In September 2021, local and foreign guests booked 45.3 million overnight stays in German hotels. According to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) after preliminary results, this was 10.1 percent more overnight stays than in September 2020. However, the number of overnight stays is still 5.0 percent below the September level of the pre-crisis 2019.
The number of overnight stays by domestic tourists is above the pre-crisis level
The number of overnight stays in Germany for domestic guests rose 8.1 percent to 40.8 million in September 2021 compared to the same month of the previous year. The number of overnight stays by guests from abroad increased by 30.2 percent to 4.5 million. Compared to September 2019, the number of overnight stays by home guests was even 3.0 percent higher. This continues to show a strong tendency for the Germans to travel inland. However, the number of overnight stays by guests from abroad is still 45.7% below pre-crisis levels, despite a significant increase compared to the same month last year.
Camping trend continues
Segmented by type of accommodation (types of transactions), almost 58 percent of overnight stays in September 2021 were in hotels, inns and guest houses. Seasonal rentals and similar accommodations accounted for nearly 22 percent of overnight stays, followed by campgrounds and other tourist accommodations at 10 percent each. The distribution has changed since pre-crisis 2019, especially in favor of the camping sector. In September 2019, only 7 percent of overnight stays were in campsites, in September 2020, 13 percent. A corona crisis shift can be assumed here, as campgrounds are easier to accommodate with fewer contacts than other accommodations.
January to September 2021: 11.6% fewer overnight stays
From January to September 2021, housing providers registered a total of 224.0 million overnight stays. This is 11.6 percent less than in the same period last year. However, the first half of 2021 for a longer period (in some cases until early June) was impacted by the corona-related ban on hotels and other accommodation for private travel. However, in the first half of 2020, only about two months were critical (from mid-March to mid-May).
Regional consequences of the pandemic in Germany
Geo-data helps to determine where hotel activity has changed as a result of the pandemic, which areas that are usually equally used by tourists are suddenly subject to strong fluctuations,
For example, until February 2020 inclusive, tourism in Germany grew steadily for many years before the pandemic seriously affected the entire tourism industry. In addition to the sharp fluctuations in the number of hotel overnight stays, the first year of the 2020 pandemic also resulted in severe losses for the hotel industry. Overnight stays have dropped dramatically, especially in urban centers, which are often heavily geared towards business tourism and foreign visitors. In 2020, the number of overnight stays in cities decreased by more than half (-54.3 percent) compared to 2019. In small towns and suburbs, losses were slightly lower – a little less than a third (-32.9 percent), while in rural areas of the region there was a decrease by more than a quarter (-27.6 percent).