On November 8, the German Tourist Board held a press conference in Tokyo on the occasion of the German Travel Show.
The German Travel Show is a biennial event, originally a BtoC and BtoB event, but since 2005 it has specialized in BtoB. This year, 11 delegations from Germany, including the Berlin and Frankfurt Tourism Bureaus and the Meissen Ceramics Workshop, which participated for the first time, came to Japan and held business meetings with travel agencies.
Speaking at the press conference, Akira Nishiyama, Director of the Japan Branch of the German Tourist Office, introduced the number of Japanese overnight stays in Germany, which has continued to hover around 50% compared to 2019 every month from January to July. On the other hand, he mentioned that the number of Japanese departing from Japan was down 53.7% from 2019 in July and recovered to down 57.4% in September. He explained the current situation saying, “We have been expecting a recovery since the Corona dawned, but the situation in Germany is delicate.
As for the reasons for the sluggish growth among Japanese, he cited Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, inflation in Europe as a whole, and the effects of the weak yen. As for air travel, although the number of direct flights between Japan and Germany has recovered to about 70%, the seat supply has not returned to that level, and the flight time has increased by 3 to 4 hours due to the inability to pass over Russia, he said.
The number of tours by travel agencies is lower than in 2019, and the outlook for FIT is not promising, although demand for travel to Germany is expected to increase in December due to the Christmas market. Based on interviews with land operators who make arrangements for local lodging, transportation, and other services, he expressed a grim view of the outlook for 2024, saying, “Optimistically, it will be about 60% to 70% of the 2019 level.
Regarding travel expenses, the average tour price for the first half of 2019 was 482,398 yen, while the price rose to 740,590 yen in the first half of 2023. In light of the current situation, the German Tourist Office has set high-income and affluent travelers as the immediate target group, and will work with travel agencies to create tours that incorporate content suitable for the target group.
In addition, Mr. Nishiyama explained that he is currently researching targets for the Japanese market based on a new marketing approach being implemented in Germany, which will be revealed in December. He also mentioned that the target audience will be highly educated, knowledgeable, and interested in a variety of things, as well as trend-sensitive but pragmatic.
© Source travel watch
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