Informe semanal de noticias del mercado alemán de la Oficina de Turismo de Tenerife en Fráncfort
- Market News:
German airports slide into the red in September: For the first time since December 2017, Germany’s 22 major international airports handled fewer passengers in one calendar month than in the same month of the previous year, reports fvw. The German aviation industry is worried. At the country’s airports, which are spoiled for success, things are now anything but going well. According to traffic data from ADV (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Verkehrsflughäfen), the German airports handled 24.2 million passengers in September, 0.2% fewer than in the same month last year. The number of passengers carried to and from European destinations rose by 0.5% to just under 16.1 million. In addition, long-haul flights to and from Germany in September increased by 1.2% compared to the same month last year, with a total of 3.9 million passengers
German package bookings take off in September: German bookings for top holiday destinations grew strongly last month with double-digit increases for Turkey, Egypt and Greece and much better demand for Spain, the latest monthly package holiday booking figures from Amadeus show according to fvw. After a weak start to the year and then a gradual improvement in the last few months, German package and online bookings for the top ten mass destinations increased by a healthy 8.1% in September compared to the same month last year. Winter sun destinations were particularly in demand. Contrary to recent trends, travel agency bookings were the main growth driver with a 10% rise while online bookings were only up by 6.5%. This came even though the average holiday price for the top 10 destinations last month was 26% higher in travel agencies (919 Euro per person) than online (730 Euro).
- Tour Operator News:
Largest Hotel Offer in FTI History: According to TRVL COUNTER, FTI uses the Thomas Cook gap in the new summer program 2020 and enters the season with the largest hotel offer in the company’s history. New in the assortment are mainly properties in Greece, the Canary Islands, the Caribbean and Turkey. «80% of the Thomas Cook hotel portfolio is already bookable with us, for example houses of the brands Iberostar, Sunrise or Casa Cook. Although most of these new hotels are not shown in the freshly printed summer catalogues due to their short-term nature, they can be accessed via the systems.
DER Touristik fishes for Thomas Cook’s chief buyer: Joachim Seip, previously Director of Hotel Purchasing for the Thomas Cook Group, will move to DER Touristik in a similar position, reports REISEVOR9. The Rewe subsidiary internationalizes hotel purchasing and transfers the newly created position to the manager of the insolvent competitor. He will be responsible for selecting and purchasing hotels for the 16 DER TOURISTIK source markets in Europe with an overarching strategy. As Director Group Hotel Contracting, he will be part of the management team of DER Touristik Group from 1 November.
- Aviation News:
Lufthansa Group complains about 100 flight cancellations: According to fvw, after the warning strike of the flight attendants at four Lufthansa subsidiaries on Sunday, October 20th, flight operations resumed normally on Monday. A company spokesperson confirmed the estimated number of around 100 take-offs that had to be cancelled as a result of the strike at German airports, which ended at midnight. Lufthansa had not succeeded in completely ignoring the work stoppages organized by the UFO union. The spokesperson said that the events would be evaluated and that legal steps would continue to be examined. UFO also wants to discuss the next steps with its collective bargaining commissions. It is in industrial action at the Lufthansa core company as well as at the German subsidiaries Eurowings, Germanwings, Lufthansa Cityline and Sunexpress Germany and has initiated a strike ballot on unlimited strikes. These are to be concluded by 1 November.
TUIfly reduces CO2: With the help of new aircrafts, the TUI airline says it is reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 15%. In addition, the entire TUI Group has set itself the target of saving 250 million disposable plastic articles by the coming year, reports TravelTalk. There will be less disposable plastic on board TUIfly jets and the airline, which belongs to the TUI Group, wants to reduce CO2 emissions with the help of fleet renewal. This is what the new 2018 Sustainability Report of the holiday airline states. In addition, with an average kerosene consumption of 2.57 liters per 100 passenger kilometers, the airline is already 21% more emission-efficient than the six largest European airlines, emphasizes Oliver Lackmann, Managing Director TUIfly.
Condor seeks offers by end-November: Potential buyers of Thomas Cook’s German airline Condor need to make their offers by the end of November, according to fvw. Following the European Commission’s approval of 380 million Euro worth of German state loans to support the airline over the financially difficult winter season, Condor is now in “very advanced discussions” with potential investors, a company spokeswoman told fvw. In fact, initial interested parties already received detailed financial information about the airline at the end of last week, according to sources with knowledge of the discussions. This information is designed to enable them to make formal offers.
- Cruise News:
Development Minister calls for climate-neutral cruises: CSU politician and Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Gerd Müller expects shipping companies to make a greater contribution to protecting the oceans and saving the world’s climate, reports REISEVOR9. «Cruise ships must become climate-neutral», the Development Minister said at the international conference on marine protection «Our Ocean» in Oslo. «The cruise industry should have to offer ecotourism at sea, instead of cruise ships burning vast amounts of heavy oil, the dirtiest fuel ever,» Müller criticized in an interview with the newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine. He calls on tourism companies and shipping companies to make cruises climate-neutral.
- Social Media News:
Social media positively affect brand value: 72% of those polled by PwC in the 2019 brand study say so, horizont.net reports. Another result: digital marketing budgets will continue to grow. If their share of the total marketing budget is currently 47%, it is expected to be two-thirds in five years.