Hesse's tourism is booming: sales exceed pre-Corona levels!

Hesse's tourism is booming: sales exceed pre-Corona levels!

After the difficulties of the corona pandemic, tourism in Hesse is showing encouraging upward trends. According to n-tv, the industry has recovered well. Gross sales of 14.56 billion euros were achieved in 2024, which means an increase of 1.6 percent compared to 2019, which is considered the pre-Corona year. The hospitality industry, which has an impressive balance of 7.08 billion euros, and the retail sector, which generates 4.28 billion euros in sales, particularly benefit. Compared to 2022, sales even grew by nine percent.

Economics Minister Kaweh Mansoori (SPD) emphasizes this positive development, which has been reflected in the continuously increasing number of guests and overnight stays since 2022. The data for 2023 is not yet available, but the trend speaks for itself. Only recently did the Frankfurter Rundschau report on the tremendous growth in tourism in Hesse.

Guest and overnight stay records

In 2023, Hesse recorded almost 15 million overnight stays, which corresponds to an increase of 18 percent compared to the previous year. That's 2.3 million additional guests! The total number of overnight stays also increased by 13 percent and reached almost 33.7 million. Particularly noteworthy is the general popularity of cities such as Offenbach and Frankfurt: both recorded increases of 29 and 26 percent in overnight guests. The Frankfurter Rundschau provides exciting insights.

Bed occupancy also shows a positive development: occupancy rose from 34 percent in 2022 to 37 percent. Despite these positive figures, the average length of stay of guests, which remained constant at 2.3 days, remained unchanged. 78 percent of travelers come from Germany, while 3.3 million international guests, mainly from the USA, the Netherlands and Great Britain, visited Hesse.

Tourism in Germany – a growth market

The nationwide view makes it clear: tourism is an important source of income for Germany. In 2023, international traveler revenue was $37.4 billion. Domestic travelers didn't miss out either, spending around $112 billion. We are the third highest country for tourism spending here, behind the USA and China. Statista points out that around 1.1 million employees subject to social insurance contributions work in the hospitality industry - a new record!

While the industry is thriving, things are different for tour operators and agencies. They are recording a decline in the number of employees, but total sales have reached a new high of 37.3 billion euros. In addition, there were around 183 million guests in accommodation providers in Germany in 2023. If that's not a reason to be happy, we don't know what to do next!

With all this positive news about tourism in Hesse and Germany, it is clear: It is not just in the air, but also on the tables of restaurants and on the shelves of retailers - things are looking up for the industry. It remains to be seen how this trend will develop in the future, but the prospects are promising.