Germany
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Germany is a key target market for the tourism sector in Azerbaijan and currently ATB is working on increasing the number of leisure and business travellers.
Significance for Azerbaijan
Germans were the second most frequent European visitors to Azerbaijan after the UK between 2017 and 2021. Germans appreciate Azerbaijan’s culture, wild nature, hospitality and cuisine. They can fly directly from Berlin twice a week and Frankfurt five times a week.
Main holiday periods:
April – Easter time
July – August – The summer period
Christmas – New Year – End of December
The German guest
In 2019, Germans spent around 1.7 billion days on excursions and longer journeys. This is a slight decrease of 0.5% compared to the previous year. Germans spent 82.7 billion euros abroad in 2019 and 80.9 billion euros in 2018. The turnaround came in the coronavirus year of 2020 when travel expenditure fell by 54% to 31.9 billion euros.
In 2019, 55.2 million people were on vacation for 5 days or more, which was 54.1 million people in 2018. There were 70.8 million long holiday trips by Germans, of which 73.6% were abroad. In 2020, there were 37.1 million trips in total and 81% of them were domestic.
In 2019, Germans travelled mostly to the Mediterranean region (37.9%), Western Europe (13.3%), long distance travel (8.4%), and Eastern Europe (7.2%). Spain, Italy, Austria and Turkey were the most-visited destinations both in 2019 and 2020. In 2020, most Germans travelled within Germany (45.2%) followed by the Mediterranean region (26.3%) and Western Europe (12.6%).
In 2020, around 44% of German travellers booked their trips online, compared to 26% who used this same booking method in 2010. The trend is clear: online bookings are on the rise, though roughly the same share of travellers booked their trips during a face-to-face conversation, for example with a travel agent.
In 2020, tour operator and travel agency turnover sales decreased to 12.5 billion euros from 35.4 billion euros in 2019.
There were 2,300 tour operators in Germany in 2019.
In Germany, there are approx. 10,000 travel agencies which are divided into three categories:
The number of online travel agencies (OTAs) is increasing, with online travel agencies (OTAs) in Germany including Opodo (Odigeo group), Expedia, Booking.com, Tourlane, Lastminute.com, Getyourguide, and Ebookers.com as well as OTA/consolidator with a huge online community.
Germany is also seeing the emergence of influential online community forums such as Urlaubsguru, Urlaubspiraten, Travelzoo, Evaneos, etc.
Evaluations by the Forschungsgemeinschaft Urlaub und Reisen (FUR) clearly show that in the past 20 years the share of organised travel via travel agencies and tour operators has increased significantly. Whereas in the pre-Internet age (1995) 41% of all holiday trips were booked via tour operators and travel agencies, in 2018 a total of 49% of all trips were purchased as professional tour operator trips both from stationary travel agencies and online.
According to the Statistical Research Department, in 2022 30.6% of Germans planned to travel within Germany, 7% planned a trip to Spain and 5.6% were thinking of Italy. The figures reflect the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the travel industry and consumer plans.
Travel duration: The average travel duration was 11.6 days in 2020, down from 13 days both in 2019 and 2018.
Information sources: Social Media – Instagram and Facebook for Millennials and Gen Z, friends’ recommendations – WOM, social networks.
High internet usage: Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp are the most-used social media accounts. 35% of Germans are active social media users, spending on average 63 minutes online daily.
Travel decision-making: Germans usually book their vacations 6 months before the holiday and booking holidays via travel agencies is still the preferred method for this nation. Some bookings are made directly via accommodation providers.
Means of transport: In 2019 most German holiday trips were made by car (43%) and by plane (42%). In 2020 it was 61% and 26% respectively.
Main holiday interests: Nature holidays: sun and beach, tours and extended stays in one place; round trips: beach vacations, food and wine, city, sport and adventure, history and culture, natural beauty and wildlife.
Activities: Sightseeing, culture, hiking, spending time at the beach, food and wine tasting.
Most Germans travel with a partner or friends.
Preferences for destination choice: Safety and security, value for money, world-class nature and landscapes, and climate are the main concerns for German travellers.
Most visited places: Baku, the Absheron Peninsula, Sheki.
Contacts:
Azerbaijan has excellent relations with Germany. There is an Azerbaijan Embassy in Berlin.
For collaboration opportunities on the German market please contact the Azerbaijan Tourism Board:
Ms. Khadija Nasirova
Regional Manager for Germany