Excerpt from Booking.com
New research shows how each European country faces its unique mix of challenges as they look to hasten the tourism sector recovery.
Tourists are back on the move in Europe. After struggling to stay afloat throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the European tourism industry is finally in recovery mode, with many local accommodation providers enjoying a more prosperous 2022 than previous years. Many are also expecting further growth in 2023.
Rising energy costs and ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty are two of the biggest concerns shared by businesses across Europe.
But, despite their optimism, hoteliers remain cautious of the road ahead. Rising energy costs and ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty are two of the biggest concerns shared by businesses across Europe. Yet every country has its own set of conditions and challenges, meaning there are no one-size-fits-all policy solutions which can be applied across the EU in response.
Germany
Europe’s largest economy was generally in line with its EU counterparts, with more than half (54%) of businesses reporting that they are currently in a very good state. Looking forward, however, they took a more cautious view, planning to invest in their businesses 11 percentage points less than the European average.
There are several factors which might explain their wariness. Energy costs were by far the most urgent concern, cited by 88% of respondents and 8 percentage points higher than the average. This is most likely because Germany — by far Europe’s biggest importer of Russian natural gas — has been hit harder than most by the ongoing energy crisis brought on by the invasion of Ukraine. Hoteliers’ heating bills are high and they face a range of measures restricting their energy use, as the government looks to wean itself off Russian gas supplies.
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