Nuremberg, 31 March 2023 – In February 2023, German holidaymakers continue to spend money for bookings: The holiday travel revenues generated in travel agencies and on the classic online travel portals not only exceed the 2019 level by 22 percent, but even the exceptionally strong month of the previous year (+8 percent). With bookings continuing to be so good – at least in terms of revenue – the cumulative seasonal balances are increasingly approaching their previous volumes. The previous year's sales already far exceed both the 2023 summer season and the 2022/23 winter season.
In February 2023, Germans booked pre - packaged holiday trips or in serviced modules by tour operators for more than two billion euros. Most of this – around two-thirds of the monthly turnover – is accounted for by summer holidays. Overall, Spain was particularly in demand in the past booking month: Around one in four euros of sales was spent on holiday trips to Spain – even more than for Greece and Turkey combined. In terms of the most booked summer destinations, Spain has now also worked its way back up to rank 1 cumulatively. However, holiday destinations in the Eastern Mediterranean region such as Turkey (+23 percent compared to 2019), Egypt (+24 percent) and Tunisia (+47 percent). Cumulatively, the summer season 2023 is still 9 percent behind in sales compared to 2019 and can thus improve by a further 7 percentage points compared to the previous month. The previous year exceeds the summer season by 47 percent at the current booking level at the end of February. However, higher holiday prices and expenses are making a significant contribution to sales growth. To date, 30 percent more people than in the previous year have booked a tour operator trip for their summer holidays, but compared to the summer season 2019, booked persons are missing in the same percentage amount (-30 percent).
The winter season 2022/23, which will continue until the end of April, can also improve compared to the previous month, by 2 percentage points to a deficit of currently 7 percent compared to the pre-corona level. Compared to the 2021/22 winter season, which was still characterized by losses and travel restrictions due to corona, the current winter season shows an increase in sales of 53 percent. The short-term bookers for spring and Easter holidays will decide whether the winter season can still catch up with its old strength in terms of sales. Measured by the number of booked persons (currently: -26 percent), it will hardly succeed.
Legend:
The chart shows the cumulative travel sales generated up to the end of February 2023 for the ongoing 2022/23 winter season and the coming summer season 2023 in comparison to previous years (summer season 2019 and winter season 2018/19). 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 October that belongs to the individual travel months or seasons.
About TDA Travel Intelligence
Travel Data + Analytics (TDA) took over in spring 2019 the travel sales panel run by the Nuremberg market research company GfK since 2004. After the GfK data had been migrated to a new IT landscape, Travel Intelligence was set up as an independent solution with a self-learning database and associated analysis tool. The basis remains the booking data from stationary travel agencies and online portals that sell tour operator products. The requirements of tourism companies on a modern control instrument and evolving, increasingly dynamic questions can thus be mapped reliably and promptly, without giving up the core of a market-representative method that is consistently comparable over time. TDA = Current booking situation + individual product performance + new market opportunities.
Further information: Alexandra Weigand, alexandra.weigand@traveldataanalytics.de, phone: +49 (0)911 951 510 03