(ffm) The first tourism half-year in Frankfurt am Main follows the previous year's trend and ends with significant increases. "From January to June 2019, 5.2 million overnight stays were generated; this is 5.8 percent more than in the same period of the previous year. With almost 3 million overnight guests, the number of visitors increased by 5.2 percent in the process," explained Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann, who is also chairman of the supervisory board of Tourismus+Congress GmbH Frankfurt am Main (TCF).
May presented itself as the strongest month of the first half-year with 932,136 overnight stays (+ 19.8 percent) and 538,119 overnight guests (+ 13 percent), closely followed by last year's strongest month June with 923,234 overnight stays. The number of beds in accommodation establishments rose to 57,258 (+ 8 per cent). Hotel bed occupancy fell slightly to 50.03 percent, which corresponds to an average room occupancy of about 68 percent. For the first time, it is thus noticeable that the number of beds on offer is growing faster than the number of overnight guests due to the very high increase of 11 new hotel openings. The average length of stay is a stable 1.74 days with a slight upward trend.
Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann expressed his delight: "As a cosmopolitan and lively metropolis, Frankfurt as a city destination continues to be on trend. The steadily growing numbers of business travellers, but increasingly also of private travellers, show that our tourism strategy is paying off." Thomas Feda, TCF Managing Director, added: "The new Old Town, for example, is being wonderfully received by visitors and Frankfurt residents. It's hard to imagine that it was once any different."
The trend in the number of visitors arriving from within Germany was particularly pleasing. Of them, more than 1.7 million overnight visitors (+ 5.3 percent) came to Frankfurt; overnight stays rose to 2.9 million (+ 6.3 percent). This clearly shows that the positive perception of the city as a travel destination continues to strengthen on the domestic market.
Foreign countries also contributed to the positive balance with over 1.2 million overnight guests (+ 5 percent) and exceeded the two million mark with 2.3 million overnight stays (+ 5.2 percent). The strongest markets remain the USA with 324,957 overnight stays (+ 7.3 per cent) and the UK with 170,238 overnight stays (+ 4.5 per cent).
Dynamic growth was also seen in overnight stays by travellers from Asia, such as India (+ 6.1 per cent) and Japan (+ 3 per cent). The Chinese market (- 3.3 percent), on the other hand, weakened due to the economic situation. Future markets such as Brazil (+ 21.1 percent) and also Eastern European markets such as Turkey (+ 22.1 percent), Poland (+ 27.5 percent), Ukraine (+ 74.3 percent) and Bulgaria (+ 20.8 percent) are developing strongly.
Overnight stays from key European markets such as France (+3.1 percent), Italy (+7.5 percent) and Spain (+13.4 percent) continue to indicate a positive growth trajectory.
With foreign guests accounting for 45 percent of the total overnight volume, Frankfurt presents itself as one of the most international cities in Germany.
The outlook for the second half of the year makes Feldmann and Feda optimistic. This half-year result is a good starting point, they say, to perhaps once again exceed the 10 million overnight stays mark of the previous year.
