Consumer dulls startle holidaymakers: Bavaria suffers from the winter crisis!

Consumer dulls startle holidaymakers: Bavaria suffers from the winter crisis!

In winter 2024, German tourism faces a critical challenge: The continuing economic crisis has greatly clouded the consumer mood of German consumers. According to the tourism specialist Dennis Utzerath from the Boston Consulting Group, the Germans are increasingly opting for saving money instead of investing on vacation. This has a direct negative effect on the tourist hotspots in the Bavarian Alps and beyond in Austria and Switzerland, where German guests traditionally make up one of the largest groups. A look back at the past two years shows that the trend towards reducing a main vacation trip has increased, while short trips are losing attractiveness. The increasing costs for skiing and other winter activities reinforce this development, which, according to the research community, is particularly clear.

alpine winter in the stress test

The continuing uncertainty among German consumers who tend to be economy despite increased wages and falling inflation rate has direct consequences for the booking figures. Experts fear that the booking in the popular winter destinations will be weak. Klaus Wohlrabe, head of the IFO surveys, emphasizes that consumers are more hesitant when traveling due to job worries and the general economic situation. This could be fatal for the catering and hotel industry in these regions, especially in Bavaria, where the mood is already dark and the operators suffer from high costs, such as an increase in food prices and VAT.

In addition, the latest developments in Switzerland, such as the shock of the Credit-Suisse collapse, have weakened confidence in the financial sector. While German banks benefit from the current interest rate, in Germany not only the business properties are the focus of concerns, but also possible provisions for loans for commercial properties that could come under pressure from increasing interest. According to an analysis of the Bafin financial market supervision, these uncertainties could slow down the construction economy and thus also endanger the economic stability, even if the solvency of the banks has so far not been considered acute, as from the report on Handelszeitung .