Another difficult year is coming to an end for many hoteliers and restaurateurs, and most are looking to 2023 with some concern. But there is also good news from MV.
Rostock (dpa/mv) – Increased energy prices, high inflation and major staff shortages continue to dampen the mood in the tourism industry in the five northern German federal states. In retrospect, the year in the north-east was not so bad for the industry if you look at the number of overnight stays. Nevertheless, the general economic expectations are rather meager, as a survey by the North German Chambers of Industry and Commerce – IHK Nord reveals.
In the hospitality industry, the economic climate index, which ranges from 0 to 200, fell from 139 to 84 points compared to the previous year. The travel economy is also at 84 points. “Energy costs, labor costs and staff shortages as well as declining willingness to consume and demand make companies look to the winter with concern,” said IHK North Chairman Norbert Aust on Thursday.
In the survey, companies were asked about the economic situation in tourism over the past six months. Around 900 companies from the north took part in the survey in October 2022. The future prospects in particular worried the companies.
According to the survey, more than every second company expects a less favorable business situation for the winter season, only 6.6 percent expect an improvement. The summer went well: 52.9 percent of the companies in the hospitality industry described the last season as good, 37.9 percent as satisfactory and only 9.2 percent as bad.
According to IHK Nord, 89.8 percent of the participating companies see energy, food and raw material prices as the greatest risk for economic development. The second and third place of business risks is taken by the issue of human resources: 71 percent of the companies see a lack of workers as a risk, labor costs stated 68.3 percent.
The tourism association Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (TMV) expects around 32 million overnight stays in the official statistics of the holiday country by the end of 2022. That would be an increase of more than 20 percent compared to the previous year, which, however, was characterized by restrictions on travel behavior due to the lockdown until June.
“It felt different due to the many hardships. But if the forecast were to be confirmed, 2022 would be the second best year for tourism. Only in 2019 were more overnight stays counted between the Baltic Sea coast and the lake district,” said association manager Tobias Woitendorf last week. Compared to the peak year of 2019, MV is 6.3 percent (January to September) below the overnight stays at that time.
The Western Pomerania Tourism Association looked back positively on 2022 for “mainland tourism” on Thursday. The utilization of bed capacities is slowly recovering from the Corona effects. The number of overnight stays has grown by around 3.3 percent compared to the previous year. However, that is still 9.5 percent less than in the pre-Corona year 2019.
