News & Stories

Berlin. For over a decade, the ITB "Experts Forum Wellness" has been an indispensable appointment for the wellness tourism industry. This year, an expert from Ghana will speak for the first time. In addition, there will be figures and trends.

Istanbul. The latest World Tourism Organization barometer published last week revealed that despite global economical and geopolitical crisis, people generally keep on travelling and connecting with each other. Egypt is challenged strongly, trying to overcome the terrorist attacks but suffering in affected regions, as our portrait showed last week. This week, it's all about Turkey. Visiting numbers are going down for the first time after years of steady growth. Especially in Antalya, Bodrum and Izmir, professionals fear a dramatic summer season. In Istanbul, hoteliers are more optimistic and spreading the same message to the world: "Istanbul is as safe as Paris or London and it's business as usual." Reality looks different. Turkey's tourism is in pain.

Salzburg. Austria's start to the winter season 2015/16 has flopped. Tyrol, Salzburger Land and Carinthia registered a clear deficit in December. Only the ski centres up in the mountains, with a glacier connection and innovative offers could count on more guests. The December that lacked in snow has already stamped the statistics. What remains with the hotel industry is the hope that the compacted winter season will still pay off economically through the early Easter celebration this year. Up to now, there is only anxious hope instead of snow.

Vienna. Nine out of ten Austrians plan to travel in 2016 – and indeed for more days than in the year before. The fact that the declared wanderlust is increasingly being sated closer to home has to do with financial limitations and growing uncertainty.

Cairo. The Egyptian government is currently making concentrated efforts to attract much-needed tourists, driven away by recent militant attacks, and restore confidence in the safety of its attractions and visitors. Concerning this matter, Egypt will spend 32 million dollars to upgrade security in key tourist resorts. Moevenpick Hotels, one of the big operators in the region is still very positive and even plans a new property in Egypt. Depending on location, some Orascom hotels are suffering severely whilst others have recorded an increase in earnings. Steigenberger is also currently suffering in Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheikh.

Rome. After years of struggling, 2015 finally proved to be a good year for the Italian hospitality sector. Still, many challenges are on the horizon, at least for specific country destinations and market segments. The absence of snow during the first weeks of the current winter season, for example, has just alerted several mountain locations, while the international terrorist threat affected most Roman hotels, nullifying the positive influence of the jubilee year. International air connections could possibly impair hospitality performance of southern destinations like Apulia and Sardinia. In the meantime, the "sharing economy" and "parity rate" are still the chief worries of hoteliers. In brief: the Italian hotel industry may have started its recovery, but "we need another five years of growth before we can make up the lost ground", declares Federalberghi President, Bernabò Bocca.

Barcelona. The industry's big issues such as the influence of the Chinese, technology and Airbnb are occupying the Spanish hoteliers as well. This was apparent at the 4th "Tourism Summit" of the IESE Business School in Barcelona in cooperation with the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration from Ithaca in December.

Madrid. The Spanish tourist sector is pleased with its global results for 2015, according to a report published by Exceltur. Nevertheless, a lot is not directly linked to an improvement of the tourist offer.

Bern. Exactly one year ago today, the Swiss economy was struck by a financial earthquake. Without any previous indication at all, on 15 January 2015, the Swiss National Bank took the country off the euro peg and in one fell swoop made everything 20 percent more expensive for euro guests. Since then, the Swiss hotel industry has lost ground. For the service industry, the move left a deep and painful wound. A wound which caused particular hardship in mountain regions. Christoph Juen, CEO of hotelleriesuisse, looks back on the SNB decision one year later. Following the move, the Swiss hotel industry had to reinvent itself, and fast. Did it manage?

London. After the record year 2015, the VisitBritain Bureau forecasts even better visiting figures for 2016 despite having no big sports events in sight. In the hotel industry, budget hotels are becoming the new norm. The sharing economy is increasing.