is not only due to the energy crisis and the uncertain world situation, but also still a consequence of the pandemic. However, also the vacation in the vacation house becomes more expensive. 56 percent of the landlords had reacted with price increases. Read more
- Sales Climate Index in October: The October survey of travel agencies reflects the general mood among companies and consumers. This is particularly noticeable in the assessment of the travel agencies‘ current business situation. Only just over 26 percent of the agencies say their business situation is good (September: 37.8 percent), every fifth company says it is „poor“ (September: 17.3 percent), and just under 53 percent say it is „satisfactory,“ which is still an increase of around eight points compared with September. Read more
Current topics within the transportation industry in Germany & Europe
- Strong third quarter for Swiss: In the travel-intensive third quarter, Swiss was able to build on the positive business development of previous months and further expand its operating profit. High revenue from cargo and large catch-up effects in the passenger sector, in part at high fares, brought the Lufthansa subsidiary a positive result. In addition, there were also cost optimizations and profitability increases resulting from restructuring. Thanks to the strong nine-month result, Swiss has a solid basis for the seasonally weaker fall and winter months. Despite the current prevailing economic and geopolitical uncertainties, Swiss is currently reporting a very good booking situation and expects to close 2022 with a solid profit. Read more
- Varying recovery of Swiss airports: Almost as many flights are being flown again in Switzerland as before the crisis. Passenger numbers are recovering quickly at Geneva Airport in particular. The range of services there is also being expanded significantly. On the other hand, Basel’s Euroairport, which is known for low-cost flights, has lost some ground, as an analysis by Mobimag shows. In September, Geneva Airport was only 14 percent behind its September 2019 passenger numbers, while Zurich was still more than 19 percent behind and Basel more than 18 percent behind. How Switzerland’s largest airport in terms of passenger numbers, Zurich, develops in the coming months is also likely to depend on how quickly the market with flights to Asia recovers and how attractive Switzerland remains for tourists. Read more
- Lufthansa expects high demand: Despite a gloomy economic situation and rising prices, Germany’s largest airline Lufthansa expects demand for flights to increase in the winter months. „The desire to travel and thus the demand for airline tickets continues unabated,“ Group CEO Carsten Spohr said today at the presentation of the quarterly figures in Frankfurt. „The Lufthansa Group has put the pandemic behind it economically and is looking optimistically to the future,“ he said. Passenger airlines planned to operate in the fourth quarter at around 80 percent of 2019 capacity, the year before the Corona crisis broke out. The group expects to post an operating profit despite the usual seasonal slowdown in the last three months of the year, he said. Read more
- Fraport and Lufthansa establish joint venture „FraAlliance“: The newly established joint venture „FraAlliance“ aims to improve processes and product offerings for passengers along the entire travel chain, thereby strengthening the site’s competitiveness. By founding FraAlliance, the two groups intend to cooperate even more intensively in the future with regard to strategic issues and operational areas. In addition, analyses and optimization of processes in terminal operations are intended to improve the entire process – and thus prevent the kind of „flight chaos“ that still prevailed at many European airports in the summer. Read more
- German airports show weaker development: In the opinion of the ADV, growth opportunities are being wasted in Germany. According to the industry association, this is due to the burden of charges and fees in this country. „Germany as an airport location is becoming visibly unattractive for airlines in the European competition for new routes.“ This is the thesis of the CEO of the German Airports Association (ADV) with regard to current traffic figures. For example, 122.7 million passengers were handled at Germany’s most important airports from January to September this year. And that is still 36.1 percent less compared to the corresponding nine-month period in 2019. Regulatory charges and fees in Germany, in particular, account for more than 30 percent of total site costs. On top of that, DFS charges will rise by up to 50 percent in the coming year. Thus, the ADV CEO demands, „A moratorium on charges is therefore urgently needed for air traffic.“ Otherwise, German airports may actually develop much more weakly in the future than airports in other European countries, as Beisel fears. Read more
Destination news
- Australia: The country is rolling out a new international campaign. Tourism Australia has unveiled a new brand ambassador for the advertising offensive across TV, print, digital and social channels. The claim is „Come and say G’day,“ and the storytelling focuses on Ruby the kangaroo and experiences that await travelers in Australia.
- Catalonia: Total spending by international tourists in Catalonia from January to August 2022 was 32 percent lower than in 2019, although only 12 percent fewer guests came. The absence of high-paying customers from Russia, China and Japan is responsible for the sharp drop in sales.
- Cyprus: After decades of cultivating the image of Sun & Beach in combination with Aphrodite, Cyprus has now given itself a new tourist identity – in terms of both content and marketing. The new slogan is „Love Cyprus“: „This stands for our new identity and is a message to the locals as well as to the guests,“ explains Savvas Perdias. The logo with Aphrodite, sun and beach is replaced by a stylized heart with the words „Love Cyprus“.
- Ecuador: The South American country no longer requires proof of vaccination or a negative test result upon entry. However, travelers must still submit a digital health declaration before departure. The country has also abolished the mask requirement.
- Greece: in August, hotel revenues were 23.4 percent higher and restaurant revenues 13.6 percent higher than in the same period of 2019, he said, adding that with a record 33 million vacationers, 2019 is the benchmark year par excellence for Greek tourism.
- Morocco: For entry into the North African country, a completed health declaration is sufficient and the vaccination certificate is removed for entry. However, those who want to stay in a hotel or visit a restaurant in Morocco usually still need a valid vaccination certificate.
- Qatar: Ahead of the kick-off of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which starts in less than a month, a number of new tourist attractions, hotels and resorts will open in the country for visitors to enjoy during the tournament.
- Singapore: Since August, traveling to Singapore has been easier than it has been in a long time. Flight capacities from Germany have already exceeded pre-pandemic levels. All major source markets had already picked up after the relaxation in summer, including Germany, he said. From January to September of this year, the country received about 72,000 Germans. That is already a little more than 25 percent of German arrivals compared to the same period in the pre-Corona year. And the best travel season, starting in November, is still to come.
- Turkey: Turkey is in demand as it has not been for a long time. It is the trend destination of the season and this continues in the winter months. Long-term vacationers in particular are drawn to the eastern Mediterranean.
- USA: Las Vegas welcomed nearly 3.5 million visitors in July 2022 – the highest monthly attendance since the pandemic began. Overall occupancy at Las Vegas hotels was 83% in July: That’s up four percentage points from July a year earlier. Occupancy during the week here was 79%; 4.5 percentage points higher than 2021, and weekend occupancy was even higher, at 91%, three percentage points higher than last year. The increasing number of congresses and trade fairs taking place is playing its part here.
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