News & Stories
The half-year balance sheets of the international hotel groups largely coincide in one point: Luxury is booming. hospitalityInside.com wanted to know facts & figures about this, especially in Europe. The answers were disappointing.
Despite rather devastating economic forecasts: Most people do not want to give up travelling even in the face of significant price increases. They are even prepared to draw on their savings or forego other expenses. In addition, the desire among Germans to pay by instalments is growing.
Italy's summer season seems to be less promising than hoped for. Domestic demand is weakening, and the first Italians are fleeing the sharp price increases at home to cheaper Greece, Spain and France.
"Immoral, ill-considered and completely unacceptable". This is how a collective of hoteliers qualified the proposed increase of the tourist tax by the city of Amsterdam.
Under the slogan "ITB 360°" the tourism trade show from Berlin wants to offer content throughout the year: Newsroom contributions, podcast episodes and other innovative formats.
The last session weeks of the German parliament prior to the summer break are always full of appointments, which start with parliamentary breakfasts and end with summer parties. Denkfabrik Zukunft der Gastwelt (DZG; think tank future of the hospitality world), founded in Germany as the most recent group with lobbyist aspiration, put itself in the limelight in front of the parliament – including a star chef. This is a new approach for the industry.
Domestic tourism in Austria is getting back on track. The basic mood has brightened. The challenge remains: 9 out of 10 respondents in a survey feel the negative effects of price increases. The industry is coping with the ongoing labour shortage with simple, practical solutions. It must do more for the emerging sustainability criteria.
Vienna. She is not afraid of bears in the local forests and artificial intelligence in hotels. She always evaluates situations in a differentiated way, even concerning the top topic of employees. In a conversation with Fred Fettner, Austria's State Secretary for Tourism, Susanne Kraus-Winkler, analyses the waning enthusiasm of young people for local tourism. The reasons are often trivial, which does not help the fragmented and mid-sized hotel industry and gastronomy in the country at all. And regarding workforces with asylum status, it is just as complicated as well. She herself was born into the hospitality industry.
Tel Aviv. As Israel marks its 75th anniversary, the plan was to go full throttle after Covid to build on its pre-Covid successes. Yet today, the country faces deep divisions and is torn over the planned judicial reform. In the background, however, the tourism minister, the hotel association and the hotel operators are sticking closely together and believe in continued dreamlike tourist increases simply because of the flourishing, record-breaking domestic tourism. Incentives are still available for investors.
Kitzbühel. The return to "normal" after Covid-19 by no means happens as euphorically as might be assumed based on increased revenue. Businesses are holding back on investments and in the case of the small hotel units, an increasingly well-educated youth is more frequently refusing to take over the reins at the family business as their parents retire. On the other hand, newcomers from other sectors of the economy make for the most spectacular new hotels. And this is not only true for Austria. The "Prodinger Summit" in Kitzbühel made this development clear.