Tourism: 60.4 million overnight stays booked via online platforms in Germany

Photo by Stephan Widua on Unsplash

Last year, guests booked 60.4 million overnight stays in vacation apartments and houses in Germany via major online platforms. This was 22.6 percent more than in 2023, as announced by the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden on Wednesday. The statistics include bookings via the four platforms AirBnB, Booking.com, TripAdvisor and Expedia.

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The 2024 figure even exceeded the pre-coronavirus pandemic figure from 2019, when domestic and foreign guests booked 37.2 million overnight stays via the platforms, the statisticians added. According to the information, the online sites mainly show bookings with smaller providers. 95 percent of the overnight stays in vacation apartments or houses booked there were offered by establishments with fewer than ten beds. These are often private landlords and landladies.
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According to the statistics office, the collection of figures from online platforms supplements the official monthly tourism survey, as this only takes into account overnight stays in establishments with at least ten beds. Of the 60.4 million overnight stays booked via the platforms, 95 percent are not included in the traditional tourism statistics

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Compared to 2023, the number of overnight stays booked via online platforms by guests from Germany grew by 23.6% to 42.1 million. For guests from abroad, growth was lower at 20.3% to 18.4 million. These figures have also risen significantly since the pandemic. The number of overnight stays booked by foreign guests in 2024 was 33.8 percent higher than in 2019, while the figure for domestic guests was 78.9 percent higher.

The most frequent foreign guests were people from the Netherlands, Poland and the USA. Overnight stays were most frequently booked via the platforms in Bavaria, followed by Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony. While 92.9 percent of overnight stays in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania were booked by guests from Germany, Berlin was the most popular destination for foreign guests.