Nuremberg, November 30, 2020 - As of the booking status at the end of October 2020, the 2020 summer season and the 2019/20 tourism year have been completed. The balances after about nine months with the Corona pandemic: the summer season 2020 ends in travel distribution with a loss of sales amounting to 81 percent compared to the previous year. The 2019/20 tourism year, which has now been concluded, shows an overall decline in sales of 67 percent (winter season 2019/20: -35 percent).
October was actually a positive month for the travel industry: At the beginning of the month, the German Foreign Office lifted the blanket travel warning for countries outside Europe, and in the course of the month the first long-haul destinations became bookable again and the travel warning for the Canary Islands was lifted. Both can be seen in the booking figures: The Canary Islands in particular, but also long-haul travel, saw a noticeable increase in the proportion of new bookings. On the other hand, however, rising infection figures, the first domestic accommodation bans and new travel restrictions have ensured that the overall booking situation in the vacation business continues to deteriorate. The October 2020 travel month closes with a 78 percent drop. The final balance of the 2020 summer season has lost another three percentage points compared to the previous month and ends with a loss in sales of 81 percent compared to the previous year's summer.
For the 2020/21 winter season, few new bookings were received in the booking month of October, but a high proportion of previously booked winter trips were canceled, leaving negative sales in the monthly balance sheet. At the current booking status, the new winter season thus shows a cumulative decline in sales of 74 percent compared to the previous year - eight percentage points more than in the previous month.
"The economic situation in travel distribution remains extremely tense. However, we also see that positive signals are directly reflected in booking behavior: In November, the announcement of a vaccine alone caused new bookings for the 2021 summer season to jump - for the summer vacations in July and August 2021, they almost doubled," sums up Alexandra Weigand from Travel Data + Analytics.
Legend:
The chart shows the cumulative travel revenues generated up to the end of Octoberr 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 October 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 October 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