Stay the night!

German hotels posted a record number of 394.1 million overnight stays in 2011, the Federal Statistics Office reported on Thursday. It meant a four-percent year-on-year increase.

The number of hotel guests from home soared to 330.3 million people, up three percent on 2010 levels. 68.8 million people came from abroad – a six percent rise compared to 2010 figures.

Hotel tourism was particularly strong during December last year when 23 million people stayed overnight at German hotels with a capacity of at least nine beds. Smaller lodging houses or guesthouses were ignored in the survey by the Statistics Office.

Question of income

While a record number of overnight stays meant good business for hotel owners, a different study by market researcher GfK revealed that only a third of Germans with low wages left home for at least five days during their vacation in 2011. Thirty-two percent of people with net incomes below 1,500 euros ($1,995) did not stay at any hotels in Germany last year.

But generally, Germany by far remained the most popular holiday destination among its own citizens, followed by destinations in Spain, Italy and Turkey, the GfK study said.

Fewer and fewer Germans are willing to spend their holidays in Greece. Only 1.1 percent of holiday makers here are planning to travel to Greece this summer, as the southern European nation is rocked by an ongoing debt crisis.

Author: Hardy Graupner (dpa, dapd)
Editor: Gregg Benzow