REPORT - BERLIN - ITB 2007: Drawing on the new data from the 2006 “World Travel Monitor”, IPK International revealed at this year`s ITB in Berlin the latest World travel trends as well as the European and the German travel trends.

Latest World Travel Trends

On the global level, outbound trips rose by +5% in 2006. This growth was fueled in particular by overall positive economic growth, continued increases in low-fare offers as well as the fact that ever increasing numbers of people, particularly in Asia, have taken to discovering more of the outside world beyond their own national borders.

All continents registered an increase in outbound travel in 2006. At 8% each, Asia and Africa recorded the strongest growth. Yet both America and Europe also recorded increases (+3% in both cases).

European Travel Trends

In 2006, the Europeans took a total of 388 million outbound trips (+3% over the previous year), thereby spending 3.7 billion nights abroad (+5%). These outbound trips generated a volume of spending totaling 351 billion euros (+6%
increase in turnover compared to the previous year).

The most dynamic European source market in 2006 was Poland (with 17% more outbound trips) followed by Russia and Ireland
(with 10% more outbound trips each). But also the source markets of Spain and Italy (each with 8% more trips) as well as the Czech Republic and Switzerland (both with +7%) showed aboveaverage growth.

With a gain of 14%, the “Event” segment demonstrated the greatest growth in 2006. “Countryside” holidays also
posted solid growth of 9%. The “CityBreak” segment recorded a 5% gain. The “Sun&Beach” holiday, the leading type of holiday for the Europeans, also gained another +4%.

Again in 2006, Spain proved to be the most popular outbound destination for the Europeans, garnering a market share of 13%. France came in second in the ranking of most popular destinations, followed by Germany and Italy. All told, more than half of all the European trips were made to the destinations of Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Austria and Turkey.

German Travel Trends

In 2006, the Germans took a total of 287 million trips (domestic and outbound), thereby spending 1.4 billion nights away from home. In comparison to the previous year, travel volume thus rose by +1%, overnight accommodation volume remained constant.

The domestic/outbound trips taken by the Germans in 2006 led to a total spending volume of 122 billion euros (-1% decrease). In 2006, the Germans took 212.5 million domestic trips and 74.5 million outbound trips. In comparison to the
previous year, domestic trips rose by +3%, contrasted by outbound trips decreasing -2%. 46% of all the domestic and outbound trips taken by the Germans were holiday trips.

This percentage is unchanged from the previous year. Other private trips (with a 40% market share) meanwhile increased
+2%. German business trips also showed a renewed intensity in 2006 (+6%).

In 2006, the Germans took a total of 80.6 million domestic holidays, a +2% increase over the previous year. Conversely, the volume of the Germans’ outbound holidays (52.5 million in total) decreased by -3%. When calculated as a sum total, the overall development in German holiday travel works out to