Germany – in 2021, tourists from Poland added and took 3rd place. position

Tomasz Pędzik during the DZT conference in Warsaw / fot. AG

In 2021, Polish tourists bought 2.6 million nights in Germany, only 900,000 less than the record-breaking 2019 and 14%. more than in 2020.

At the conference of the German Tourism Office (DZT) in Warsaw, Tomasz Pędzik, director of the DZT office in Poland, presented the results of the tourism industry in Germany in 2021.

Inbound tourism last year recorded losses. Foreign tourists bought 30.6 million nights, by 3.1 percent. less than in 2020. Let us recall that in the record-breaking year for German tourism in 2019, foreign guests bought 89.9 million nights. A year later – 32 million (a decrease by 64 percent.).

The Netherlands is winning despite the losses

Europe is still the leader in arriving to Germany, tourists from our continent bought 26.2 million overnight stays (84.9 percent.), from other continents – 4.4 million (m.in. 6.3 percent. from the Americas and 6 percent. from Asia).

The biggest losses were recorded on the Dutch market. The Netherlands was on the list of high-risk countries for quite a long time. Many tourists also came from Great Britain, Switzerland, Denmark and Russia.

Despite high losses, the Dutch took the first position in terms of purchased accommodation – 4.7 million. The first five are complemented by the Swiss – 2.6 million, Poles – 2.6 million, Austrians – 1.9 and tourists from the United States – 1.8 million.

Cities losses

Among the large German cities, the most tourist ones suffered the greatest losses. In Munich, in which in 2020 the number of accommodation sold for tourists amounted to over 2.219 million (decrease compared to 2019 – 74.7 percent.) in the first nine months of last year, losses amounted to 25.6 percent. (compared to 2020). In other cities, the differences in the number of accommodation purchased were even greater (to the detriment of 2021), e.g. in Hamburg minus 27.6 percent., Colonies – minus 45.5 percent.

As Tomasz Pędzik emphasized: “It should be remembered that tourism in Germany started practically in mid -May 2021.”

As for the sector to which DZT recently pays a lot of attention – medical and spa tourism – spa and healing towns sold 3.2 million nights in 2020, just over 10 percent. all.

Germany is still valued

However, the pandemic did not change the good opinion enjoyed by Germany among visiting tourists.

Tomasz Pędzik remarked: “Satisfaction of those traveling to Germany is still high. And this is both in terms of the variety and quality of the offer, accommodation, gastronomy, as well as the price-quality ratio.”

In 2020, the most, 54 percent. (12.6 million nights) went to Germany for vacation purposes, 25 percent. (5.9 million nights) came to visit family or friends, and for business purposes – 21%. (5 million).

When it comes to vacation trips in 2021, they were most often related to events – 76%. Tourists chose 71 percent. visitors, to cities – 68 percent., private – 63% and for recreational purposes – 38%.

Tomasz Pędzik said: “Germany is becoming more and more popular among young Europeans. People aged 15-34 account for 35 percent. of all tourists aged 35-54 – 43 percent., and over 55 years old – 22 percent. They most often learn about Germany from the Internet – 82 percent., from family and friends – 24 percent., and from travel agency employees – 18 percent.”

When it comes to booking, it is 83 percent. tourists do it via the Internet, 27 percent. book accommodation directly in accommodation facilities, and 18 percent. – in travel agencies.
More than half of Europeans traveled to Germany in 2021 by car.

Poles resistant to crises

Last year, the number of nights spent by Poles increased by 14.3% compared to 2020. and amounted to 2.6 million. This is only 900,000 less than in the record year of 2019. A year ago, there was a decrease in the number of nights spent by Polish tourists by 35.8%.

Director Pędzik commented: “Poles are immune to crises. As soon as Poland disappeared from the list of high-risk countries, they immediately went to Germany. Last year it was a relatively long period, from mid-May to early December.”

When it comes to holiday goals in 2021, according to the CBOS research results cited by Pędzik, Germany was in fifth place – behind Italy, Croatia, Spain and Greece.
Poles most often came to Germany by car – 72 percent. The plane was chosen by 14 percent., bus 12 percent. and the train – 1 percent.
60 percent. Poles chose to stay longer than 4 days, 51 percent. was in Germany at least the third time in their life (19 percent. it was the first time).

DZT plans for 2022

In 2022, the German Tourism Center continues the German campaign.Local.Culture, i.e. promotion of small and medium-sized cities and their cultural offer.
The promotion of cities in northern Germany, the promotion of sustainable tourism, tourist destinations in rural areas, the enhancement of ecological tourism and the promotion of protected green areas as well as national and landscape parks will also be continued.

Tomasz Pędzik remarked: “This last appetizer is especially important to us. Most Poles mention visiting towns, castles and other monuments as their destination to Germany. Our natural values are still less known.