German National Tourist Board announced that figures to date for incoming tourism to Germany are positive. According to data from the Federal Statistical Office, 55.3 million cumulative international overnight stays, in hotels with at least ten beds, were registered between January and August 2016 - an increase of one percent compared to the previous year.
Specifically, the UK has shown an increase of 1.5% for this period in comparison with the previous year and Ireland, a strong 7.2%. However, the detailed results for the summer months indicate a weakening of demand.
Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive Office of the board of directors of the German National Tourist Board (DZT), summarised the current situation: "Since 2010, the demand for Travel Destination Germany as a brand has developed above average, against international competition. Since the beginning of this year, the difficult conditions of the world economy, sanctions, the topic of Brexit, plus the general security situation with terrorism, war and migration – have all presented challenges for tourism. In this context, even such a strong brand such as Travel Destination Germany is experiencing declining trends from various source markets. This is why, for the first time after more than six years of continuous growth, the upturn in German incoming tourism has slowed down”.
