After two years of the Corona crisis, business at DER Touristik is in full swing. In times of high inflation, customers are currently benefiting from the purchasing policy of tour operators.
According to the experience of the tourism group DER Touristik, the high inflation and the chaos at airports have not dampened the desire to travel among people in Germany. “The bookings for this summer have so far been at the level of the pre-Corona period in 2019 and the arrivals since February have even been significantly higher,” said Ingo Burmester, head of Central Europe at DER Touristik, the German Press Agency.
Sales are well above the level before the pandemic, mainly because customers are increasingly booking higher-priced offers and long-distance travel. “After more than two years of the pandemic, there is an enormous amount of pent-up desire to travel.”
According to Burmester, the demand for package tours from the group brand Dertour and the sister brands Jahn Reisen, ITS and Meiers Weltreisen for the 2022/23 winter season has been “very, very good so far, but still has to catch up compared to 2018/19”. More than 60 percent of all bookings for the winter are currently for long-distance routes. “This corresponds to the situation before the pandemic and confirms the new normal that we have seen since the beginning of the summer,” said Burmester.
“The current booking situation and the significantly higher turnover help us to cope with additional costs, for example for hedging kerosene prices or the additional deployment of staff at the airports.”
Prices remain stable for the time being
According to Burmester, customers do not currently have to prepare for price jumps in the winter season, despite the significant increase in energy prices. “Currently, a largely stable picture is emerging,” reported the manager. Hotel and flight capacities for the 2022/23 winter season were purchased months ago at the prices at the time and were therefore correspondingly cheaper. “When inflation is high, we as tour operators buy on average cheaper than booking portals that charge prices at the current time. So the high inflation tends to favor package tours.”
The tourism group continues to rule out subsequent price increases for booked trips. “Our guests can rest assured that the package holiday they have booked with Dertour, Jahn Reisen, ITS and Meiers Weltreisen will not subsequently become more expensive,” assured Burmester.
After the chaos at German airports in recent months, Burmester now sees signs of relaxation. “Last weekend was the first weekend that all German airports ran largely trouble-free,” reported the manager. “I assume that the rest of the summer will be much better, the winter should generally be trouble-free.”
The demand for the winter at Germany’s second largest travel group is currently particularly strong for sunny destinations on medium and long-haul routes, including Spain with the Canary Islands, Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia as well as the Maldives, Mauritius, Thailand, the USA and the Dominican Republic.
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
