Travelling by train from Germany to Spain – and the train is late for your connection? That can prove costly for travellers. The EU wants to strengthen their rights and make rail travel more attractive.

The German hotel industry continued to recover in 2025, without fully reaching pre-crisis levels. Overnight stays are on the rise, as are insolvencies. Details from the new industry report.

Insolvencies in Germany are on the rise: the catering, hospitality and property sectors are particularly hard hit. The record figures are hitting the federal states of Berlin and Bavaria especially hard.

The new mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire, went into the election campaign with the slogan "With me, Airbnb in Paris is history'’. A ruling has now been issued that points in that direction and is aimed at short-term landlords.

Tech giants Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta plan to spend up to 725 billion US dollars (around 620 billion euros) this year as part of their AI arms race. The money is primarily set to go towards expanding infrastructure such as data centers.

Facebook-owned company Meta wants to provide users with artificial intelligence that will be active for them around the clock. This will cost a fortune. 

Hyatt is now actively using ChatGPT (OpenAI) for its staff, whilst Choice Hotels is integrating Amazon Web Services (AWS) to automate its value chain.

Travel & Tourism has strengthened its position as the world’s fastest-growing sector in 2025, with new data from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and Chase Travel, Lead Research Partner, revealing the sector significantly outpaced global economic growth.

From AI agents booking our trips to cities restricting visitor numbers: a new Executive Brief explores how trust, data and inequality could redefine global travel over the next two decades.

The results of a recent survey show: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport remains the world's busiest airport for passenger traffic. At the same time, Chicago O'Hare International Airport ranks first for aircraft movements.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and UN World Tourism Organisation have launched the "Recipe of Change" initiative to tackle a global sustainability challenge: food waste.

Many travellers want to make the most of every moment on their journeys through Europe. To meet this demand, operators constantly expand the range of overnight train services.

Anyone who's tired on a flight longs to be able to stretch out across three seats. It's not actually comfortable. Now an airline has found a solution.

The Black Forest is rethinking rural tourism: currently, the region is working on a concept that transforms entire villages into hotels – without constructing any new buildings. This is based on the Italian model of the "Alberghi Diffusi".

More than 11,000 bankruptcies in six years: The crisis in the German restaurant industry is worsening. Many people are cutting back on dining out. A quick recovery is not in sight.

The consequences of climate change come at a cost. Without additional investment in climate protection, Germany faces the prospect of much higher national debt than previously expected by 2050.

Scandic has further elevated its climate ambitions now that its climate targets have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The company's long-term goal is to reach net-zero emissions across the entire value chain by 2050.

Germans are travelling differently. New analysis on outbound demand shows they increasingly prioritise destinations that blend cultural heritage, natural beauty, and authentic local experiences. Europe remains the focus, with rising costs determining travel behaviour.

We all know the buzzwords of sustainability in hospitality. But what is it that regenerative hospitality actually looks like and what work needs to be done? The publishers Prof Dr Willy Legrand, Carlos Martin-Rios and Allessandro Inversini collected articles of 28 authors in five chapters.

At the end of January 2026, the German Federal Cabinet approved the Federal Government's new National Tourism Strategy. This strategy explicitly anchors business travel as a central pillar of tourism policy.

The world of work and the realities of life have changed fundamentally. Working time legislation has not. The aim of a campaign in Germany is to introduce a practical regulation on weekly working hours.

Madaster, the building materials register for Germany, has launched a major crowdfunding campaign and is inviting companies to contribute financially to strengthen sustainability in the industry.

At the beginning of February, the think tank Zukunft der Gastwelt (DZG) established the task force "Digitalisation & Artificial Intelligence". The aim is to accelerate the digital transformation of the hospitality industry and to provide practical support to small and medium-sized businesses.

By 2050, we will see around 3.5 billion trips. The proportion of travellers in the global population could then grow from 50 to 70 per cent. The outlook for tourism is brighter than ever, says Google. But the rules of the game have changed.

The US further tightens its entry rules for tourists. Those wishing to spend their holidays there will probably have to disclose more information about their lives, including their social media activities.

ALL Accor, the group's booking platform and loyalty program, announced the launch of its ALL Accor app in ChatGPT on 29 January 2026. The app is designed to make booking easier for travelers.

For almost half of Germans, cost is the most important factor when choosing a travel destination. In addition to price, safety, accessibility, and the general economic situation also influence travel decisions. This is because more and more travelers are booking at short notice.

An estimated 1.52 billion international tourists were recorded globally in 2025, almost 60 million more than in 2024. Arrivals grew by 4% in 2025.

The German Hotel Association (IHA) is launching the application phase for its Start-up Award 2026 and invites all start-ups with innovative product developments specific to the hotel industry to apply. 

Travellers are increasingly looking for alternative and affordable ways to explore the world. In addition to short-term rentals, holiday apartments and hotels, house swapping is developing into a travel model in its own right.