Excerpts from issue No. 12, Vol. 12, December 2008
Germans living in the eastern part of the country will travel less next year, Leipziger Institut für empirische Forschung (Leif) predicts. While this year about 69% of them made at least one holiday trip, the share is to drop to 55% in 2009. But 23% are not sure about their decisions.
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German tour operators will finish the business year 2007/2008 (ending October 31st) with a plus of total sales of about 3.5%, the German Travel Association DRV predicts. The specialty travel segment even grew by about 5%, the study travel segment by 7%. The group of big tour operators comprising 60% of the market achieved about 2% growth. Growth in the market for air packages to short- and medium-haul destinations is given as 3%, for long-haul packages as 4%. Packages involving ground transportation grew by about 2%. Cruises enjoyed a sales plus of about 12%; current bookings show an increase of about 10%. Growing demand was registered for packages to North America and the Near East. In particular Thailand, Egypt, Turkey and Austria were winners in the incoming business from Germany. Packages for travel to Italy, Bulgaria, Africa (especially Kenya and South Africa) and China (not counting the Olympic Games) were less in demand.
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Stationary travel agencies in Germany will finish the business year 2007/2008 (ending October 31st) with total sales of 21.8 billion Euro for leisure and business travel, the German Travel Association DRV predicts. That is a growth of 1.7% compared to the previous business year. The German market is served by 11,050 stationary travel agencies, that translates to 12.3 agencies per 100,000 inhabitants. Average annual sales per agency come to 33,000 Euro.
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What is the motive for „best agers“ (50 years and older) to book their holiday way in advance, Viking River Cruises asked 200 customers. 73% want to save money that way, and 57% want to fix a certain travel date and a preferred cabin. 55% need a long-term booking in order to leisurely prepare for the trip. Every fourth enjoys to pick from the full basket at the beginning of the booking season. 56% of the customers book their cruise with Viking at least half a year before the voyage; almost 10% even prefer to book more than a year in advance. About 20% would not book later than at least three months before the trip; only about 11% would book at a date less than eight weeks prior to the voyage.
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The European Parliament stands against a plan to collect air passenger records for law enforcement purposes that could pose a threat to privacy. MEPs say the measure is not justified legally, as well as in terms of effectiveness in the fight against terrorism. They ask for evidence that such a system would be useful at EU level, and could not vote on the text until their many concerns have been addressed. A resolution criticised the European Commission proposal for a framework resolution on the use of PNR (Passenger Name Record) data for law enforcement purposes. The text, tabled in November 2007, proposes that air carriers would make PNR data for flights coming to or leaving the EU (in and outbound EU flights) available to specialized national units carrying out risk assessments and law enforcement and counter terrorism missions. The preliminary conclusions from the UK system for the use of PNR data provides no evidence of the usefulness of the mass collection and use of PNR data for counter terrorism purposes (it does provide evidence of its usefulness for other purposes, as well as the value of using PNR on a case-by-case basis in the context of ongoing investigations, on the basis of a warrant and with due cause) say MEPs.  

Excerpts from issue No. 11, Vol. 12, November 2008
The German travel industry sees dark clouds coming. Over one third of travel agencies monitored monthly by researcher Dr. Fried & Partner and publication fvw answered in October, that they expect demand for travel to drop during the next six months. In September that portion was less than 25%. Only 16% were optimistic in October expecting demand to pick up; the September figure in comparison was 24%. As a strategy, travel agents put more budget products on their shelves now. Even more bleek is the result concerning the profit outlook. Almost 40% expect less money in the tilt during the next half year. 17% say, they will sell better than before.
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Almost one in five German companies have adjusted their travel policy to the financial crisis, a survey of VDR The German Business Travel Association revealed. 14% of companies have banned all business trips considered not absolutely essential, and 4% have generally tightened travel rules. 49% report no changes in travel policies, but 31% say, cost cutting is a growing issue. The survey was made between October 16th and 23rd among 548 members; 38% took part.
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Most business travelers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland have a positive attitude towards their mobility, online portal Monster and jobpilot found out in a survey. 46% of employed road warriors think that business trips are efficient and worthwhile because one achieves more facing each other than by alternative means of communication. But 26% disagree, claiming business trips to be often a waste of time and promoting telephone conversations instead. 9% admit to being stressed by business trips. About one fifth of all white collars in the three countries said to never have been on a business trip.
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ITB Asia in Singapore reports 6,208 visitors from 70 countries, considerably more than the 5,000 expected for the pilot event. Also the number of exhibitors in the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre exceeded projections: 651 instead of 500. The convention part of the event drew 1,375 participants. Over 95% of the visitors of the new travel show said they would recommend the event to their business partners. The next ITB Asia takes place October 21-23, 2009.

Excerpts from issue No. 10, Vol. 12, October 2008
38% of German households went on a holiday trip in the time between November 2007 and April 2008, GfK TravelScope found out, plus 0.7% compared to the same period a year ago. In absolute terms, 13.4 million households went on 43.9 million trips, plus 1.5%. Holiday spending in this group reached 22.1 billion Euro, plus 0.9%. Reservations were made by 54%. The market share of single households in holiday travel activities increased by 7.8%, that of consumers between 50 and 64 years by 4.7%, and that of consumers 64 years and older by 5%. In contrast, the market share of all families decreased by 3.6%, that of families with two children by 8.5%. 19.8 million holiday trips went abroad, plus 500,000 trips, with Switzerland, France, Austria, Turkey and Egypt being the winners. Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Tunisia were less in demand. The number of international trips lasting between one and four days increased by 11%. For longer holidays, domestic destinations are the winners. Looking at the spending at the destination, car rental experienced a drop in share of 12.7%. The monetary share of locally booked excursions dropped by 3.5%. Local bookings for wellness, sports and fitness increased by 5.9% in spending.
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Prices for various transport services in Germany have grown at different rates since the year 2000, the Federal Statistical Office has found out. While the average consumer price index climbed by 15.6% between August 2000 and August 2008, prices for rail tickets grew by 27.0% and for urban public transport by 36.3%. The prices for buying a new car climbed by 12.1%, but the price for gasoline grew by 42.5% (Super) respectively 75.9% (Diesel). The prices for new bicycles climbed by only 3.0%.
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The European Parliament adopted a first-reading legislative report on proposals to simplify and modernise the rules for computerised reservation systems (CRSs). The move is believed to bring more competition and therefore lower distribution costs. The existing Code of Conduct for CRSs includes strict requirements on non-discrimination between airlines which date from the time when the various CRSs were owned by airlines themselves. In most cases, the CRSs are now independent from airlines and the strict rules now have the effect of stifling competition and raising costs, according to the European Commission, leading airlines to favour alternative approaches, such as selling tickets via their own websites. The main aim of the proposal is that airlines and CRSs should be able to negotiate freely the conditions of the distribution of air services. Systems should compete on price and service quality. Parliament insisted that where travel options are ranked, and where train services for the same city-pair are offered on the CRS, at least the best ranked train service or air-rail service must feature on the first screen of the principle display. The only exception to this new freedom to negotiate terms of business concerns carriers who are the parent of a CRS – they must provide all the same information to other CRSs as they do to their own CRS. The text adopted by the European Parliament revises the key definitions of “parent carrier” and “control” to limit the influence of airlines over CRSs, but also to make an exception for accidental investments not conferring “decisive influence” in the running of the CRS. Where a system vendor operates databases in different capacities such as a CRS or as a host for airlines, technical and organisational measures must be taken to prevent the circumvention of data protection rules through the interconnection between the databases, and to ensure that personal data are only accessible for the specific purpose for which they were collected. Where prices are shown in the principal display, and/or where a ranking based on prices is chosen, prices must be inclusive of the fares and of all applicable taxes, charges, surcharges and fees to be paid to the air carrier or rail-transport operator, and which are unavoidable and foreseeable at the time when shown on the display.

Excerpts from issue No. 9, Vol. 12, September 2008
What holiday destination do you recommend for the winter season as the most attractive, publication "Urlaub Perfekt" asked 1093 travel agencies in Germany. Thailand came out top with the best perceived value-for-money factor (921 votes), followed by the Dominican Republic (617 votes), the USA and Bali (342 votes each), Vietnam (238 votes) and Cuba (206 votes). Multiple votes were allowed. Security (813 votes) and prices (725 votes) were named as the two most important considerations.
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Spain remains the most popular destination for last-minute bookings in Germany, the Tourismus-Vertriebspanel of the Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung (GfK) found out. But analyzing the booking pattern of 1200 travel agencies in the country, GfK registered a loss of two percentage points for Spain. Germany strengthened position number two with an increase compared to last year from 13.9% to 16.1%. The vote for Turkey was 15.5%, for Greece 7.7% and for Egypt 6.0%.
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Participants of congresses, conferences and meetings generated 10 million room nights in Germany in 2007, according to the “Meeting- & EventBarometer 2008“ of the Europäisches Institut für TagungsWirtschaft (EITW) at Harz University commissioned by the Europäischer Verband der Veranstaltungs-Centren (EVVC), the German National Tourist Board (DZT) and the German Convention Bureau (GCB). 58% of the business-oriented events were staged in cities with at least half a million inhabitants, while academic events mostly take place in cities with 100,000 to 500,000 inhabitants and with a local university. The increase in the number of meetings compared to 2006 is 6%, in the number of participants 8%. The study noticed a significant decline in the number of meetings with 20 to 50 participants and a clear growth in the number of meetings with 250 to 1000 participants. Experts predict a further increase of the number of in-house events. 83% attest Germany a constantly improving image as an event destination, plus 11.4% compared to 2006.
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Corporate bookings for air travel have increased by 10% between January and August of this year compared to the same period in 2007, AirPlus has found out. The most significant increases enjoyed destinations in the Middle East (plus 35%) and Asia (plus 34%). Also the demand for tickets to Latin America (plus 22%), Africa (plus 21%) and Russia/CIS (plus 20%) was impressive. The increase for North America amounted to 12%, for European destinations to 11%.

Excerpts from issue No. 8, Vol. 12, August 2008
What leisure activities are most unpopular in Germany, Stiftung für Zukunftsfragen of British American Tobacco wanted to know and asked 3,000 persons 14 years and older. 92% said, they would never play golf, 75% would never go camping. 54% expressed their disinterest in wellness, 75% in gyms, and 68% in jogging. 61% are bored by concerts. The possibly most amazing result in the light of other statistics: 59% resent online shopping.
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What topics are Germans thinking about every day, lastminute.de wanted to know. Of the more than 1,300 customers who participated in the survey, 93% think about holidays at least once a day (men 94%, women 93%), and 83% think about sex at least once a day (men 91%, women 77%).
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20 million Germans, more than half of all German Internet users, have visited online travel sites in April, according to Nielsen Online. January and June are the preferred months for online advertising, the researcher says, with 1.3 billion ad impressions each. Expedia was identified as supplier with most ad impressions (2.8 billion) in the travel category, followed by Unister/ab-in-den-urlaub.de (1.9 billion) and Travelzoo (1 billion).
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The top 50 hotel groups in Germany reached combined sales of 6.27 billion Euro in 2007, publication AHGZ Allgemeine Hotel- und Gastronomie-Zeitung writes, plus 8.5% compared to 2006. The top 50 represent 1.307 hotels (plus 2.0%). The average number of rooms per hotel grew by 5.2% to 119.6. The occupancy rate climbed to 64.3%, plus 1.5%, the average net yield per room to 85.90 Euro, plus 2 Euro. Largest hotel group was Accor Hotellerie Deutschland GmbH (823 million Euro net sales), followed by Inter-Continental Hotels Group (576.8 million Euro net sales) and Best Western Deutschland GmbH (467.7 million Euro net sales). 

Excerpts from issue No. 7, Vol. 12, July 2008
62% of Germans who have booked their holiday for the period May to October this year with a travel agent have chosen a destination at the Mediterranean or in Southern Europe, according to the GfK Tourismus-Vertriebspanel. That is a 2.3% higher share than for the same period last year. North African destinations, in particular Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, enjoy a growth of 20%. Also Spain, Turkey, Greece, Malta, Cyprus and Norway are winners. Bookings for North America picked up 11.4%, with August to October being the months most in demand. A negative trend is observed for Central and South America (minus 7.7%) and Central and Southern Africa (minus 20.4%). The boom destinations for travel agency bookings in Germany are Morocco (plus 93%), Indonesia (plus 56%), the Seychelles (plus 29%), Egypt (plus 23%), Russia (plus 22%) and Australia (plus 21%). Over 86% of summer travelers spend a maximum of 14 days at their holiday destination.
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The holiday market share of generation 64plus is continually growing, the German Travel Association (DRV) has observed. Consumers 64 years and older make up 15% of all holiday travel. 57% of that travel volume stays in Germany, according to GfK-Travelscope; most popular foreign destinations for the elderly are Italy, Austria and Spain. Looking at the type of program for senior citizens, 21% prefer city trips, followed by beach holidays and excursions. The car is the preferred mode of transport (47%), followed by bus (22%), airplane (17%) and train (10%). These findings are supported by a GfK survey for TripAdvisor among customers between 60 and 69. About 41% of this group had holiday plans this spring compared to 36% of the total population.
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According to the “VDR Business Travel Report Germany 2008” one in three employees took at least one business trip last year. 166.6 million business trips (plus 5.6% compared to 2006) led to spending in the amount of 48.7 billion Euro (plus 2.7%) which translates into 137 Euro per business traveler per day (minus 7.4%). While 335 Euro were spent per trip in 2005, in 2006 trips cost 325 Euro and in 2007 costs were down to 316 Euro (minus 6%). The number of business trips in Germany has grown continuously in the past four years. While in 2004 the number was around 146 million, in 2007 nearly 167 million business trips were taken – an increase of almost 14%. During the same period, expenditure on business travel by German companies rose by only 11% however – from 44 billion Euro in 2004 to almost 49 billion Euro. This means that – despite kerosene surcharges and zero commissions – some 1 billion Euro in costs were saved. Active travel management evidently pays off, VDR concludes.

Excerpts from issue No. 6, Vol. 12, June 2008
The German tourism industry achieved Internet sales of 14.81 billion Euro last year, plus 15% compared to 2006, according to independent researcher Ulysses - Web-Tourismus in Munich. Total tourism sales reached 43.74 billion Euro. Of all B2C online sales in Germany, tourism had a share of about a quarter. 96.5% of all players in the German tourism industry offer online sales. Tour operators increased their online sales by 22% compared to 2006. Almost two thirds of tourism online sales in Germany concerned transport services: more than half was pocketed by scheduled airlines, about 26% by low cost carriers, and 8% by holiday airlines. About 8% of tourism online sales were done for car rental. Low cost carrier finished with an 80% Internet share of all sales. Scheduled airlines made 38.5% of their sales through the Internet. In the hotel sector in Germany, online sales reached only 15%.
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More than two thirds of Germans plan a domestic holiday this summer, Europ Assistance found out in a study which confirmed earlier findings of other institutions. Over 50% plan a holiday of at least two weeks; the European average for a two-week vacation is 39%. Almost 20% say they plan a holiday of three weeks. Of those who plan to travel abroad, most will go to Spain, Italy, Austria and France. The share of long-distance holiday makers of all cross-border vacation travelers is 13%.
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Germany has a share of 11% of all international business trips worldwide, according to the „Meeting- & EventBarometer Deutschland“. Of all incoming travel from Europe to Germany, 29% were business-related. 10.3 million business trips from Europeans generated income of 8.4 billion Euro in Germany. 1.5 million incoming trips from overseas added 5.3 billion Euro revenue. The survey is commissioned by the German National Tourist Board, the German Convention Bureau and the European Association of Event Centers.

Excerpts from issue No. 5, Vol. 12, May 2008
The up market segment in tourism will grow, according to various studies. As the Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung (GfK) found out in a survey, the share of luxury brands of tour operators, long-haul travel and study trips booked through travel agents in Germany will exceed 9% of the total travel market this year, up two percentage points. These products are typically booked between two and four months before departure. The Forschungsgemeinschaft Urlaub und Reisen (F.U.R) calculated in “Reiseanalyse 2007“ that the share of trips costing more than 3,000 Euro has doubled in the last ten years in Germany. And the International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM) in Cannes claims that the top travel segment will grow 20% annually worldwide.
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81% of Germans prefer to use up their vacation days in a single long period, leaving an average of only two remaining vacation days for other activities. According to an online survey by Harris Interactive commissioned by Expedia, 48% of Germans work more than 40 hours per week. 9% are afraid to miss something important happening to their job during their absence, about half of Germans feel recovered after their vacation. The average number of paid vacation days in Germany is 27 – in France that number is 37, in Italy 33, in Spain 31, in the UK 26 and in the USA 14.
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Low cost carriers have continued to grow in Germany for the sixth year, but the market shows first signs of saturation, according to the “Low Cost Carrier Monitor 2007/2008“ of DLR, Germany's national research center for aeronautics and space, and the German Airports Association ADV. The researchers counted 20 low cost carries using German airports in early 2008, offering about 4,500 flights. But while the number of airlines grew by over 20% compared to early 2007, the number of flights dropped by 500. Low cost carriers operated 497 routes at the beginning of 2008, plus 100 compared to early 2007.
 
Excerpts from issue No. 4, Vol. 12, April 2008
Travel spending by Germans, whose personal holiday budgets are rated the highest in the world, is set to grow this year as Germany’s economy recovers. Bookings are currently strong for the eastern Mediterranean and Asian destinations, led by Thailand, according to the German Travel Agents Association (DRV) President, Klaus Laepple, at an ITB news conference in Berlin. DRV said package holiday companies expected annual sales growth of 2-3% in 2008 after sales growth of 3% to 20.3 billion Euro in 2007. Some tour operators are claiming growth of as much as 10% or move in sales of winter season 2007/08 packages and report that bookings for summer are significantly up. Individual travel through travel agents, meanwhile, is set to grow this year by 2.5%, the biggest jump since 9/11. DRV’s results and forecasts are reflected in the results of IPK International’s German Travel Monitor (DTM by its German initials), presented at the ITB Future Day of the ITB Convention.
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15 million German consumers have experience booking a trip online, associations Bitcom and Verband Internet Reisevertrieb (VIR) write in “Reiseanalyse 2008", that is a share of almost 25% of all Germans 14 years or older. 71% of all Germans 14 years or older and having access to the Internet have used the web for price comparisons. 4.5 million German consumers have booked a hotel online last year, 3 million pur-chased airline tickets online. 2.6 million used the Internet for booking a complete journey, either as a package or combining segments. The top destinations for online bookings are Spain, Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia and Germany. Top cities are Rome, New York, Berlin, London and Vienna. When researching travel in the Internet, 60% use search engines, 40% enter a web address. 8% follow links in portals, 7% in email newsletters and 4% in online advertising. Actual bookings are carried out preferably on web pages of suppliers: hotels (56%), airlines (53%), rail (45%) and tour operators (42%). 22% have interrupted the online booking process at least once for fear of data abuse.
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The German National Tourist Board (DZT) is refining its tourism marketing activities for the years 2008-13 to focus on city breaks, culture, wellness and business travel. The continued expansion in transport is making city breaks into the most important leisure segment for German tourism. City breaks can easily be integrated into special events, culture and of course health themes. In 2009 the theme will be “active lifestyle holidays - walking and cycling in Germany”, followed in 2010 by a special year for the Ruhr region (Essen-Dortmund), which has been declared European Capital of Culture 2010. “Health and wellness” will be at the heart of the 2012 campaign with “business travel in Germany” being emphasized in 2013. These annual themes will be backed up with events centered mainly on cities. 2009 is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall; in 2010, special performances of the Oberammergau Passion Plays will take place. Munich will also celebrate in the same year the 200th anniversary of the Oktoberfest.

Excerpts from issue No. 3, Vol. 12, March 2008
The demand in Germany for holiday products will remain strong on a high level this year, the study “Urlaubsreisetrends 2008“ of Forschungsgemeinschaft Urlaub und Reisen e.V. (F.U.R) predicts. 79% of Germans have already considered holidays this year. The number of their trips will remain the same as last year, but higher spending is calculated. For 2008 total expenditures for travel is predicted with 55.5 billion Euro (2007: 55 billion Euro). The share of holiday trips costing more than 3,000 Euro per person went up from 1% ten years ago to 3% now, while the share of holiday trips costing less than 500 Euro per person dropped from 35% to 28% in the same time.
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Almost four out of five children are involved in the planning of family holidays, and one out of three is convinced to have a real say in the decision process. These are some of the results of “Familienurlaub 2008“, a representative study commissioned by Expedia.de and carried out by iconKids&Youth, for which 714 children between six and twelve and their parents were interviewed.
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Brenner's Park-Hotel & Spa in Baden-Baden tops the list of “best large country hotels in Germany”, compiled by business publication “Capital“. Rank 2 is taken by Hotel Sonnenalp in Ofterschwang, while Landhotels Bareiss and Traube Tonbach in Baiersbronn share rank 3. “Best small country hotels in Germany” are Schlosshotel Kronberg near Frankfurt, Schlosshotel Münchhausen near Hamlin and Wald- & Schlosshotel Friedrichsruhe near Heilbronn/Schlosshotel Burg Schlitz in Hohen Demzin/Schlosshotel Lerbach in Bergisch Gladbach (same points). The category of “best large city hotels in Germany” is topped by the Fairmont Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten in Hamburg, Grandhotel Schloss Bensberg near Cologne and The Regent in Berlin (same points), followed by the Bayerischer Hof in Munich and the Adlon Kempinski in Berlin. “Best small city hotels in Germany” are Mandarin Oriental in Munich, Schlosshotel im Grunewald and Brandenburger Hof, both in Berlin. The ranking combines the ratings of the six dominant guides "Aral Schlummer Atlas", "Der Feinschmecker-Guide", "Gault Millau Deutschland", "Der grosse Restaurant & Hotel Guide", "Michelin Deutschland" and "Varta-Führer".
 
Excerpts from issue No. 2, Vol. 12, February 2008
Lufthansa will introduce a new price scheme based on distribution channels. Beginning in July, Lufthansa oneway prices for flights starting in Germany or Austria go up 15 Euro, roundtrips 30 Euro. But this price-hike does not apply for flights booked through the Lufthansa home page, call center and ticket counters. Travel agents who sign up under the lufthansa-agent.com scheme or the new so-called preferential price program for CRS bookings can continue to sell the old fares. lufthansa-agent.com offers the whole price range and reservations are free. In the CRS world, bookings of “preferential prices” (euphemism for old fare level) cost 4.90 Euro plus VAT per coupon, while bookings of the new and higher fares are “free”. The existing ticket service charges remain unaffected. Beginning in October, the new scheme will be introduced in Switzerland, too.
In an unprecedented move, all concerned major travel associations published a recommendation for travel agents, not to sign up for the “preferential price program”. Lufthansa’s plans do not go along with the needs of travel agents for efficient sales methods, market transparency and fair play, the statement says, and thus cannot be accepted in the interest of consumers. The wording “preferential price” is seen as misleading, since prices will actually be raised. The signatories demand equal opportunity for all sales channels, best possible processes for booking, fulfillment and invoicing and a reasonable cost assignment. They also decline to be misused in the struggle between Lufthansa and the GDSs. The joint paper was signed by the German Travel Association (DRV), the Austrian and Swiss travel agents’ associations ÖRV and SRV, VDR The Business Travel Association of Germany and VIR Verband Internet Reisevertrieb, based on consultations including the major travel management companies. In separate moves, Amadeus and ASR Allianz selbstständiger Reiseunternehmen had also opposed the new scheme.
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Private travel spending in Germany reached 61 billion Euro last year, according to the annual “Reisestudie” of Dresdner Bank, plus 4% compared to 2006. Over 20% of that budget went to destinations outside Europe. The growth rate for intercontinental travel spending was about 10%. Most popular destinations were Spain, Austria and Italy, but the share of these three countries shrinks. Winners 2007 were Turkey and Egypt. Dresdner Bank expects travel spending of 63.5 billion Euro this year, plus 4%. Earnings of the German tourist sector exceeded 20 billion Euro this year.
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The top destinations for beach holidays this summer are Spain, Turkey and Greece. This at least is the result of a survey published by “Urlaub Perfekt” after asking 1,208 travel agencies in Germany. While Spain received 911 votes, 691 travel experts named Turkey and 631 Greece. Italy and Tunisia had only little positive response: 133 respectively 120 votes. Tunisia furthermore scored in another negative ranking: The North African country came out top with 751 votes for the destination with most consumer complaints; Turkey was named 552 times, Bulgaria 535 times. These three countries ranked top in last year’s complaint list, too. Despite these aspects, Turkey was voted number one concerning “value-for-money” (893), “best destination for family holidays” (855) and “best service” (706). Strongest trends reported by travel agents are cruises (838 votes), wellness holidays (793) and short trips (610). Cruises thus received more votes for the first time than wellness.
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The average number of persons on a domestic flight in Germany was 64 in the year 2006, the Federal Statistical Office reports, while the corresponding number for intercontinental flights was 178. In the same year the load factor on domestic flights was 67%, on intercontinental flights 79%. More than 80% of passengers on intercontinental flights used aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of at least 175 tons (Boeing 747, Airbus A330/A340), while on domestic flights the share was a mere 0.3%. On flights to The Americas the average number of passengers was 200, to Asia 172 and to Africa 149. 

Excerpts from issue No. 1, Vol. 12, January 2008
61% of Germans surveyed by GfK commissioned by TripAdvisor said, they have been bothered at least once on their past holidays by other tourists. Britons head the list with 20%, followed by Russians (18.5%), fellow-Germans (15%) and Dutch (11.9%). Alcohol-abuse was named as most annoying disturbance (62.2%). 37% of all Germans surveyed said they look for contact to other Germans during their holiday. 25.1% prefer no outside contact at all. Only 11.3% seek contact to tourists from other countries, 20.4% are open for meeting locals. Spain is named as the country were German tourists feel most welcomed (17.4%), followed by Turkey (13.4%) and Italy (11.6%). 45.2% did not know or could not decide which country to nominate in this category.
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Half of 700 customers surveyed by Expedia in Germany said they have specific ideas about their 2008 holidays. 16% said they will decide spontaneously. The favorite destination is the Mediterranean (32%), followed by countries with Dollar currency (14%). 11% prefer to spend their holidays within the country. 51% prefer several shorter trips over one long trip, while 40% book one extensive holiday break. 49% combine cheap flights with up market hotels.
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Sales of the 336 German airlines reached 24.0 billion Euro in 2006, plus 9.1% compared with 2005, the Federal Statistical Office reports. 86% of these sales concerned passenger transport. While the passenger numbers of all airlines registered at major airports in Germany grew by 5.6%, passenger sales of just German airlines jumped by 10.0%. The workforce in the German airline industry reached the number of 59,400 and thus grew by 2.9%. Of all employees, 9,370 were pilots and 22,213 other crew. 27,835 belonged to ground staff. The German airlines operated 1,329 aircraft.
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Customer service of nine airlines was tested by ServiceRating GmbH in Cologne. Deutsche Lufthansa and LTU both received 85 out of 100 points, Condor ended up with 83 points (all “very good”). Rated “good” were Air Berlin (74 points), TUIfly (74 points) and British Airways (72 points). A “fully satisfactory” result received Germanwings (45 points), rated “satisfactory“ were Easyjet (36 points) and Ryanair (29 points). The survey included 1,000 passengers; 33 criteria were offered for rating.


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