Things are looking up – these are the holiday trends for 2022
The uncertainty and restrictions caused by Corona are easing – this is reflected in a growing desire to travel. Germany remains the most important holiday destination for German citizens, but in 2022 travelers will increasingly be drawn overseas again.
LNot at the end of the tunnel: more than half of Germans are planning one or more vacation trips of at least five days for this year. According to the Tourism Analysis 2022 of the Foundation for Future Questions, 57 percent have definite travel intentions – in the previous year it was only 45 percent.
The current travel analysis by the research association Holidays and Travel sees even greater holiday enthusiasm: According to this, 61 percent feel like going on a trip this year. The money for this is pleasingly easy: 25 percent of Europeans want to spend more than 2000 euros on vacation, reports the European Travel Commission, last summer only 19.1 percent wanted to do so.
The extent to which the Russian invasion of Ukraine will affect the burgeoning desire to travel and booking behavior cannot yet be foreseen.
Germans are drawn to these countries in Europe
Germany remains the most popular travel destination for German citizens: at 30.6 percent, almost a third are planning a holiday at home this year (less than in 2021, but more than in 2020).
European countries attract 40 percent, with Spain being the top destination at 7.0 percent, followed by Italy, the Nordic countries and Turkey, whose popularity score (4.1 percent) has doubled compared to 2021 and 2020. The Foundation for Future Questions recently determined the desired travel destination hit parade as part of a representative survey.
No high-risk areas, more freedom to travel
In March 2020 that warned Foreign Office before tourist trips to all 198 countries and territories worldwide, in March 2021 there were still 163 states. As a result, cross-border tourism was severely impaired or even impossible.
There are now hardly any travel restrictions for vaccinated people, and the number of high-risk areas designated by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has also steadily decreased. At the end of February there were still 63 countries, since March 3 there have been zero countries on the list.
The reason: Recently, the RKI has only classified travel destinations as high-risk areas if a corona mutant is rampant there, which causes more illness than the omicron variant that dominates in this country. This means that entry into the Federal Republic is possible for everyone without quarantine, regardless of the destination country and vaccination status.
The most sought-after holiday destinations overseas
The wanderlust is unabated: According to a tourism analysis, 13.8 percent of Germans are planning a trip overseas in 2022 (1.6 percentage points more than in the previous year). And which long-term destinations are likely to break the 2019 booking level in 2022, i.e. perform better than in the year before Corona?
An evaluation by the online travel portal Skyscanner from January 2022 answers the question: Costa Rica leads by far, it is 168 percent above the booking level of 2019. Mexico (130 percent), Tanzania and the Dominican Republic (114 percent each) also score very well good off.
Holiday apartments and houses in summer 2022
Holidays in one’s own country remain popular, especially for holiday apartments and houses. A run on popular regions in the summer months of June and July is already becoming apparent, reports DS Destinations Solutions, a specialist in marketing holiday accommodation.
After that, only between 33 and 39 percent of the accommodations on Lake Constance can be booked for the summer. The Bavarian Alps and the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts are also in high demand. On the other hand, the Erzgebirge/Saxon Elbland and the Rhön still offer a comparatively large selection.
How did 2021 go for tourism in Germany?
After all: For holidaymakers and the travel industry, 2021 went a little better than the first year of the pandemic – the Federal Statistical Office counted 310.3 million overnight stays in hotels, hostels and guesthouses nationwide last year, which was 2.7 percent more than in 2020. Compared to the previous Corona year 2019, however, it was 37.4 percent less.
Most of the beds were occupied by domestic travelers; the proportion of foreign vacationers was only ten percent in 2021. The most popular domestic destination was Bavaria, which 9.2 percent of Germans chose for their main vacation trip, followed by Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (7.8 percent) and Lower Saxony (6.7 percent).