Full beaches on the north sea and baltic sea, high activity in the foothills of the alps: despite the summer travel boom in many vacation regions, the industry believes that german tourism cannot make up for the slumps caused by the corona crisis.
"On balance, it will hardly be possible to speak of a boom in germany tourism this year. The losses during the lockdown were too heavy for that," said norbert kunz, managing director of the german tourism association (dtv). Currently, vacationers in particularly popular regions have to dig deeper into their pockets for overnight stays. Kunz talks of price increases of up to a maximum of 10 percent.
According to him, the north sea, the baltic sea and the foothills of the alps are currently in particularly high demand. On the coast of mecklenburg-vorpommern, about 80 percent of the accommodations are fully booked in july and august. "But even boom regions will not manage this year to match the result of 2019," kunz told the german press agency. This is also due to the fact that hotels, pensions or campsites, but above all the gastronomy, cannot fully utilize their capacities because of the distance rules imposed by corona.
Moreover, in many regions there is an almost complete lack of foreign guests. This is not compensated for by holidaymakers from germany, said kunz. According to a survey by the gesellschaft fur konsumforschung (gfk), 29 percent of people in germany are no longer planning a vacation this year. The majority of holidaymakers are drawn to german destinations, with bavaria and mecklenburg-western pomerania in the lead. 17 percent of all respondents still wanted to travel to other european countries.
According to kunz, regions such as the thuringer wald, the sauerland, the eifel, the taunus, the brandenburg lake district and the harz also benefit from the trend toward vacationing in germany. For example, accommodation providers in the harz mountains report a sharp rise in bookings in june and july. "There is a strong trend toward nature," is how kunz described the development.
From the association’s point of view, however, there can be no talk of relaxation for the industry, which has been hard hit by the corona crisis. "One fifth of all tourism businesses are struggling to survive, they are still dependent on state aid", reported the managing director of the tourism association. The short-time allowance must be extended. At the moment it is possible to use the facility for up to 12 months. In addition, the obligation to file for insolvency should remain suspended for the time being beyond the end of september.
Since the middle of march, there has been a ban on private accommodation in germany due to the corona pandemic. The ban was lifted between the middle and the end of may, depending on the federal state.