“The desire to travel returns” – positive travel intentions 2022

In December 2021 and January 2022, the BAT-FOUNDATION FOR FUTURE QUESTIONS commissioned the Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung (Society for Consumer Research) to survey 3,000 adults in Germany. Their travel behaviour in 2021 already shows a positive trend, which will continue in 2022. In the tourism analysis, 49 % said they had taken a private trip in 2021. This is 12 percentage points more than in 2020. For 2022, even more of the respondents plan to travel. 57% are sure to go on holiday in the next 12 months (see chart). Only 45 % had this expectation in the previous year.

The reasons of those who did not travel in 2021 also sound hopeful
52% gave the Corona pandemic as the reason for their reluctance. The second most frequently cited reason, their own finances, landed far behind at 25%. In view of decreasing Corona restrictions in Germany and most neighbouring countries, it is to be expected that many of the non-travellers will still decide to go on holiday in 2022. This is also underlined by the result that 23% of the respondents intend to decide on a trip in 2022 at short notice as well as depending on the pandemic development.

Destinations in 2022 – Germany remains in the lead, Mediterranean countries gain ground
Germany remains the top destination for German holidaymakers: 31% said they were planning a holiday in their own country in the next 12 months. This is only a slight decrease compared to the 34 % determined by the tourism analysis for 2021. Last year, German destinations were particularly popular due to pandemic-related uncertainty and international travel restrictions.

The new desire to travel is particularly evident in the boom of many southern and south-western European countries
According to the tourism analysis, 7.0% and 5.6% of those surveyed would like to travel to Spain and Italy in 2022. This is more than one-fifth more than in 2021, and Greece is up 39%. The number of respondents who want to go to France in 2022 even increases by half. The intentions to holiday in Austria, on the other hand, decrease slightly. This is possibly due to strict Corona rules in the previous months as well as the high proportion of winter holidays in Austria. The result may therefore still change positively. Croatia as an intended holiday destination does not show any increase in travel intentions. However, it should be noted that the tourism analysis does not distinguish between camping, holiday home or hotel holidays.

Camping should continue to gain popularity in 2022
About 88 % of the respondents in the Tourism Analysis 2022 say that Corona continues to strongly influence holiday decisions. For the camping industry, which in many places already boomed last year, this is again an advantage in our view. Similar to holidays in a holiday home, camping is one of the holiday forms where too close contact and thus risks of infection can be largely avoided. Many of ADAC Camping’s campsite partners are already reporting a good booking situation for the coming season.