tourism
Dertour: Bookings at record levels
The German economy is in crisis. But business for the major tour operators is booming. Dertour expects a successful summer season.
According to its own information, the tour operator Dertour is recording record bookings for the coming summer. “The Germans’ desire to travel is unbroken,” said Dertour manager Mark Tantz to the German Press Agency. The booking numbers at the second in the industry are now at pre-Corona levels.
The tour operator from Cologne is also “very, very satisfied” with the past tourism year. The number of guests increased by 21 percent compared to the previous year, and the sales figures increased by 31 percent. The strong sales growth is primarily due to the demand for long-distance travel, which increased significantly with the end of the corona pandemic. The average revenue per guest on these trips is significantly higher than on other trips, said Tantz.
400,000 additional guests after the FTI bankruptcy
What is also causing booking numbers to rise is the FTI bankruptcy. The third-largest tour operator to date after Tui and Dertour filed for bankruptcy in June and shortly afterwards canceled all trips that had already been booked. “We expect a total of 400,000 additional guests to come to us from FTI,” said Tantz. Individual countries such as Egypt or the United Arab Emirates are recording “disproportionate growth in guests”.
Industry leader Tui also reports increasing booking numbers. However, the increases due to the FTI bankruptcy were lower than expected, it said.
Higher demands and longer holidays – despite the crisis
According to the German Travel Association, more people have already booked their summer vacation for 2025 than at the same time last year. People’s wanderlust is hardly curbed by the poor economic situation in the country. Traveling is extremely important to Germans, emphasized Tantz. “They travel regardless of what the economic conditions are in the country.”
According to Dertour, more five-star hotels are being booked than last year. “And guests are booking longer and longer vacations.” Currently, an average of ten days are booked in the holiday destination, compared to eight and a half before the corona pandemic.
dpa
Source: Stern
