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Overnight stays of Romanian visitors to Germany were 33.1 percent down in the first seven months of this year compared to the same period of 2019, in a considerable reversal from the 1.3 percent growth registered for the entire previous year, shows data presented on Monday in an online conference by Cristian Sallai, marketing manager with the German National Tourism Board (GNTB), according to AGERPRES.
"2019 marked a ten-year consecutive growth record for overnight stays in Germany. We had 89.9 million overnight stays by foreign visitors, compared to 87.7 million a year earlier. January - December 2019 figures were 2.6 percent up year-over-year, but then came 2020 with a 59.9 percent plunge from January to July. 2019 was an excellent year as regards Romanian visitors too. We had an increase of 185 percent in the last nine years and an advance of 1.3 percent in 2019. I know that everyone has become accustomed to a steady two-percent rise, but you can only grow at such a pace until you reach maturity. It's the point where the Romanian market has reached and a more moderate growth is beginning from there on," Sallai said.
According to data centralized by the German National Tourism Board, most trips made by Romanians to Germany last year were for tourism purposes, and the average age of the Romanian tourist was 39.1 years.
"Germany is an attractive destination for Romanians in many respects, but most of the trips were for holiday, with a market share of 40 percent. Second and third, on somewhat equal footing, were business trips (30 percent) and visiting friends & relatives and private travels, with 30 percent. 75 percent of the Romanian tourists to Germany make online reservations, 43 percent visited cities, 40 percent are holiday travelers, 28 percent prefer tourist tours. The average age of the Romanian tourist to Germany was around 39 in 2019. The airplane is becoming increasingly important as preferred transport mode, with 40 percent of the total; 53 percent of the Romanian visitors to Germany travel by car, and 5 percent by coach," Cristian Sallai mentioned.
According to the cited source, the favorite destinations of Romanian travelers to Germany last year were: Bavaria - with 26.6 percent of the total, Baden-Wurttemberg (16.1 percent), North-Rhine Westphalia (Dortmund) - with 11.9 percent and Hesse (Frankfurt) - with 11.7 percent.
The number of overnight stays of Romanian visitors to Germany decreased by 219,287 over January - July this year (-33.1 percent YoY). The monthly breakdown shows an increase by 3.1 percent in January, a 0.4 percent advance in February, followed by a steady fall in the following months: -43.4 percent in March, -62.5 percent in April, -53.3 percent in May, -44.1 percent in June and -33.1 percent in July.
"If we want to look at a positive side, under the given circumstances, the the 33.1 percent decrease from January to July is not that bad. There are countries where the plunge was 80 - 90 percent. Romania is clearly in the top recovery with a comeback of 70.9 percent, close to last year's standard. It is among the fastest returning markets, which is also due to the fact that geographically speaking it is a relatively close destination and that there is that business & relatives component that facilitates such trips. Germany is perceived as a safe destination in terms of coronavirus risk and is among the countries that managed the crisis in the best possible way, under the given conditions. We believe that all these factors have contributed to the decline not being overly dramatic," Sallai explained.
The German National Tourism Board organized today an online press conference where data regarding the contribution of Romanian travelers to the German tourism, as well as Germany's strategy for next year in this field were presented.
