The world’s largest travel group Tui reported a very good booking situation regarding the summer season. Particularly strong increases were recorded in demand of German travelers planning holidays in Turkey, North Africa and Greece. Spain is also registering constantly strong growth.
The summer sales of German travel agencies increased by 10% by the end of April. Online sales posted an increase of 44%, albeit at much lower level. Measured by absolute sales for the months from May to October 2018, travel agencies are still ahead of the online platforms.
The winter season 2017/18 closed the travel sales at the end of April with an increase of 10%. The tourism industry was back on a record after a dip in 2016.
German travelers in particular are in a good mood. Tourism is booming with the best weeks of the year approaching. The industry is going into the summer season with a hefty booking increase.
The holiday appetite of German citizens drives the important summer season of the travel industry. According to the GfK consumer researchers, booking revenue increased by a total of 15% by the end of April. This is an increase of 15% compared to the same period last year.
In April alone, travel agencies, online portals and portals with a package travel focus registered a strong growth of 21% thanks to the strong demand. Three-quarters of last year’s summer sales had already been booked by the end of April, GfK said.
German tourism itself also benefits from the desire to travel. The early Easter holidays led to a particularly strong March this year. The number of overnight stays increased by 9% to 33.2 million compared to the same month last year, according to official data.
Domestic tourists registered 27.2 million overnight stays. This is an increase of 9% percent compared to last year. Foreign guests showed an increase of 6% to 6 million. For the first quarter, total growth was 7% to 86 million overnight stays. In 2017, the industry reported an overnight record for the eighth year in a row.