“We have experienced the worst and are no longer afraid of anything,” – this is how the representatives of German travel companies who participated in the congress of the German Tourist Association (DRV) marked their forecast for 2023.
With rising energy prices making hotels and airplanes more expensive, the depreciation of the euro against the dollar creating additional costs, especially on long-haul flights, inflation and a decline in the growing purchasing power are also concerns in this sector – the travel business has nowhere to go. And he builds optimistic forecasts.
“2023 is unlikely to be worse than 2022. After the pandemic and many other things, we no longer fear anything in the tourism industry,” said Ralf Schiller, CEO of German tour operator FTI. According to him, although the tourism sector has not yet reached pre-pandemic levels, this means the potential for growth in the tourism sector for the coming year.
However, the Germans note a change in the trend towards last-minute bookings. Mark Tanz, CEO of DER Tourismitk, emphasized that this will be a major trend. Although orders for the summer 2023 season have already started coming in, these are rather rare requests due to low prices.