News & Stories

Lisbon. New hotels and refurbished ones will increase Portugal's hotel portfolio in 2018. Half of them concern the cities of Porto and Lisbon. Higher investment costs do not stop foreign investors from competing with locals, such as Pestana.

Ibiza. Already in this summer season, it will be illegal to rent out apartments to tourists via home-sharing platforms such as Airbnb or Wimdu on Ibiza. This measure was taken to alleviate the housing shortage on the island. However, it could also backfire in the medium term.

Berlin. Germany has never been as popular a country to visit as today. 459.6 million overnight guests in 2017 – which is three percent more than in 2016 – are a new record. The boom is said to continue in 2018, however, the industry's challenges remain.

New York. The outlook for international business travel is generally optimistic. Dramatical increases for travelling are not foreseen. But in Europe – except the UK and Spain – notable increases in hotel rates are expected.

London. At last year's World Travel Market in London, overtourism partly eclipsed the big Brexit issue – particularly with respect to European city tourism. However, the experts on the discussion panels were a disappointment, as they did not have any clear answers at hand. Instead, studies and surveys tried shedding some light on the shady sides of the tourism boom. In particular, cruise ships are caught in the crossfire. The idea of making travelling an elitist commodity again is certainly the worst solution.

Innsbruck. Hardly anybody denies that Innsbruck needs more hotel rooms. Local politicians put demand at up to 1,000 beds. Yet as far as those representing the sector are concerned, they would prefer to decide who gets to provide those rooms. Hilton has left, Motel One and Maritim are on their way. The competition is growing, even in those destinations which have been less important up to now.

Vienna. To see off an especially successful 2017, the Tourism Division of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce celebrated considerable growth in the number of overnight stays. The snow-rich winter hadn't attracted as many guests since 2012. On the other hand, online bookings slipped as customers changed their behaviour.

London. "Overtourism" has picked up pace in the media over the past few months. Both tourism experts and hoteliers have been aware of this phenomenon for some time now; but not all experts have answers at hand even though such developments have also taken place in the past. Only recently, hospitalityInside.com reported about the abundance of Chinese tourists, Barcelona's hotel ban and initial countermeasures in Venice. Susanne Stauss investigated in Mallorca and Massimiliano Sarti got to know more about the hunger for tourists in a conversation with a South America expert. Two poles in a world facing a paradox. Overtourism remains a topic, which will haunt the industry in 2018 for sure.

Brussels. Belgium's hospitality sector is doing better. Hotels are recovering from the 2016 terrorist attacks. Just like Paris, Brussels shows a certain resilience. Efforts made by the government to support the industry have helped to increase the number of visitors. International tourists are back, alongside international investors who, on their part, have cleared away 9 out of 10 of Belgium's hospitality assets recently put on the market. Nevertheless, the overall situation is less cheerful than one thinks. The overall hotel landscape is also changing: Within 5 years, Belgium has lost 570 mostly smaller hotels.

London/Hanover. TUI Group announces a very good fiscal year. Hotel and cruise companies played a big part in it, revenues per guest grew pleasantly and the business shall be…