Greece is the third choice for German customers of Dertour in this year’s tourist season June – September 2024, with Turkey being the first and Spain following in second place.
According to the data of the second, largest travel agent in the German market, in the short and medium distance destinations, Greece records a 14% increase in the preferences of German travelers in the summer season of 2024.
Turkey, with a 48% increase in visitors, overtakes Spain to take first place in terms of popularity, with one in five visitors globally choosing it for their holiday, up from one in four in the short and medium distance sector.
Spain follows in second place this year in terms of the choice of tourist destinations of German holidaymakers, marking an increase of 11%, compared to the previous summer. In terms of short and medium-haul destinations, around a fifth of Dertour travelers decided to holiday in the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands or mainland Spain.
Egypt is now in the top 5 of the most popular short and medium-haul holiday destinations. With a 75% increase in visitors, it moved up two places in the ranking and shares 5th place with Italy, which retained its previous position with an 8% increase in visitors.
Family bookings increased strongly
DERTOUR recorded a 36% increase in the number of family bookings for the summer months of 2024. This means they accounted for a quarter (25%) of the total bookings. “One in four of our reservations is made by a family. This development confirms the fact that we are constantly expanding our offers for exactly this target group”, says Sven Schikarsky, product manager of Dertour and the brands ITS and Meiers Weltreisen.
When it comes to family travel, Greece remains in third place among destinations, with bookings increasing by 30% compared to last year.
Turkey also emerges as the ultimate destination in this category, with bookings for family holidays showing an impressive 77% increase this year, compared to last year. This means that around a third (31%) of all family holidays went to Turkey and 41% of all bookings to Turkey came from families.
Spain remains in second place, up 28%, while thanks to a doubling (+100%) of family bookings, Egypt climbs two places to fourth.
“This summer, families again put a lot of emphasis on good value for money – for example choosing large rooms and high-quality all-inclusives at attractive prices,” says Mr. Schikarsky.
Greece is first in luxury vacations
Increase in demand for luxury holidays by 3% this year, tourist season, compared to last year, reports Dertour, with Greece dominating, being the most popular luxury destination for the tour operator’s customers, recording a ten percent increase in bookings units.
This is followed by Spain, which retained second place from last year despite a 10% drop in visitors. Third place in the ranking is shared by Germany, which maintained its position from the previous year despite a 25% decrease, and the Indian Ocean, which rose from fifth to third place, with a 59% increase in visitor numbers.
Italy remains in 4th place on the popularity scale, despite a 20% drop. While the Top 10 is completed by the United Arab Emirates, rising from 6th place thanks to a 77% increase in visitors and displacing North America from the top five.
Increased by 23% bookings in 4-star and 5-star hotels
Meanwhile, the trend for travelers to choose higher-end hotels continues, albeit at a low level. In more detail, the percentage of reservations in 5-star hotels increased by 5 percentage points, compared to the previous year, and reached 30%.
Four-star hotels remained the most popular category, chosen by more than half of guests (53%), although their share decreased slightly by 2 percentage points, compared to last summer.
Three-star hotels have a 17% share, down 3 percentage points.
Of particular interest is the comparison of the share of hotels, by category, compared to 2019: the percentage of customers who chose five-star hotels for their vacation in the summer of 2019 was only 13%, i.e. 17 percentage points below the percentage of five-star hotels stars in the summer of 2024 (30%).
Accordingly, the percentage of four-star hotel reservations five years ago was 47%, 6 points below the summer of 2024 (53%). The biggest change is observed in hotels with three stars or less, as in the summer of 2019, 40% of visitors had chosen hotels of these categories for their stay, while in 2024 this percentage was only 17% (-23 percentage points) .
It is noted that Dertour recorded an 18% increase in the number of travelers in the summer of 2024 compared to the summer of 2023.
