Germans are in travel mood, but uncertainties about COVID-19 can affect plans - survey

A survey conducted among 12,000 Germans in December and January show that they are in the mood for travelling, with 72% of those polled planning to go on holidays.

FUR (Forschungsgemeinschaft Urlaub und Reisen e.V.), a prominent German research institute, has recently published findings of its annual Reiseanalyse survey, which shows that "in January this year, 72% of the people in Germany already had definite or provisional plans to go on holiday in 2020 (2019: 71%)."
 
"Only 11% were certain that they would not go on a holiday trip in 2020 (2019: 11%)," according to the first results of the survey published on the reiseanalyse website.
 
"This means that from the travellers’ perspective, the prospects for the year 2020 are very positive. This trend is confirmed by important general indicators: When assessing the development of their own economic situation, 72% assume that it will remain the same, 17% expect it to improve and 11% expect it to deteriorate."
 
Commenting these findings for Hina, Martin Lohmann of the N.I.T., Institute four Tourism, says that the latest developments surrounding the outbreak if the novel coronavirus have in the meantime affected this initial fervour for travelling.
 
"Let me be more precise, it is the perception and the reactions of the society to the virus (COVID-18) more than the disease itself that affects tourism," the expert told Hina.
 
 He called for making a distinction between the current state of affairs and the expected developments in the coming weeks or months.
 
Lohmann went on to say that from this perspective, the future is a bitunpredictable ".
 
As many as 55 million Germans are to go on holidays on 2020
 
The findings of the survey show that In 2019, 55 million people went on holiday, about the same number as in the previous year.
 
"This means that the holiday travel propensity has exceeded 78%, again," the survey shows.
 
"This indicator reflects the proportion of the population who went on at least one holiday of five days or more in 2019. The number of holiday trips almost reached 71 million, the total volume of expenditure was over €73 billion, more than ever before. In addition, about 36 million short break travellers went on a total of 88 million short breaks with a duration of two to four days and spent almost € 24 billion."
 
Sun and  beach destinations are preferred
 
More and more Germans are inclined to travel abroad.
 
"In 2019, 74% of all holiday trips went abroad (2018: 73%). This equates to more than 52 million trips. Sun & beach destinations are clearly preferred – this fits the top holiday motivation 'sun, warmth, nice weather', reads the survey.
 
In 2019, the most sought-after destinations were in the Mediterranean. Turkey, Italy and France were among the winners in 2019.
 
Croatia was the seventh most desirable destination for German holiday-makers in 2019.
 
Conducted annually, the Reiseanalyse is considered to be the most detailed study of the German holiday market. It is carried out by FUR, an independent association of users of tourism research inGermany and the largest non-commercial organiser and contractor of tourism research. (Hina/FaH)

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