Nuremberg, October 30, 2020 - In the booking month of September 2020, German citizens focused on the upcoming fall vacations. Demand was particularly strong for vacations to Greece and Germany, with Portugal, Italy and Austria also doing comparatively well. However, the non-bookability of many top destinations due to existing travel warnings and the associated high cancellation rates mean that booking sales achieved in September for the current 2020 summer season are down to 12 percent of the previous year's volume.
The current seasonal balances on the booking status as of the end of September 2020: The current summer season shows a cumulative decline in sales of 78 percent compared to the previous year. This is four percentage points more than in the previous month. The upcoming winter season 2020/21 loses seven percentage points compared to the previous month. In the past booking month of September, cancellations overlapped sales with new bookings, so that the sales balance is now minus 66 percent compared to the previous year's winter. Central winter destinations such as the Canaries, Egypt and long-haul destinations are missing from the winter business. Only the coming booking months will show whether the lifting of the worldwide travel warning on October 1 will increase bookings for long-haul destinations. A first positive indication: In September, the Maldives were relatively in demand, accounting for a good ten percent of sales.
A further just under ten percent (in terms of sales) were confident of being able to spend a winter vacation in the Canary Islands - and rightly so, as the travel warning for the Canaries was lifted on October 22. In the booking month of September, Germany was still the preferred destination for a vacation trip in the coming winter months, with a turnover share of almost 25 percent. This could change in the coming weeks when more sun destinations become bookable again.
The outlook for next year's summer season also remains cautiously optimistic. In terms of sales, three percent more vacation trips were booked in September 2020 for the travel period from May to October 2021 than in the same month last year. Including the rebooked summer vacations from this year, the 2021 summer season currently shows a sales volume more than double that of the previous year.
Legend:
The chart shows the cumulative travel revenues generated up to the end of September 2020 for the 2020 summer season and the upcoming 2020/21 winter season compared with the previous year. Both vacation travel bookings in stationary travel agencies and online on the travel portals of tour operators and online travel agencies (OTAs) with a focus on package tours are included. The chart on the left shows the percentage of sales generated in the booking month of September for the individual travel months and seasons.
Note: Holiday sales that have definitely not been departed due to cancellations on the part of the tour operators are adjusted in the balance sheets at TDA Travel Intelligence at the end of the respective travel month. As of today, this applies to all trips cancelled by the end of September 2020.
About TDA Travel Intelligence
Travel Data + Analytics GmbH (TDA), founded by Dr. Markus Heller, acquired the tourism retail panel "Travel Insights" from GfK in April 2019 and continues to operate it as "TDA Travel Intelligence". It is based on the booking data of around 2,000 travel agencies, which represent the stationary distribution market in Germany. In addition, the online area includes the booking data of classic travel portals and tour operators. Projected to the total market, the evaluations of TDA Travel Intelligence allow reliable conclusions to be drawn about the booking and travel behaviour of German holidaymakers. Current trends and developments in the tourism market can be tracked in real time. The core business of travel agencies, the online travel portals of tour operators and so-called OTAs (online travel agencies) is based on holiday trips booked as a package or in modules.
Further information: Alexandra Weigand, alexandra.weigand@traveldataanalytics.de, phone: +49 (0)911 951 510 03