No predictability and perspective
Hoping for the summer: Germany tourism is not yet over the mountain
Beach chairs in St. Peter-Ording on the North Sea
© Imago Images
After two hard Corona years, tourism in Germany is hoping for clear prospects and people’s desire to travel. However, the pre-crisis level does not seem to be in sight any time soon.
The consequences of the corona pandemic continue to have a firm grip on tourism in Germany, despite a slight recovery in 2021. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the number of overnight stays in hotels, guesthouses and the like was 310.3 million last year, 37.4 percent below the level of the pre-crisis year 2019. Compared to the Corona crisis year 2020, there was a slight increase of 2 .7 percent. The German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga) expects the number of bookings to increase this year, but a return to the pre-crisis level is not expected until 2023.
“We expect the number of bookings to increase significantly once more when the regulations are relaxed and the infection situation improves,” said Dehoga general manager Ingrid Hartges of the German Press Agency. Tourist demand will recover quickly, as last summer showed. In individual summer months of the current year it will be possible to get back to the sales level of 2019. “I assume that 2023 will bring the return to normal and that we will be back at the level of 2019 in terms of sales.”
However, the Food, Enjoyment and Restaurants Union (NGG) warned of a further emigration of skilled workers. “If hoteliers and innkeepers don’t offer more attractive working conditions across the board, there will soon be no more staff in many places to serve guests,” said NGG chairman Guido Zeitler.
Everyone is hoping for Easter business
The industry is hoping for clear prospects from the next conference of prime ministers with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) next Wednesday. “The Easter business in April is very important,” said Hartges. 2G should be introduced nationwide instead of 2G plus. Evening closure times, as they exist in some federal states, should be abolished. “Politicians should also abolish contact registration in our companies across the board, which has long since happened in some federal states,” said Hartges.
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It is also of the utmost importance for business hotels that events, congresses and trade fairs can take place once more. International guests in particular have been missing for the past two years, as many events have been cancelled. While the number of overnight stays by domestic travelers last year rose by 3.3 percent compared to the previous year, foreign guests fell by 3.1 percent. This affects city tourism in particular.
Hotels, guesthouses and inns suffered particularly hard, with 45.2 percent fewer overnight stays than in the pre-crisis year of 2019. On campsites, on the other hand, there was only a minus of 7.8 percent.
Holiday homes are trendy
Holiday home tourism, which is considered low-contact, also got off relatively lightly and sees signs of a good season. The current booking figures gave reason for optimism. “The coasts are likely to be full once more this year,” said Michelle Sulfur, the office manager of the German Holiday Home Association recently. Price increases cannot be ruled out due to higher energy and cleaning costs.
According to a study, however, more and more catering establishments in Germany are struggling to survive. The number of financially weak and therefore at risk of insolvency catering companies rose by almost a third to 16.2 percent from January 2020 to January 2022, analyzed the credit agency Crif. Restaurants, pubs, snack bars and cafés were taken into account. In the current year, Crif expects up to 2,200 bankruptcies in the catering trade in Germany, which would be a good 50 percent more than last year.
According to the German Tourism Association (DTV), the lockdown months in the first half of 2021 caused billions of dollars in losses that are far from being compensated: “Most of all, tourism now needs to be able to plan and have perspectives for spring and Easter – in advance .”