Holiday 2022
The war in Ukraine is dampening hopes of a tourism comeback
Popular travel destination in Greece: the island of Mykonos in the Aegean Sea
© Imago Images
After two hard years, the tourism industry is finding hope once more: the corona travel restrictions are being eased significantly or are completely eliminated. But the war in Ukraine is now causing great uncertainty.
The tourism industry, which was hit hard by the Corona crisis, sees light at the end of the tunnel. More and more countries are relaxing their travel restrictions, and in Germany all far-reaching restrictions should be lifted by mid-March. Tour operators, travel agencies and hoteliers are hoping for a strong summer.
Demand for package tours is also increasing. But Russia’s war in Ukraine is “casting a dark shadow of uncertainty,” said President of the DRV travel association, Norbert Fiebig, before the online congress of the international travel fair ITB, which begins on March 8.
According to Fiebig, it is not yet foreseeable to what extent the war will affect people’s booking behavior following two years of the pandemic. Basically, people seem to have a great desire to travel. Bookings for the important summer season are increasing in travel agencies and on online travel portals and have been above the level of the pre-crisis weeks of February 2019 since the beginning of February. However, the DRV does not expect a return to the pre-crisis level until the tourism year 2023, because travel restrictions on long-distance routes are affecting business in the current winter season.
50 percent of Germans are planning a holiday trip
“The signs are good that we will see summer business this year that will approach the pre-pandemic level,” said Stefan Baumert, Managing Director of Tui Germany recently. “Since late January, receipts have been above 2019 levels.” Other major organizers are also seeing increasing booking numbers. Bookings are made on a short-term basis in response to the lifting of corona restrictions, but also on a longer-term basis, as reported by the head of the FTI Group, Ralph Schiller.
According to a survey, in the third year of the corona pandemic, more than 50 percent of people in Germany are planning a longer holiday trip once more. “More than every second German (57 percent) is already certain that they will go on vacation this year,” reported the Hamburg Foundation for Future Issues of British American Tobacco (BAT).recently. Last year, this value was almost a quarter of the population.
As in the past two years of the pandemic, surveys show that holidays between Rügen and Garmisch-Partenkirchen are very popular. “It can be assumed that demand for Easter and for spring will increase when the easing begins on March 20th,” said Norbert Kunz, Managing Director of the German Tourism Association (DTV). “Spring 2021 has already shown that bookings increased quickly when planning was possible. People want to travel and take vacations.”
Kunz assumes that the North Sea and Baltic Sea as well as the Alpine region will be among the most popular travel destinations for people in their own country this year. “Great demand can be expected there once more. The lake regions and the low mountain ranges are also popular,” reported Kunz. In addition, there is growing hope for city tourism, which has suffered particularly from the absence of guests from abroad and the cancellation of trade fairs and other events in the past two years of the pandemic.
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Overall, however, Kunz does not expect demand in Germany tourism to reach the pre-crisis level this year. “From today’s perspective, this year will undoubtedly be better, but it is unlikely that we will reach the numbers before the pandemic.”
Camping holidays are trendy
However, this does not apply to all areas of Germany tourism. The camping industry is already expecting the number of overnight stays to be at a pre-Corona level this year. During the pandemic, the industry benefited from increased demand for camping holidays, which are considered to have fewer contacts, and despite declines, came through the first two years of the pandemic comparatively well.
According to tour operators, holidaymakers abroad are currently mainly drawn to the classic destinations on the Mediterranean, such as Spain, Turkey, Greece, Egypt and Italy. On the long-distance route, the USA and the Caribbean score points, among others.
“We are noticing a sharp increase in the desire to travel. People want to travel once more – also abroad and far away,” reported DER tourism manager Sven Schikarsky. The second largest German travel group following Tui recently expected a strong summer season.
Because of the corona pandemic, the International Tourism Exchange (ITB) was canceled as a face-to-face event for the third time in a row. The three-day “ITB Berlin Convention” will start online on March 8th.
Also read:
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– Bridge days 2022: How to get the most out of your vacation days
– Baltic Sea cruises: Almost all shipping companies are removing Russian ports from their programs
