Germans with a positive sentiment to book holidays

Nuremberg, January 31, 2024 – The volume of bookings in the German holiday travel market remains high: by the end of 2023, it will be well above the comparative levels of 2022 (previous year) and 2019 (pre-corona). Overall, sales generated in December 2023 were only 5 per cent below the previous month of November. This means that the volume of holiday travel booked in the past booking month is even comparatively high, as the booking curve normally flattens out over the holidays and public holidays in December before rising to its highest level of the year in January. And this much in advance: even in the first two weeks of January, the volume of new bookings is still keeping pace with the extremely good previous year.

55% of monthly sales in December 2023 are attributable to bookings for summer holidays in 2024. With the strong growth in December bookings (+24% compared to 2019 and +33% compared to 2022), cumulative summer sales are up 8% on the previous month. This corresponds to growth of 5 percentage points. In contrast, the high double-digit growth rates compared to the previous year are declining as expected - from plus 59% to currently plus 51%. The reason for the high growth rates: Last year's summer 2023 still lacked the early bookers from the autumn and early winter months. Last year, holiday bookings in the German market did not really take off until the end of December 2022.

As in the previous month, the current 2023/24 winter season is holding steady with a cumulative increase in sales of 12 per cent. Compared to the previous year, the lead has narrowed by 6 percentage points. Even though incoming winter bookings in December 2023 were 4 per cent lower in terms of sales compared to the same month last year, it remains likely that the current winter season will achieve the same result as last summer: positive sales figures at the end of the season. To date, 24% more people in Germany have booked a winter holiday than in the previous year. The pre-corona level is still 14 per cent short.

"The lack of bookings across all seasons is a clear indication that not every household can or wants to afford an organized holiday trip at the moment due to the increased cost of living. All in all, however, the holiday travel business is proving surprisingly resilient compared to the general consumer climate," summarizes Alexandra Weigand, Director Sales & Consulting at TDA.

Legend:

The chart shows the cumulative travel sales generated up to the end of December 2023 for the ongoing summer season 2024 in comparison to previous years (summer season 2019). For the travel seasons, TDA compares the booking status adjusted for trips that were cancelled in previous years due to corona. Both holiday travel bookings in high street travel agencies and online on the travel portals of the 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 September that belongs to the individual travel months or seasons.