10 Organised travel grows faster GERMAN AIRLINES CAPACITY CUTS FOR ALGARVE The Algarve, the top holiday destination in Portugal for Germans, is seeing capacity cuts as Condor withdraws and TUIfly scales back. Eurowings, however, is adding seats. Condor cites the financial viability of these routes as the key driver behind its withdrawal while TUI points to demand-driven planning to explain its decisions. In contrast, Eurowings is expanding its services significantly with more flights from Berlin, Stuttgart and Cologne/Bonn to Faro. Hall 1.1/200c TOUR OPERATORS Higher sales of cruises, long-haul trips and all-inclusive holidays drove growth, the latest fvw TravelTalk dossier shows. K LAUS HILDEBRANDT ALGARVE TOURISM BUREAU In the 2024/25 tourism year (to 31 October), the 54 tour operators in the D-A-CH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) region covered in the annual fvw TravelTalk dossier increased their turnover by 6.2% to €31.5 billion. The growth rate was only slightly lower than the 6.6% increase seen in the previous year. Fewer flights: The Algarve suffers from capacity restrictions. INTERHOME ACQUISITION GOOD GROWTH FOR HOMETOGO Accommodation portal Hometogo has beaten its profits forecast for 2025 after the successful acqusition of Interhome from Hotelplan Group. On a statutory basis, including the consolidation of Interhome from 28 August 2025, Hometogo generated IFRS revenues of around €254 to €256 million (+20-21%). Adjusted EBITDA reached around €12 to €13 million, exceeding the forecast of around €11 million. Hometogo is now optimistic for further growth this year, not least thanks to synergy effects. The number of customers, on the other hand, is stagnating and is even still slightly below pre-pandemic levels. After a strong early booking phase, a slump in bookings set in for several months during last spring. This could only be compensated for by last-minute sales and then good autumn sales. In Germany, there are 162 tour operators with turnover of more than €10 million. These firms are legally obliged to cover customer payments with the German Travel Protection Fund (DRSF). With 54 tour operators, the dossier covers all leading players and is representative for air-based package holidays and cruises. It does not include packaged trips sold by portals such as Booking.com, Expedia, Lastminute.com/Weg.de or organised by travel agencies. According to the German Travel Association (DRV), the entire German travel and tourism market for all pre-booked holiday and leisure trips with at least one overnight stay grew by 5.6% to €87.9 billion in 2025. Trips booked through tour operators and travel agencies/OTAs grew disproportionately by 9.2% to €43.4 billion, which represents a 49.4% market share. Individually booked trips, mostly through portals and directly from suppliers, totalled €44.5 billion, which is a 50.6% market share. These figures continued the trend of the last few years when the gap between organised and individual trips had already narrowed. Since Covid, long-distance travel and cruises in particular have experienced an upswing. These forms of travel are booked more strongly than domestic holidays through tour operators, explained Christoph Zeh, responsible for travel and mobility at Yougov, which conducted the DRV survey. In particular, financial considerations favour tour operators. In view of the economic situation, people dont want any financial surprises on holiday, Zeh made clear. As in previous years, sales growth in 2024/25 resulted almost exclusively from higher prices. In particular, the trend towards allinclusive holidays and the high demand for long-haul travel and cruises are contributing to higher average prices, Zeh said. But families in particular are groaning under high prices. There is a growing proportion of households that simply cannot afford a holiday any longer, Zeh confirmed. The backbone of the market are best agers and consumers who accept higher prices because they do not want to miss out on their annual holiday. Among the segments, cruises once again stand out with strong growth, driven by new ships and higher rates. Specialist holidays and tours are also growing, and so is long-haul travel. The share of holidays (of five days or more) spent in overseas destinations went up by one percentage point to 8% in 2025. But the picture is mixed in terms of individual countries. The largest long-haul destination, the USA, is recording a Trump Slump in Germany. In contrast, destinations in Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean and the UAE remain very popular. With above-averge growth of 9.2%, the tour operator market is almost on par with individual trips. DAY 1 3 MARCH 2026 THE ITB NEWSPAPER 60TH ANNIVERSARY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ITB BERLIN! Suddenly under fire: Destinations such as Dubai used to be perceived as safe. PIX123.DE/DAVID VASICEK ITB Berlin is celebrating its 60th anniversary with new innovative formats. But there is also space for nost #fvwkongress All information can be found here! 15. / 16. SEPTEMBER 2026 PENTAHOTEL LEIPZIG Your Gateway to Global Travel Insight Join as Partner, Sponsor, or Attendee. Partner performed by 3 3 Dear ITB Visitor, ITB Berlin has been affected by the impacts of many international conflicts as well as natural catastrophes and not least a pandemic over the course of its 60 years. This year is no different. The attacks on Iran by the USA FVW MEDIEN/MAJ and Israel have already had many con 4 12:45 7.1A ORANGE STAGE JOSCHKA FISCHER ON GEOPOLITICS Amid the Middle East crisis, former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer discusses geopolitical shifts, the new world order and the implications for tourism. 15:35 7.1A ORANGE STAGE LEAD TOURISM INTO BALANCE Industry leaders discuss top 6 WEAK JANUARY BUT NO SLUMP German holiday bookings weakened in January against a strong previous year, the latest monthly figures from Travel Data + Analytics (TDA) showed. Although January is traditionally the strongest holiday sales month of the year, booked travel revenues for summer 2026 were 7 Germany, 42% plan to travel elsewhere in Europe, 20% to other continents, and 13% are still undecided. Within Europe, Spain continues to lead, followed by Italy, Scandinavia, Turkey, Greece, France, Austria, and Croatia. BAT SURVEY Germans are travelling more than they have in 20 years and tra 8 A step onto the big stage CONSUMER TRENDS AI TOOLS ENTER TRAVEL SEARCH More Germans are using AI tools to research travel but the technology does not play a significant role in booking travel yet, according to a survey by RTK, Germanys biggest travel agency cooperation. This found that 14% of r 9 Not only leisure travel OLIVER GRAUE The Business Lounge will be the meeting place for everyone involved in business travel on all days of the ITB. Travel managers can talk to industry colleagues here, as well as to the 18 exhibiting providers. On 3 and 4 March, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., the Home 10 Organised travel grows faster GERMAN AIRLINES CAPACITY CUTS FOR ALGARVE The Algarve, the top holiday destination in Portugal for Germans, is seeing capacity cuts as Condor withdraws and TUIfly scales back. Eurowings, however, is adding seats. Condor cites the financial viability of these route 11 The results show that Germans are still keen to travel in 2026, despite economic uncertainties. They want to travel but they want to plan well and focus clearly on value for money, safety and comfort. This is a good sign for suppliers at home and abroad, says Sören Hartmann, President of the Fe