4/9/2008

A strong February pushes overnight figures in the State of Bavaria up to 10 million at the start of the year / Bavaria’s Economics Minister Müller is delighted at the broad-based momentum of the tourism industry

Müller: “Winter breaks in Bavaria are in”

MUNICH     Bavaria’s tourism industry is heading for another winter record. In the first two months of the year, the Bavarian hotels and guest houses recorded more than 10 million overnight stays for the very first time, with the number of guests rising to around 3.4 million. Compared with last year, this meant an increase of 5.8 % for arrivals and 4.3 % for overnight stays. “Winter breaks in Bavaria are in,” Bavaria’s Minister of Economic Affairs Emilia Müller said, referring to the current trend. Based on reports from the tourism regions of the State, she is assuming that there was not only a marked boost in overnight stays at the beginning of the year, but also in the number of day trippers. “The fine weather in February, the Fasching holidays and the good skiing conditions on the ski slopes created an additional tailwind in the Bavarian tourism sector,” Müller underlined.  

The Minister was delighted that the trend is currently upwards especially in the more rural regions. In the Bavarian communities with less than 100,000 inhabitants, the number of guests rose by 6.1% in the first two months. The spas were particularly successful with an increase of 7.9%, as were the leisure centers and climatic health resorts at 8.2%. Müller: “Investments in offers not dependent on the weather and in reliable snow conditions are proving to be as effective as the successfully launched image and marketing campaign of the Bavarian Spas Association (Bayerischer Heilbäderverband).”

The proportion of foreign visitors is still on the increase. Both in terms of the number of guests and the overnight stays, this group accounted for above-average increase rates in the first two months of the year: the increase in guest arrivals came to almost 8% and for overnight stays it was over 6%. For Minister Müller, these are excellent omens for the 34th Germany Travel Mart to be held in Munich and Augsburg in three weeks. It is the largest incoming event for the German tourist trade and will be held in the State of Bavaria once again for the first time in 15 years. 

Source: Invest in Bavaria