Germans take off for Asia this Easter

Wednesday, 27 February 2019 00:44 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Region benefits from increased summer seat capacity

Hong Kong and China are the best-growing intercontinental destinations for Germans taking an Easter break this year. Flight bookings are ahead of 2018, and increased seat capacity this summer could help sustain the trend, according to latest findings from ForwardKeys, which predicts future travel patterns by analysing 17 million booking transactions a day.

ForwardKeys VP Insights Olivier Ponti

Overall, intercontinental bookings from Germany are currently ahead 2.7% for the Easter holiday period, compared to last year.

According to the ForwardKeys figures, Hong Kong bookings are showing a 31.4% jump on 2018, and China 30.9%. Other favoured destinations are the USA, ahead 20.6%, and Morocco, ahead 20.0%.

Whilst Thailand is not quite showing the strongest growth, it does seem to be far and away the most aspirational long-haul Easter holiday; as over 40% of all German internet flight searches for travel to Asian destinations include Thailand.

This summer, the Asia Pacific region will benefit most from increased intercontinental scheduled seat capacity from Germany. Between May and October, it’s up 4.1% for the region, which has a 5% market share. The total international capacity increase from Germany is 0.7% on last year. Capacity of flights to other European destinations, with an 82% market share, is up 0.4%.

Intercontinental destinations with the largest growth in scheduled flight capacity from Germany between May and October, are Qatar, up 18.2%; Thailand up 12.9% and Hong Kong up 10.0%.

The collapse of the German holiday airline, Germania, earlier this month (February), has had an impact on some destinations, but others are proving to be resilient.

Among those once served by Germania, but still showing capacity growth for this summer, are Serbia up 5.9%; Egypt 0.2% and Turkey 7.3%.

ForwardKeys VP Insights Olivier Ponti commented: “Despite very serious turbulence in the German airline industry, it’s encouraging to see air capacity still growing overall, particularly as capacity increases are a sign of economic confidence. Over the Easter holidays, Hong Kong and China look set to do particularly well from German visitors.”