While the majority of European travel industries suffered the full rigors of the financial and economic crisis in 2009, Germany has pulled through without feeling the pinch too much.
According to data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Spain still leads the field in European tourism, despite a hefty 8.7% drop in foreign visitors, surpassing the European average of 5.6% and way above the 2.7% fall registered in Germany. Thanks to its resilience, Germany has climbed the ranking to occupy 2nd place, along with France, with 9% of the international travel market, behind Spain with an 11% share, and in front of Italy with 9%.
Although the number of American visitor fell by 3.4% to 4.3 million, in addition to a 4% drop in domestic business travel (less than half the European average of 9%), Germany has weathered the downturn surprising well. The fact that the number of Dutch visitors increased by 2.8% – totalling 18.2% – and that Berlin registered a 6.2% rise in overnight stays has certainly helped the country reduce fallout to a minimum.
The bad figures for countries such as Spain, France and Italy – all traditional favourites with German travellers – are due in part to the drop of 4.5% in the number of Germans travelling abroad in 2009.
