German outbound travel trends for the first eight months of 2006 were rather disappointing, according to the findings of the ITB Berlin and IPK International World Travel Report 2006/07. The 2% drop registered over this period was partially due to the FIFA World Cup.
Holiday trips and long-haul travel stagnation
The negative results are almost entirely due to the stagnation of holiday trips and long-haul travel. On the other hand, both VFR (visiting friends and relatives) and business travel increased during the same period.
Evidence suggests, however, that demand has increased since the end of the peak summer period.
Top international destinations
Compared with figures for 2005, Spain was the only country out of the top five foreign destinations visited by Germans to register an increase from January through to August 2006, while the number of Germans visiting Austria, Italy, France and Turkey fell during the same period. In the case of Turkey, this fall was dramatic.
Online booking
Although still well below the figures for the UK (50%), more Germans are using the Internet to make travel-related bookings. Despite a 10% fall in the number of people researching travel options on the Internet, online booking were up 35%. With the expansion of low-cost travel, the forecast is for a steady rise in online booking.
