Germany Looks Ahead To Recovery In 2023

Germany’s tourism industry is looking forward to a significant recovery in 2023. That’s the message from the German National Tourist Board’s (GNTB) most recent Travel Industry Expert Panel.

The panel’s assessment of the current business situation rose from minus 40 to plus 25 (on a scale from minus 100 to plus 100) from the 1st to the 4th quarter. Business expectations for the next six months, which fell from plus 74 to plus 55 in the first half of the year after the start of the Ukraine war, have stabilized, but are still below the estimate at the beginning of the year due to the crisis.

German incoming tourism already recovered significantly in the 2022 summer season. The volume of overnight stays by foreign guests reached around 85% of the pre-crisis level in the third quarter. At the same time, the industry has to adapt to ongoing difficult economic conditions.

From the GNTB’s point of view, attractive sustainable offers and further progress in the digital transformation are essential in order to consolidate the position of Germany as a travel destination in an increasingly fierce competition between destinations.

Petra Hedorfer, CEO of the Board of Directors of the GNTB, describes the current incoming situation: “The intention to travel is still high. This is confirmed by the latest study ‘Monitoring Sentiment in Intra European Travel’ by the European Travel Commission (ETC) from October 2022.”

Hedorfer continued: “The analysts from Tourism Economics also confirm a high willingness to travel and forecast a further increase from 60 to 67 million international overnight stays in Germany in 2023 for incoming tourism 2023 rising prices for the travel offer in Germany due to inflation and higher energy costs. Nevertheless, more than a third of top managers state that moderate price increases would not affect customer demand for travel offers in Germany, 57 percent expect a slight decrease in demand due to price increases.”