DRV sees trend towards early bookings for summer holidays.
Holiday bookings for the coming months are in full swing, as the Germans’ desire to travel is unabated. This message was presented by the German Travel Association (DRV) at the world’s biggest travel trade show ITB Berlin 2014 held from 05 – 09 March. Tour operators and travel agencies are profiting from a growing demand for early bird offers and high-end package travel. In the current 2013/14 travel season, sales of tour operators are therefore showing a pleasing trend: Growth rates for the coming summer season are in the upper single-digit range.
The current winter season is recording a stable result at previous year’s level. Consequently, the tourism industry association is expecting an increase in total market sales of two to four percent for the full year 2014. “We may even arrive at a plus of five percent. This goes to show that this year again German holidaymakers are in the mood for travelling”, rejoices DRV President Jurgen Buchy about the sunny prospects for the travel industry.
This year, the Germans’ classic seaside destinations are recording a further increase in bookings: Since the start of the 2013/14 tourism year last November, it is mainly Greece and Turkey, apart from the Canary Islands and Tunisia, that have been posting strong increases in bookings compared with the previous year. Bookings for Greece with German tour operators even rose by a double-digit rate. “Hellas continues to experience a comeback, which already brought a significant increase in bookings to the crisis-ridden country last year”, said DRV President Buchy. “The demand for summer holidays at the Mediterranean shows in particular that these are booked ever more early. “This year, we see a continuing and even rising trend towards early booking”, said Buchy.
In 2014, tour operators also reported a strong increase in tourist numbers heading for numerous long-haul destinations, including the Caribbean islands such as the Dominican Republic and Cuba. Also Mexico, which received much attention as this year’s ITB partner country, is among the winners in 2014. On the whole, there is a growing interest in long-haul destinations. Moreover, the demand for high-end travel products is rising: “This year, customers want to spend even more money on their best weeks of the whole year. After all, we have an excellent consumer climate, economic growth and low unemployment rates”, emphasized Buchy.
“The classic destinations of 2013 will remain the classics in the 2014 tourism year”, summarized the President of the Travel Association. Therefore, Spain will again defend its position as the Germans’ favourite foreign destination. About one third of all German travel is done in the home country – thus, Germany remains at the top of the most popular destinations. Germany is an important destination for tour operators. “However, as many tourists organize their trips themselves, Germany still offers tour operators a lot of potential”, said Buchy.
At present, bookings for destinations in Egypt and Thailand are below last year’s level, but the Asian country had recorded high growth rates in 2013. The slight decline against the formerly high level does not result in a severe slump in guest numbers; the situation in Thailand does remain stable. However, both countries are mostly visited during the winter months. Bookings for the so-called earthbound destinations (to be reached by car, bus or rail) are recording a slight plus this year. In addition to Germany, this segment also includes our neighbouring countries – as for instance Austria.
Looking back at the 2013 travel season: sales revenues increase by almost one billion euros
The final economic result has been established: In the 2012/13 tourism year ending on 31 October 2013, the German tour operators generated a plus in sales of 3.5 percent against the previous year. Thus the industry’s turnover rose to a new record of 25.3bn euros (previous year 24.4bn). The number of holidaymakers relying on a tour operator for their best weeks of the year remained stable on a high level: In 2013, about 40 million professionally organized trips were booked.
We do not have any final results yet for the distribution channels (high-street travel agencies and online portals) – as their annual accounting period is the calendar year ending on 31 December. Projections by the DRV for the period from January to December 2013 are predicting a single-digit growth in sales for travel agents against 2012. The Travel Association’s projection is based on the assumption of total sales reaching 22.7bn euros – against 22.5bn in the previous year. The overall result is accounted for by a singe-digit drop in sales of business travel agencies and a lower single-digit increase of tourist travel agencies. Sales revenues of online travel agencies rose in the upper single-digit range.
Last year, we saw only slight shifts in the ranking of most popular destinations. Tour operators recorded growing passenger numbers for the Balearic Islands, Greece, Tunisia and Turkey. In particular the long-haul destinations Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and the Caribbean Islands recorded an increase. There is an even higher untapped potential for long-haul travel, because high extra charges on air travel – due to civil aviation tax, increases in the price of kerosene, currency impacts and the inclusion into the emission trade system – have been curbing the demand for remote destinations for the last three years. In addition, many air carriers have reduced their offer of air services. The demand for some destinations, like, for example, the Maldives could not be satisfied due to lacking capacities.
Holidays in Germany remain stable at a high level, while slight increases were recorded for Austria. Likewise, bookings of tours by tour operators to the United States were stable at a high level. City trips performed positively – not only in Germany. Egypt, Bulgaria, Italy and the Canary Islands recorded a lower demand.
The sea cruise segment reached another gain in 2013, whereas the river cruise market had to face numerous challenges like floods and lock masters’ strikes. There are, however, signs of recovery for 2014.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
