DER Touristik is seeing soaring bookings for Germany and Western Mediterranean destinations such as Italy, Spain and Portugal as German holidaymakers turn their backs on the Eastern Mediterranean, fvw reports
Germany’s third-largest tourism group currently has a 28% increase in bookings of domestic holidays in Germany, while Italy (+17%), Spain and Portugal (both +15%) are all attracting more customers. In contrast, bookings for Turkey have slumped by 25% and for Egypt by 30% following the terrorist attacks in the two destinations. Greece is at last year’s levels.
Ren? Herzog, CEO Central Europe, told journalists that Turkey bookings had been slightly ahead of the previous year until the terror attacks in Paris but had then tailed off rapidly, with the suicide bombing in Istanbul earlier this month accelerating the bookings slump.
Bookings shift
Although only 20% of Germans have so far booked their summer holiday compared to a normal figure of 40%, Herzog insisted that: “There’s no bookings restraint but a shift.” He predicted that this shift in booking patterns would lead to capacity bottlenecks this summer in various holiday regions, especially on Germany’s North and Baltic Sea coasts, Majorca and Ibiza. In contrast, Turkey is likely to have plenty of spare hotel capacity and low prices. “Value-for-money on the Turkish coasts will be unbeatable in summer 2016,” he declared.
To reinforce the message that underlying demand remains stable, DER Touristik published the results of a survey of 1,000 Germans conducted at the end of December which showed that 70% are “more than ready for a holiday”. In terms of destinations, Germans will prefer domestic holidays, Spain, Austria and Italy this year, according to the survey.
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