Data for April showed that travel sales were grinding to a halt while, at the same time, the government extended until mid-June its warning on outbound travel.
First, the latest numbers pertaining to the condition of the travel and tourism industry in Germany show that it is far from healthy. As reported by the German travel trade publication fvw, which were based largely on results of the monthly survey conducted by TATS (Travel Agency Technologies & Services), reveal the following:
—Travel agencies in Germany experienced suffered a 93 percent decline in revenues in April as they shut down due to a COVID-19 lockdown.
—The 93 percent decline in April followed a drop of 81 percent in April.
—Tour operators continued to cancel holiday bookings following announcements worldwide of a de facto cessation of international air service because of the global COVID-19 pandemic. travel warning.
—Sales have decline for all types of travel as tourism revenues crashed by 87 percent in April, following a 53 percent decline in March.
—Flight ticket sales fell by 99 percent following the cancellation of most international passenger flights.
—As April came to a close, advance bookings for departures up to the end of October 2020 were almost 140 percent lower than they were for the same period last year. Such a dumber shows that more holidays have been canceled than actually booked.
Second, the German foreign ministry extended its warning against private travel to any other country to June 14th. (It had been in effect till May 3rd.) As a result, German tour operators who had so far cancelled bookings through until May 15th began canceling bookings with departure dates up to June 14th. It seems that many operators have forsaken the notion of booking for long-haul travel for the remainder of the peak summer travel season, and ae focusing on packages for 2021.
Third, Despite the travel cancellations, an item in Touristik Aktuell reported this: “TUI (the market leader in Germany) is by no means losing the summer. ‘The season will start later this year and the focus will shift to late summer,’ says Hubert Kluske, managing director sales and marketing. The interest of people to travel or to make up for canceled vacations was great, as the search on the TUI website and the redemption of travel vouchers showed.”
