Press release: Significant boost for German inbound tourism in July 2024

Frankfurt am Main, 11 September 2024 – International sporting events such as the UEFA EURO 2024 create additional reasons to travel and thus strengthen German inbound tourism. This is confirmed by the latest figures from the Federal Statistical Office and studies commissioned by the German National Tourist Board (GNTB).

At 10.7 million, the number of overnight stays by foreigners in hotels and guesthouses with at least ten beds in July 2024 was 4.5 per cent higher than in the previous year. Cumulatively, incoming tourism grew by 6.6 per cent to 48.2 million from January to July 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. The recovery compared to 2019 reaches 94.9 per cent.

While 40 European Football Championship matches in June ensured above-average results in all ten host cities, eleven matches in the knockout round also attracted fans from the participating countries to Germany in July. According to analyses by MKG Consulting, occupancy in the hotel industry was 71.6% across Germany in July 2024. This represents a 2.3 percentage point increase in occupancy compared to July 2023. At EUR 108.80 per room and night, average revenues were 9.7 per cent higher than in the previous year. In the hotels in the higher star categories, occupancy rose more strongly than in the economy segment.

Petra Hedorfer, CEO of the GNTB, states: ‘UEFA EURO 2024 was an extraordinary success in sporting, social and economic terms and played a key role in positioning Germany as a tolerant, diverse and hospitable destination. According to the GNTB Travel Industry Expert Panel, around a quarter of international tour operators with business in Germany added new travel offers to their programmes specifically for the European Championships. 35 per cent stated that demand for these products was high or very high. And fans' expectations were not disappointed: according to a study by Nielsen Sports, 97 per cent of international ticket holders would like to visit Germany again, 79 per cent would recommend a trip to the city where they attended a match.’

According to Nielsen Sports, the world's leading provider of audience and fan data for sporting events, 44 per cent of UEFA EURO 2024 ticket holders came from abroad. The study also confirms the economic effect: in total, the European Football Championship generated direct, indirect and induced effects totalling 7.44 billion euros, while the advertising value of the visibility in the media worldwide is estimated at 571 million euros.