Tour operators assure that German tourists are regaining their trust and plan ahead for their holidays with Greece being a top destination choice this season.
The situation is very different from last year when tourists had been scared by the terrorist attacks in Paris, Istanbul and Brussels and were hesitant to book holiday packages.
“The willingness of citizens to travel abroad this year is great in all our markets despite the political and economic uncertainty that exists,” says Peter Fankhauser, head of the Thomas Cook group and adds that reservations have increased by 10% compared to last year.
The same sentiment prevails in the announcements from Tui and DER Touristik while,baccording to the GfK Consumers’ Institute, by the end of March bookings had increased by 5% having reached 64% of last year’s total already.
However, last minute bookings are still open, mainly in July and it remains unclear whether reservations will reach or exceed 2015, a record year for tourism.
Greece at the top
Greece is the country that attracts many holidaymakers, continuing thus the tradition of recent years. The popular destination benefits from the unstable political situation in Turkey. “At present, tourists are very skeptical about Turkey, and reservations are lower in 2017 than last year,” said DER Touristik.
In particular TS, Jahn Reisen, Dertour, Meier’s Weltreisen and ADAC are satisfied with the bookings. “Reservations for all destinations are up by single digits,” says Rene Hertz, head of DER Touristik for Central Europe.
Having said all this, Spain remains the top preference of Germans. At the same time, tourism destinations in Germany are also greatly expanding, while Egypt is starting to experience a new period of rebirth, as 2016 was a very difficult year for the country and only 654,000 Germans visited it. The consequences of the recent terrorist attack on the Coptic Christian minority with 40 dead and 110 injured remain unknown.
“Terrorism has an impact on tourist destinations and on travelers’ behavior, but it does not affect travel,” the FUR Institute reports.
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