After exceptional results in April (6.4 percent plus), German camping sites and lodging establishments with nine or more beds saw overnight stays drop by 3 percent this May in year-to-year comparison, according to preliminary results provided by the Federal Statistical Office. Smaller communities with populations of less than 100,000 were most strongly affected, while overnight stays in major cities remained nearly unchanged.

A total of 108.3 million stays by German nationals were reported for the first five months, translating to a cumulative minus of two percent compared to the preceding year. This decline in domestic tourism was in part caused by the arrangement of holiday dates: Both Pentecost and Corpus Christi, a legal holiday in many federal states, fell on June this year.

“Taking that into account, tourism in Germany is doing well on the whole, despite the crisis. We see further opportunities in June with the upcoming holidays and the start of the summer season: The German Travel Association has already noted a healthy demand for German destinations among its members prior to the holidays,” said Ernst Hinsken, Federal Commissioner for Tourism.

With five million overnight stays from foreign visitors, German incoming was around four percent behind the results of the preceding year, reducing the overall minus for the running year to six percent, down from seven percent in April. “The slowing decline in overnight stays from foreign visitors is a very positive signal. It may be too early to speak of a trend reversal, but we can see that our global ‘Affordable Hospitality’ campaign is bearing fruit,” adds Petra Hedorfer, Chairwoman of the Board, German National Tourist Board.

The favorable performance of the major cities is a good sign for business travel to Germany. These cities were hit especially hard by the crisis, leading the German Travel Management Association (VDR) to expect many companies to either reduce budgets for or completely do without business trips in the future.