Tourists visit the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
© dpa
Tourists have been returning to Berlin in large numbers since the end of the Corona pandemic. In the first half of this year, around 5.7 million people visited the capital, as the tourism company VisitBerlin announced on Thursday, based on figures from the Office of Statistics.
This was an increase of more than 30 percent compared to the same period last year. Overnight stays rose by almost 24 per cent to 13.8 million in the first six months. This means that tourism has reached 86 percent of its pre-crisis level, Economy Senator Franziska Giffey (SPD) said on Thursday. "We can speak here of a comeback of the tourism and also the congress and event industry."
As in the previous year, the majority of tourists in the first six months came from Germany. Just under 39 percent of all visitors came from abroad, most of them from other European countries. Only about 10.5 percent of tourists came from overseas, especially from the USA. Giffey emphasised that the main reason for this low percentage was that there were too few long-distance connections to and from Berlin. "We need more long-haul connections, especially to the Asian region." This is particularly important in view of the reviving trade fair and congress business, emphasised VisitBerlin boss Burkhard Kieker. In general, around 40 percent of all tourists come to Berlin for congresses, trade fairs and events. Good connections are important here.
Most foreign tourists came from Great Britain and the USA in the first half of the year. The number of British visitors increased by almost 58 percent compared to the previous year, VisitBerlin reported. There was also a strong increase in demand from Poland. Here, the number of tourists increased by almost half. Overall, Berlin's hospitality industry had come through the crisis well, thanks in part to the state's Corona aid, and was now taking off again, Giffey said. The task now is to stabilise the trend and make Berlin's tourism more crisis-proof.