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Germany

Tourism in the economy and outlook for recovery

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism in Germany generated over EUR 123.8 billion for the economy.
The sector directly contributed 4.0% to total GVA and provided over 2.1 million tourism jobs, or 4.7% of
total employment in 2019. The impact of COVID-19 saw tourism employment fall to 1.5 million in 2020, or
3.5% of the national workforce. Economic losses for the tourism sector resulting from the COVID-19 crisis
are estimated to be EUR 68.7 billion in 2020 and EUR 58.9 billion in 2021.
The recovery of tourism in Germany has been moderate. In 2021 there were 96.8 million tourists (domestic
and international), 1.3% lower than in 2020. Of these, 11.7 million were international tourists, and
85.1 million were domestic tourists. International tourists remained 70.5% below 2019 levels, and domestic
tourists remained 43.8% down.
In 2021, 266.1 million nights were registered in accommodation establishments. This was an increase of
2.0% compared to 2020. Expectations for the recovery of the German tourism sector to pre-pandemic
levels range from 2022 to 2024.

Tourism governance and funding

The Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action has lead responsibility for tourism policy
development. The Minister is supported by the Advisory Council on Tourism Issues which brings together
the interests of government, commerce, academia and others. The Commissioner for SMEs and Tourism
is responsible for co-ordinating tourism policy within the Federal Government and with the
German Parliament, in particular with the Parliamentary Tourism Committee.
The 16 Federal States (Länder) are responsible for developing, shaping and promoting tourism policy.
Their ministries are charged with designing, implementing and funding policies to promote local tourism
development. Each federal state has a Destination Management Organisation that represents the interests
of regional and municipal organisations. Local tourism offices co-ordinate the work of tourism SMEs,
promote product design and undertake relevant marketing activities. The Joint Federal/Länder Scheme for
the Improvement of Regional Economic Structures (GRW) is the central instrument of the Federal
Government’s regional policy. GRW project funding is provided in the form of investments in trade and
industry, including the tourism economy, as well as municipal investments in economic infrastructure,
including basic infrastructure for tourism (e.g. developing land for tourism and public tourist facilities).
The budgetary funds available to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action for tourism
are concentrated on institutional support for the German National Tourist Board (DZT) with a 2022 budget
of EUR 39 million. Support for tourism remains a focal point of the Federal Government’s regional policy.
The GRW budget set aside for tourism was EUR 1.3 billion for 2016-20, divided evenly between federal
and Länder contributions. This funding is invested in both the tourism sector and tourism infrastructure.
Compared to 2015-19, this constitutes an average increase of 13%. Financing for tourism in Germany at

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municipal, regional, and Länder levels comes from various sources; in addition to public funds, revenue is
also generated from spa and tourism taxes and bed taxes.

Germany: Organisational chart of tourism bodies

Ministry for Economic Advisory Council on German National Tourist

Affairs and Climate Action Tourism Issues Board

Parliamentary State Tourism Industry,

Federal Commissioner
Secretaries and State Academic Institutions,
for Tourism
Secretaries Social Partners

Directorate General for

SME Policy Parliamentary Tourism
Committee
Directorate for Retail,
Tourism and Business
Creation

Joint Federal / Ministries responsible for

Tourism Policy Division Länder Committee on Tourism of the 16 Federal
Tourism States (Länder)

Source: OECD, adapted from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, 2022.

Tourism policies and programmes

In 2019, Germany adopted principles for a new National Tourism Strategy. This strategy aims to strengthen
tourism as a part of the economy and prepare the entire sector for the future. This also answers to the
needs of the post-crisis recovery. The principles of the Strategy fed into the development of six goals:
 Exploit the many different areas of economic potential in tourism, including creating additional
employment opportunities in rural areas.
 Strengthen Germany’s competitiveness as a tourism destination and bolster the tourism sector with
a focus on SME development.
 Create modern, accessible, reliable and sustainable mobility and digital infrastructure that takes
account of tourists’ needs and challenges associated with an expected post-crisis tourism increase.
 Develop quality tourism that flourishes and preserves valuable natural and cultural habitats,
providing quality of life for all - whether visitors or residents.
 Utilise the potential of tourism to boost economic development in other parts of the world and foster
peace, tolerance and international understanding.
 Support tourism development that is environmentally and climate friendly.
The National Tourism Strategy also considers the impact of outbound tourism on developing countries.
The Federal Ministry for Co-operation and Development supports over 90 projects in developing countries
that contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030. COVID-19 has created
a need for further robust policy responses that go beyond the principles of the National Tourism Strategy.
This has been necessary to strengthen the sector’s resilience, particularly in terms of increasing the
competitiveness of SMEs in the sector and supporting future structural changes that are now necessary.

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Policy responses include:

 Promoting projects for digitalisation and sustainability in tourism (e.g. guidance of visitors, avoiding
queues at airports or simplified and compliant booking processes).
 Safeguarding qualified employment by promoting professional training, particularly in the travel and
catering sectors.
 Creating the national platform “Future of Tourism” as the central instrument for the further
development of a National Tourism Strategy. The platform will include representatives of the
sixteen federal states and stakeholders of the tourism sector early in 2023 (Box 2.6).
 Continuing further development of online tools offering businesses and others guidance on the
funding opportunities relating to tourism promotion and development.
 Promoting the development of scientific knowledge and know-how with the help of the LIFT Wissen
programme initiated by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (see box).
The crisis showed that the safeguarding of tourism jobs is a fundamental requirement. Despite measures
like offering short-time work to secure jobs, many qualified employees left for jobs in other sectors and are
now being sought to return to help the relaunch of the sector. As a result, Germany provided a package of
measures to combat the impact of COVID-19 on companies.
The trend toward nature and outdoor tourism has helped stimulate the development of sustainable offers,
which are increasingly in demand by German travellers. Germany is also focusing on further
advancements in digitalisation with smart services. Online offers are frequently the first source of
information in areas such as art and culture. Destinations also benefit from digital applications in
management terms, for example, by guiding visitors to avoid peak times. Additionally, COVID-19 has
increased the demand for reliable, digitally delivered information about regulations, hygiene, security and
the state of infections in destination areas.
To show economic and environmental issues related to tourism, the Federal Statistical Office of Germany
(Destatis) compiled the Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA) for the reporting period 2015-19. The
methodological approach of the TSA is making economic and environmental issues associated with
tourism visible in the statistical systems of national accounts and environmental-economic accounts.

Promoting innovation for the revitalisation of tourism in Germany

The tourism sector is facing a changed market as the pandemic created profound changes in society,
consumer needs and demands, as well as a renewed set of framework conditions. In order to tackle
the challenges created by COVID-19 and enable a fact-based, sustainable tourism restart, the German
Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action introduced the LIFT-Wissen funding
programme for Performance improvement and innovation funding in tourism – knowledge.
(Leistungssteigerung und Innovationsförderung im Tourismus – Wissen). LIFT Wissen aims to promote
tourism-specific, scientifically substantiated know-how. It supports innovative projects to gain greater
insight into upcoming trends and future economic challenges for the tourism sector (e.g. through studies
or the development of concepts). LIFT Wissen addresses SMEs, institutions and associations and
welcomes joint projects between those interests. It supports the exchange between economics, science
and politics, advancing the science and practice of tourism. The knowledge generated will inform policy
and advisory expertise. The programme will also assist associations and companies by providing
blueprints through the publication of project results. This knowledge also aims to strengthen the
performance and competitiveness of SMEs in tourism for the short- and medium-term and support
evidence-based policy.

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Statistical Profile

Germany: Domestic, inbound and outbound tourism

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
TOURISM FLOWS, THOUSAND
Domestic tourism
Total domestic trips .. .. .. .. ..
Overnight visitors (tourists) 135 005 140 494 151 381 85 696 85 146
Same-day visitors (excursionists) .. .. .. .. ..
Nights in all types of accommodation 318 052 332 594 347 694 229 025 235 371
Hotels and similar establishments 291 279 302 831 316 631 197 243 204 071
Other collective establishments 26 773 29 763 31 063 31 783 31 300
Private accommodation .. .. .. .. ..
Inbound tourism
Total international arrivals .. .. .. .. ..
Overnight visitors (tourists) 37 307 38 748 39 563 12 449 11 688
Same-day visitors (excursionists) .. .. .. .. ..
Top markets
Netherlands 4 588 4 717 4 820 2 282 2 038
Switzerland 3 185 3 311 3 399 1 404 1 208
Austria 1 976 2 064 2 116 820 842
Denmark .. .. .. 692 704
United States 2 808 2 969 3 057 594 701
Nights in all types of accommodation 83 111 86 962 89 261 31 733 30 732
Hotels and similar establishments 78 833 82 167 84 568 29 562 29 094
Other collective establishments 4 278 4 794 4 693 2 171 1 638
Private accommodation .. .. .. .. ..
Outbound tourism
Total international departures 194 276 208 172 212 143 103 117 100 720
Overnight visitors (tourists) 92 402 108 542 99 533 36 867 48 667
Same-day visitors (excursionists) 101 874 99 630 112 610 66 250 52 053
Top destinations
Austria 11 275 14 396 11 718 7 494 7 252
Italy 10 973 13 573 11 633 4 151 7 552
Netherlands 5 673 7 413 7 091 4 082 3 459
Spain 11 093 11 672 10 985 2 716 5 414
France 6 231 6 143 6 468 2 653 3 383
TOURISM RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURE,
MILLION EUR
Inbound tourism
Total international receipts 35 493 50 642 37 344 19 331 ..
International travel receipts 35 282 36 391 37 344 19 331 ..
International passenger transport receipts 14 471 14 251 .. .. ..
Outbound tourism
Total international expenditure 78 865 88 141 83 292 34 029 ..
International travel expenditure 78 839 80 934 83 292 34 029 ..
International passenger transport expenditure 26 7 207 .. .. ..
.. Not available
Source: OECD Tourism Statistics (Database).

StatLink 2 https://stat.link/4r1hsb

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Germany: Enterprises and employment in tourism

Number of
Number of persons employed
establishments2
2021 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Total .. .. .. .. .. ..
Tourism industries 29 410 2 122 014 2 179 830 2 145 026 1 546 927 ..
Accommodation services for visitors .. 1 760 1 806 1 752 1 335 ..
Hotels and similar establishments1 29 410 .. .. .. .. ..
Food and beverage serving industry .. 1 482 155 1 517 082 1 493 927 999 938 ..
Passenger transport .. .. .. .. .. ..
Air passenger transport .. 55 786 58 380 59 568 59 167 ..
Railways passenger transport .. .. .. .. .. ..
Road passenger transport .. 465 354 482 486 469 768 399 433 ..
Water passenger transport .. 9 732 10 007 9 742 .. c ..
Passenger transport supporting services .. .. .. .. .. ..
Transport equipment rental .. .. .. .. .. ..
Travel agencies and other reservation services .. 107 227 110 069 110 269 87 054 ..
industry
Cultural industry .. .. .. .. .. ..
Sports and recreation industry .. .. .. .. .. ..
Retail trade of country-specific tourism .. .. .. .. .. ..
characteristic goods
Other country-specific tourism industries .. .. .. .. .. ..
Other industries .. .. .. .. .. ..
.. Not available; c Confidential data
1. Data for hotels and similar establishments refer to number of establishments.
2. Data refer to number of enterprises.
Source: OECD Tourism Statistics (Database).

StatLink 2 https://stat.link/xyghkt

Germany: Internal tourism consumption

Million EUR
2019
Domestic tourism expenditure Inbound tourism expenditure Internal tourism consumption
Total .. .. ..
Consumption products 246 985 46 884 329 558
Tourism characteristic products 148 793 35 855 199 768
Accommodation services for visitors 36 735 13 551 54 365
Food and beverage serving services 46 547 10 801 57 348
Passenger transport services 34 594 10 257 44 851
Air passenger transport services 14 558 7 880 22 438
Railways passenger transport services 3 831 373 4 204
Road passenger transport services 14 326 814 15 140
Water passenger transport services 1 880 1 190 3 070
Passenger transport supporting services .. .. ..
Transport equipment rental services 2 644 242 2 886
Travel agencies and other reservation services 9 764 848 10 612
industry
Cultural services .. .. ..
Sports and recreation services 18 508 157 29 706
Country-specific tourism characteristic goods .. .. ..
Country-specific tourism characteristic services .. .. ..
Other consumption products 98 192 11 029 129 790
Tourism connected products 36 302 2 203 38 505
Non-tourism related consumption products 61 891 8 826 91 285
Non-consumption products .. .. ..
.. Not available
Source: OECD Tourism Statistics (Database).

StatLink 2 https://stat.link/vuy923

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OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2022

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Please cite this chapter as:

OECD (2022), “Germany”, in OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2022, OECD Publishing, Paris.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1787/cc895a46-en

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