Nuremberg, January 28, 2021 - The volume of new bookings in December 2020 is subdued compared with the same month of the previous year, which was not yet affected by the Corona crisis: It corresponds to less than one-fifth of the sales volume that travel agencies and classic online travel portals were able to book in December 2019. As of the booking status at the end of December 2020, advance bookings for the upcoming 2021 summer season show a cumulative loss of 68 percent in sales compared with the previous year. The current winter season 2020/21 with the travel months from November 2020 to April 2021 is practically lost due to the lockdown. Only for the travel season from Whitsun onwards will vacation bookings slowly increase.
The current 2020/21 winter season, including travel cancellations through the end of December, shows an overall decline in sales of 86 percent at the current booking level. These losses will increase further in the coming booking months, as leisure travel is hardly taking place during the lockdown. Compared to the booking status at the end of October 2020 (cumulative: -74 percent), the declines have already increased by 12 percentage points in the meantime.
Comparing the booking levels in December, advance bookings for the 2021 summer season stand at a cumulative minus of 68 percent. Adjusted for the fact that a large proportion of the summer trips booked as of December 2019 had to be cancelled later in 2020, the upcoming 2021 summer season still shows a plus of 25 percent.
New bookings received by Travel Agents in December are at a relatively low level, below one-fifth of the previous year's sales. At present, bookings are mainly for summer vacations in the vacation season in July and August 2021, with a focus on Greece, which accounts for the highest share of sales (20 percent), followed by the Canary Islands. There is also a visible increase in travel bookings for Whitsun in May/June. By contrast, only a few believed that travel would be possible again earlier for the Easter vacations at the end of March/beginning of April 2021 in the booking month of December (share of sales: 9 percent).
Legend:
The chart shows the cumulative travel revenues generated up to the end of December 2020 for the 2020/21 winter season and the upcoming 2021 summer season compared with the previous year. Both leisure 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 in the booking month of December accounted for by the individual travel months and seasons.
Note: Holiday sales that have definitely not been cancelled 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 December 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