DERTOUR has once again analysed the booking and travel behaviour of its guests, evaluating the winter months of November 2023 to the end of February 2024 in comparison to the same period in the previous year (November 2022 to 1 March 2023). "Characteristic of the past winter is the significant growth in guest numbers compared to the previous year: with an increase of 22%, the total number of travellers rose by more than a fifth. This is immense and makes us extremely optimistic for the coming winter season," explains Sven Schikarsky, Head of Product at DERTOUR and its sister brands ITS and Meiers Weltreisen.

The main drivers of this development were long-haul holidays, which achieved a 33% increase in customer numbers. Demand for medium-haul holidays grew by 20% and short-haul holidays by 11%. In the winter months, almost as many travellers opted for a holiday on medium-haul routes as on long-haul routes. "You could say that Turkey was just as popular as Thailand," says Schikarsky.

Meanwhile, the trend towards earlier bookings, which has been ongoing since the beginning of 2023, continued last winter: the average advance booking period increased by three weeks to three months. "While short-term business for the summer is currently still extremely strong due to the market situation, winter bookings are already off to a very good start. Based on the advance bookings, we expect booking demand for winter holidays to reach an initial peak in August."

Positive forecast for the coming winter
The current booking data underpins the positive forecast: DERTOUR tour operators are currently recording an overall increase in customer numbers of 76% for the coming winter. This is due in particular to rising demand for the Eastern Mediterranean including Egypt (+103%) and long-haul holidays (+76%). Demand for the coming winter is already showing the influence of the changed market: "Demand is currently rising most strongly for Tunisia, Turkey, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates. We are seeing the first signs of a shift in guest volumes and are registering high demand among new customers," observes Schikarsky. In recent years, the DERTOUR Group has already steadily expanded its contingents in the most important Sun & Beach destinations on medium and long-haul routes. "In view of the changed market situation, we are once again significantly strengthening our commitment in these regions, particularly in Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. Our long-standing and trusting partnerships in these destinations are helping us in this endeavour," explains Schikarsky.

Long-haul beach holidays significantly longer
In terms of holiday duration, long-haul beach holidays in particular increased: in winter 2023/24, they lasted an average of 13 days, around 3 days longer than in the previous year (9.7). The duration of beach holidays on medium-haul routes remained fairly constant at around 11 days (10.9) per year. Meanwhile, the duration of skiing holidays fell, dropping by around 2 days from an average of 6 days in winter 2022/23 to just under 4 days (3.8) last winter.

The most popular holiday destinations in winter 2023/24
Papagayo beach on Lanzarote © Getty Images, MikeMareen Spain - where the Canary Islands are traditionally particularly popular in winter - and Germany, which was particularly popular as a wellness destination and for skiing, remain in first and second place among the most popular winter destinations on short and medium-haul routes. Turkey follows in third place, relegating Egypt to fourth place and recording the strongest growth among the top 5 short and medium-haul destinations last winter with an increase of 50%. "One of the main reasons for the high demand was Turkey's usual excellent price-performance ratio. Thanks to the extension of the season in recent years, Turkey has now firmly established itself as a winter destination," says Sven Schikarsky, Head of Product at DERTOUR and its sister brands ITS and Meiers Weltreisen. Poland remains in 5th place on the popularity scale. As in Germany, wellness holidays play an important role for the destination in winter.

Ait Benhaddou - city in Morocco, © Getty Images, Starcevic The shooting stars on short and medium-haul routes with the largest increase in guests compared to the previous winter are Morocco (+83%, from 13th to 12th place) and Norway (+79%, from 20th to 17th place). "Less established destinations are becoming more popular with holidaymakers. On the one hand, this is because travellers want to discover new things and, on the other, because more and more travellers are trying to avoid large travel flows," says Sven Schikarsky.

Thanks to a 60% increase in guests, Thailand displaced the Caribbean from first place to third place in the ranking of the most popular winter destinations, dropping two places despite a 23% increase in guests. The Indian Ocean recorded an increase of 34% and held 2nd place. The positions of the United Arab Emirates and North America also remained unchanged: the UAE maintained 4th place with 9% more guests and North America defended 5th place, but lost guests to other destinations (-5%).

Sri Lanka experienced the biggest boom in demand among long-haul destinations last winter: with more than eight times as many guests as in the previous winter (+ 763%), the holiday destination moved up from 17th to 7th place. The popular round trip destination - a quarter of all Sri Lankan guests went on a round trip - really took off again last winter after a travel warning was in place until autumn 2022. Demand more than doubled for both Vietnam (+118%, still in 9th place), which is the third most popular round trip destination, and Brazil (+106%, 22nd to 19th place).

Top round trip destinations

Mayan ruins of Tulum, Mexico, © Getty Images, SL_Photography Round trips experienced an extremely strong surge in demand last winter. Compared to the previous year, the number of round trip bookings grew by 74%.

The Caribbean tops the popularity rankings for round trip destinations. In the region, Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba are the main drivers of demand for round trips. The classic round trip destination Thailand recorded a significant increase in the number of travellers and holds second place. Vietnam is booming as a round trip destination: the country has doubled its share of round trips, with more than one in three stays last winter being a round trip. In East Africa, Kenya and Tanzania are the most important destinations, in Southern Africa it is South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.

In the other places in the round trip ranking, Sri Lanka (6th place), New Zealand (11th place), Norway (8th place) and Costa Rica (7th place) stand out due to a particularly strong increase in demand.

"As the market leader for round trips, we have almost 2,000 round trips near and far in the programme of our DERTOUR tour operators. The top 10 most popular round trips reflect the diversity of holiday wishes. They are a colourful mix of sun, culture and snow destinations," says Schikarsky.

Top 5 wellness destinations

© Getty Images, Oliver Hasselluhn Alongside round trips, wellness is an important holiday motif in the cold season. Last winter, demand for wellness holidays rose sharply, as shown by an overall increase in guests of + 61 %.

The top 5 ranking of the most popular wellness destinations has changed significantly compared to the previous winter and presents a mixture of classics and rising stars. Germany and Poland remain unchanged in first and second place. Portugal and Spain recorded the strongest guest growth among the wellness destinations thanks to an expanded wellness programme. Portugal moved up from 7th place to the top 5 and - together with Spain (5th to 4th place) - pushed the Czech Republic from 3rd to 5th place and Austria from 4th to 6th place. "When deciding on a wellness holiday, many holidaymakers were more interested in sunshine and mild temperatures than a particularly good price-performance ratio," notes Schikarsky.

Consistency in hotel categories, catering and booking channels

The trends in hotel categories, catering and booking channels have stabilised compared to the previous winter. Last winter, 81% of guests chose a four- or five-star hotel (vs. 82% in winter 2022/23). The most popular catering option remained all-inclusive with an unchanged share of 40%, followed by breakfast with a share of 38% and a slight increase of 2 percentage points and half-board with a share of 20% and a slight decrease of 2 percentage points.

Travel agencies remained the most important booking channel: Two thirds of trips were booked with travel experts in over-the-counter sales departments. The online share remained unchanged at one third. "The number of travel agency bookings even increased slightly compared to the previous year. Our data also shows that guest satisfaction is highest for holidays booked through brick-and-mortar sales departments. We can see that: Advice from travel experts ensures that guests' holiday wishes are fulfilled in the best possible way," says Schikarsky.