German Inbound Tourism Gains Momentum - Get updated on what's happening in tourism!

After a volatile start to the year, Germany’s inbound tourism is showing clear signs of recovery. Demand from international visitors increased noticeably in October 2025, and current indicators suggest that the upward trend will continue in the coming months. Based on the latest market data, the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) expects inbound tourism to regain further momentum as the year draws to a close and into early 2026.

October brings turnaround in overnight stays

In October 2025, overnight stays by foreign guests in Germany rose by 4.1 per cent year on year to 7.3 million. Preliminary figures from the Federal Statistical Office show that the cumulative decline recorded earlier in the year continued to narrow. While the year-on-year decrease stood at 2.9 per cent at the end of the third quarter, it had eased to 2.3 per cent by the end of October for hotels and guesthouses with at least ten beds.

Travel sentiment remains resilient

Petra Hedorfer, CEO of the German National Tourist Board, points to several factors that shaped demand over the course of the year. “In the first few months of this year, trade conflicts and geostrategic disputes unsettled consumers in many source markets. This was compounded by a decline in business travel and the continued strength of the euro against the US dollar, which made travel to Europe particularly expensive for important overseas markets. In a direct comparison with the previous year, the special effect of the UEFA Euro and major concert events in the summer of 2024 was also noticeable.”

At the same time, Hedorfer underlines the continued willingness to travel. According to the European Travel Commission’s latest Monitoring Sentiment for Intra-European Travel, 73 per cent of Europeans plan to travel between October 2025 and March 2026, a stable level compared with the previous year. Travel intentions in selected long-haul markets are also largely steady, as shown by the ETC Long-Haul Travel Barometer.

Germany is performing particularly well in the run-up to the Christmas season. “According to the latest GNTB Travel Industry Expert Panel for the fourth quarter of 2025, 88 per cent of the CEOs and key accounts surveyed see Germany as a strong destination for Christmas markets, and 78 per cent actively market Christmas markets in their product portfolio for trips to Germany,” Hedorfer says.

Hotels benefit from higher occupancy and prices

Hotel performance data supports the positive trend. Figures from MKG Consulting show that the average occupancy rate across all hotel categories reached 75.2 per cent in October, almost three percentage points higher than in the same month last year. Despite increasingly intense international competition, average room rates also increased again for the first time, rising to €126, which represents a year-on-year increase of 10.1 percentage points.

Air traffic points to sustained growth

Further positive signals come from the aviation sector. Data from ForwardKeys shows that international flight arrivals to Germany in October 2025 were 8.2 per cent higher than a year earlier. Looking ahead to the next six months, advance flight bookings are already above last year’s level, with particularly strong growth from long-haul markets including the United States, India, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates.

Taken together, rising overnight stays, improving hotel performance and solid forward bookings suggest a stabilising and increasingly positive outlook for Germany’s inbound tourism in the months ahead.

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