According to the German trade publication FVW’s just published Travel Sales Dossier 2019, which contains a look a look at overall 2018 figures, travel agency sales lost momentum in the spring and closed the business year with moderate growth of just 2 percent to €26.9 billion ($30.2 billion), according to estimates by Werner Sülberg, head of the DRV market research committee. The estimates were based on figures in the fvw dossier and a survey of 40,000 consumers by the Nuremberg-based research firm GfK (Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung, or Society for Consumer Research). At the same time, the online sales market—it covers bookings made through online travel agencies (OTAs), tour operators and travel agencies grew by 13 percent to 13 percent to €29.3 billion ($32.9 billion). Online sales now account for about 43 percent of the total €67.9 billion ($76.1 billion) German leisure travel market, while “offline” sales have a declining 57percent (€38.6 billion/$43.3 billion) market share.
As the above table indicates, the top company is DER Touristik (which also claims, at times, to be the top seller of overseas or long-haul travel to Germans), which increased overall sales by 7.1 percent to €4.95 billion ($5.55 billion). Its leisure travel revenues grew jumped by 10 percent to €3.7 billion ($4.2 billion), while business travel revenues dropped slightly to €1.24 billion ($1.4 billion).
