Press release: Recovery Prospects for Germany’s Incoming Tourism after a Challenging First Half of 2025

Frankfurt am Main, 12 August 2025 – Following a first half of the year in which trade disputes and geopolitical tensions unsettled consumers in many source markets, the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) now sees, according to current market research data and studies by international institutes, a revival in the travel intentions of potential guests from key markets for the remainder of the year.

Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive Officer of the GNTB, commented: "Germany remains an attractive destination in an international comparison. This is confirmed by a consumer survey we commissioned in early August across twelve source markets, which found that 54.6 per cent still intend to travel to Germany as a destination within the next six months."

According to the latest monthly figures from the Federal Statistical Office for June 2025, there were 7.6 million international overnight stays – a decrease of 12.7 per cent compared with the previous year. This is primarily due to the UEFA European Football Championship 2024, which drove record figures in the same month last year. Cumulatively, the first half of 2025 saw 36.4 million overnight stays by international visitors, down 3.2 per cent year-on-year. Excluding the special effect of the UEFA EURO, this equates to a 4.0 per cent increase compared with the first half of 2023.

The “EURO effect” for the hotel sector is also confirmed by MKG Consulting data: in June 2025, occupancy rates were 5.5 percentage points lower than the previous year’s figures. Cumulatively, occupancy rates in the first half of the year averaged around 65 per cent, roughly matching the previous year’s level. Within the market, there has been a slight shift in favour of higher hotel categories.

International arrivals by air also showed a slight year-on-year decline of 4.2 per cent at the end of the first half of 2025, according to Forward Keys. This is partly due to flight capacities to and from Germany, which remain 20 per cent below pre-pandemic levels. Industry associations note that recovery to match European competitors is currently hampered by increases in air traffic control charges and Germany’s air passenger tax.

The European Travel Commission (ETC) offers a positive outlook for the further development of incoming tourism in the second half of 2025. According to the latest Monitoring Sentiment for Intra-European Travel (MSIET) from May 2025, covering June to November, 77.2 per cent of Europeans plan to travel this summer and autumn – five percentage points more than in the spring survey. A trend towards late summer travel is also evident: while a year ago, 39 per cent of respondents planned their summer holiday for August or September, this year the figure has risen to 47 per cent.

Germany, alongside the classic beach destinations of Spain, Italy, Greece, and France, is once again among the top five destinations for Europeans in summer 2025. According to MSIET, the most important factors for Europeans when choosing a holiday destination are safety in the country, stable weather, and competitively priced offers. Encouragingly, the trend towards higher travel spending and slightly longer stays identified in the previous MSIET survey has remained stable.