News & Stories

Berlin. Mutual travel warnings, Corona traffic lights, bans and fines: Rising corona infection figures and the approaching winter tempt politicians to take more stringent measures. At the same time, more and more other countries are warning against Germany. As a result, everyone is facing a hard winter.

Munich. 2019 was a record year for business travel. The figures highlight the enormous economic power of the business trip and corporate events. Six months after lockdown, many companies are now once again allowing business travel. Insofar as it is not taking place, this is due to the chaos in planning caused by political decision-makers. Such unreliability has to stop. The VDR Business Travel Analysis 2020 provides evidence with concrete figures.

Düsseldorf. Caravanning tourism is developing an ever-increasing importance for Germany. Holidaymakers with motorhomes, caravans or tents brought the domestic economy almost 15 billion euros in sales last year. That is 18 percent more than three years ago. 2020 should be even better. The main driver is motor home tourism.

Hanover. In the last few months, TUI's Executive Chairman Friedrich Joussen has disclosed pieces of information about the hotel division in his speeches time and again, and the following has become apparent: Corona is forcing the – now state-supported – group to cut back its hotel strategy. Brands will be condensed further, properties will be reduced to asset-light and/or sold. Sebastian Ebel, Member of the Executive Board of TUI AG and CEO for the Division Hotels & Resorts, Cruises, Destination Experiences and Group Purchasing, also remained vague in our interview concerning some topics. Apparently, the group has difficulties to communicate a clear-cut course.

Berlin. The summer of 2020 has shown: German domestic tourism is proving its strength. Destinations and hotels with a leisure share will continue to benefit from the trend. However, subtleties are changing on the demand side. The autumn and winter business will be extremely short-term.

Vienna. Since spring, the consumer protection association based in Vienna offered the Covid-19 patients with reference to Ischgl or other destinations in Tyrol to join a class action suit. After 6,000 persons had registered, the VSV accepted in June 1,000 concerning, which indicated to have infected themselves during the ski vacation in Ischgl with the Covid-19 virus. Currently, four sample cases are being investigated.

Berlin. The joy of summer this year was only brief and, above all, unequally distributed around the world. The losses in tourism are devastating, and almost nobody is talking about recovery in 2020. After Asia-Pacific, Europe is the region that has been hit hardest, says the UNWTO. Airliners are revising their expectations, and entire countries like Iran are facing bankruptcy. A bitter snapshot before autumn.

Vienna. Big bang at Vienna's famous Hotel Sacher: Sacher Hotels laid off 140 employees on 15 September. The turnover of the model company is declining massively. One of the reasons for this is the lack of the MICE market. Overall, a gloomy scenario is emerging in Austria for this segment. And for two days now, Vienna has also been a risk area: cancellations just keep rolling in.

Munich. The Salzburg Festival revealed that large cultural events with more than 76,000 guests are possible. The IFA trade show in Berlin or the first medical and real estate conventions have already taken place successfully in various cities. "MICE is back again", is the hope of participants, organisers and venues. And especially the hotel industry could see this as a possible straw for the fall, where disastrous figures regarding occupancy are expected in many locations. This requires a lot of trust in modified MICE concepts now, especially many sales activities for specific security concepts.

Milan. According to Mastercard data on digital transactions, Italy is the G20 country that in July recorded the greatest recovery in travel and entertainment expenses. Notwithstanding that, the past summer has been a real nightmare for the country's tourism industry, hotels included as data compiled by ISTAT and Assoturismo Confesercenti and Confindustria Alberghi show.