Travel & Tourism Industry in Germany
The latest The World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) report revealed that compared to other major European destinations, Germany’s travel and tourism sector has so far not improved to pre-pandemic standards when considering its contribution to GDP, employment and spending by global visitors, SchengenNews reports.
The WTTC forecast for this says that the overall GDP contribution will recover. On the other hand, both jobs and spending by international visitors will remain below pre-pandemic levels.
During the same period, the Travel & Tourism sector will also contribute almost €469 billion to Germany’s economy in 2024, an increase of 0.5 per cent from 2019. Jobs are forecast to increase by 160,000 this year. However, this will still be 80,000 below peak levels before the pandemic.
As for spending by international visitors, it is expected to remain at almost ten per cent after 2019, with a deficit of €5.1 billion in 2024 compared to five years ago.
Domestic ones, meanwhile, are expected to continue growing modestly this year, with an increase of 1.2 per cent to reach almost €411 billion.
According to the WTTC report, the sector’s impact on German GDP rose to more than €453 billion last year, down €13.5 billion from 2019. At the same time, employment in Travel & Tourism saw an increase of five per cent to 6.18 million; however, it was still nearly 250,000 lower than in 2019.
Worldwide visitor expenditure in 2023 was more than 25 per cent lower than in 2019, with €14 billion less spent by global visitors compared to 2019.
Nevertheless, domestic visitor expenditure entirely recuperated in 2023, being €2.9 billion, exceeding 2019 levels, indicating that domestic visitors have headed the path to recovery after the pandemic.
By 2034, the WTTC says the sector could increase its annual GDP contribution to nearly €554 billion with appropriate government support. This figure represents more than 12 per cent of the German economy and could employ almost 6.5 million people nationwide.