Amidst a European environment that has given writers and editors everywhere the opportunity to use a new word combination—“Flight Shaming”—that calls upon travelers to forego air travel in favor a more environmentally sensitive mode of travel, Germans don’t seem to be interested.
In fact—at about the same time it was announced that there was 4 percent drop in the number of commercial passengers flying in Sweden—it is where the term “flygskam,” or “flight shame,” was popularized—a widely cited survey of holiday travel plans among Germans showed that the number of those who are planning long-haul travel (think USA as a destination) had actually increased this year vs. last.
That’s right. The 36th annual “Tourismus Analyse” (Tourism Analysis) from the Hamburg-based Stiftung für Zukunftsfragen (Institute for Future Studies) found that German travelers don’t much care about Flight Shaming.
As reported in the German travel trade publication FVW, interest in long-haul holidays is actually increasing with 18 percent of those surveyed planning a trip outside Europe in 2020 compared to 17.4 percent. last year. Among all subsectors of the German travel market “This segment is the clear winner,” observed Dr. Ulrich Reinhardt, scientific director of the Institute, who said that the current CO2 debate “has virtually no consequences for Germans in terms of travel. People switch their consciences off when they are on holiday, they prefer to make restrictions in their everyday life.”
The principal finding of the survey, which had 3,000 respondents, he indicated, was that the travel plans of Germans in 2020 are essentially similar to what they were at the same time last year, adding “Nearly two thirds are sitting on packed suitcases … The indicators are looking good, and 2020 could be a record year.”
Indeed, if one were to re-visit forecasts of the heavily researched German travel market from last year, one would find that the measurable data sets are more or less the same as they were for this year. For instance:
—One-third (33 percent) of survey respondents said they are planning one trip of at least five days this year;
—Another 32 percent intend to go on several trips.
—Among the remainder, 21 percent are not sure if they are going on holiday this year
—Fourteen percent do not intend to do so.
—In 2019, 61 percent of Germans went on at least one trip of five days or more, compared to 62 percent the previous year, the survey showed. Nearly one in five (19 percent) took three trips or more.
—Nearly half (48 percent) of German travelers visited a European destination (compared to 54 percent) in 2018, while another third (34 percent) took a holiday. within Germany.
