Germans Book Last-Minute Vacations at Record Pace as Job Outlook Improves

Germans are booking up last-minute breaks at a faster pace this summer as improved consumer confidence and falling prices tempt more holidaymakers.

Some 14.4 percent of German holidays taken in June were booked four weeks or less before departure, an increase of 0.3 percentage points from the same month in 2009, according to figures collected by research firm GfK SE.

“Germans are booking later than ever before,” said Nina Meyer, a spokeswoman for L’TUR Tourismus AG, Europe’s largest last-minute-travel organizer. L’TUR’s package-tour sales are ahead of last year and the company aims to sell 1 million journeys for the year, up from 2009’s record 832,000, which produced revenue of 360 million euros ($464 million), she said.

More than a quarter of Germans book their vacations less than four weeks before departure, betting on cheaper prices, GfK said. This year, a larger proportion are doing so, according to the DRV travel association, as price comparison websites allow customers to search for the best deals. German unemployment fell for a 12th month in June as the economy stabilized, giving consumers increased confidence to make purchases.

Sales at 5vorFlug, a smaller competitor of L’TUR, jumped 60 percent in the first two weeks of July, compared with the year- earlier period, according to director Lamia Azimi.

Customers who booked their holiday in June paid an average of 57.30 euros per night, less than the 64.25 euros paid by those who booked earlier through a standard catalog, according to GfK. Both prices were lower than a year ago, GfK data shows.

Cheaper Vacations

Package tours sold in Germany are on average as much as 8 percent cheaper this year than in 2009, DRV spokesman Torsten Schaefer said. Early bookings, six months or more before departure, also rose as tour operators cut prices, he said.

Customers of Baden-Baden-based L’TUR, which is 75 percent owned by TUI Travel Plc, get an average 30 percent to 50 percent discount on catalog prices, according to Meyer.

“Early bookings are not part of many customers’ reality of life any more as the future has become less predictable,” Meyer said. The ash plume from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano as well as riots in Greece and Thailand also put some vacationers off making bookings earlier in the year, she said.

“People are anxious early in the year whether they will still have their job in summer to pay for a holiday trip,” said Klaus Kraenzle, an analyst at GSC Research in Dusseldorf.

Websites such as tripadvisor.com and holidaycheck.de give customers more transparency to find the best price, he said.

U.K.

“To get the best deal, consumers are spending more time online and that’s reducing the time between booking and travel,” said Caroline Bremner, global travel and tourism manager at Euromonitor International in London.

The increased incidence of late bookings isn’t restricted to Germany. In the U.K., more holidaymakers are booking at the last minute this year after a rise in the value of the pound against the euro made the prospect of going to mainland Europe more affordable, said Clare Banham, a spokeswoman for Abta, the country’s association of travel agencies and tour operators.

“Late bookers don’t want to have the cheapest trip possible, but they want to get the best value for money ratio,” L’TUR’s Meyer said. The company’s package tours to Greece are about 15 percent cheaper this year than in 2009, she said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Holger Elfes in Frankfurt at helfes@bloomberg.net.

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