{"id":120795,"date":"2022-02-09T09:30:40","date_gmt":"2022-02-09T08:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/?p=120795"},"modified":"2022-02-14T10:19:37","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T09:19:37","slug":"business-tourism-germany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/en\/business-tourism-germany","title":{"rendered":"Germany: business tourism hit but not sunk"},"content":{"rendered":"

The result comes as no surprise. Visit German tourism<\/strong> was not spared by the Covid-19 crisis, but the pandemic did offer some grounds for satisfaction. Admittedly, the total number of overnight stays fell by almost 90 million overnight stays<\/strong> foreign<\/strong> \u00e0 32.2 million<\/strong> in 2020. This is the same level as 30 years ago. But at the same time, in 2020 Germany became Europe's No. 1 destination for European travellers for the first time. European travellers generated 23.5 million trips to Germany, ahead of Spain and Austria.<\/p>\n

The French<\/strong> accounted for 1.3 million nights in 2020, a far cry from the 3.8 million nights in 2019. For the first 11 months of 2021, this figure fell slightly to 0.9%.<\/p>\n

Business travel accounts for more than 20% of European journeys<\/span><\/h3>\n

Business travel has been one of the segments most affected by the crisis. And yet it is a more important segment than for other European destinations. The number of Europeans travelling to Germany for business reasons represented 21% of all trips in 2020, compared with an average of 15% for all trips.<\/strong>. For the market alone France<\/strong>the percentage was 20%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In detail, 49% of all European business trips to Germany were for a 'traditional' reason<\/strong>The rest are so-called \"promotional\" business trips. i.e. in connection with an activity MICE<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In fact, it was this sector that suffered the most in 2020. While the number of business trips to Germany fell by 63% in 2020, travel to trade fairs and exhibitions fell by 75%.<\/strong>. Attendance at conferences and conventions fell by 65%.<\/p>\n

Looking at modes of transport, the car accounted for the majority of journeys at 54% (58% for the French), followed by the plane at 26% (27% in France) and the train at 9% (7% in France).<\/strong>. It will come as a surprise to see how little rail travel is used in France, a result of the cancellation of many direct services during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

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DB ICE and SNCF TGV side by side at Gare de l'Est in Paris (Photo: LC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Improvements to air and rail services<\/span><\/h3>\n

The situation has only partially improved since then. SNCF and DB announce that they will jointly operate 24 trains a day to Germany from Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Strasbourg.<\/strong>. Nevertheless, the two railway companies are still operating a reduced number of frequencies on the Paris-Sarrebruck-Frankfurt and Paris-Stuttgart routes. However, the good news is that they are operating a direct train service six days a week between Paris and Fribourg in three hours<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the tourist office hopes that the improved air service from France will generate a new flow of traffic, particularly business traffic. The airline Vueling<\/a> <\/strong>has been serving Hamburg, Leipzig and Nuremberg from Orly<\/strong>. Lufthansa<\/strong> has finally inaugurated its Orly-Munich<\/strong> and is launching this spring Rennes-Frankfurt<\/strong>. Finally, Transavia<\/a> resumes services between Montpellier and Berlin in April<\/strong>.<\/p>\n