By Elias Sedlmayr
For many Germans, summer holidays abroad can hardly be paid for anymore. In popular holiday regions, the prices for summer holidays have gone up by up to 39 percent compared to the previous year! And: Whether beaches, mountains or campsites – popular regions are not only expensive in the high season, they are also full!
Is there only one thing that helps – namely to postpone the long holidays? At a time when vacation areas are emptier and travel is becoming cheaper?
Yes, say the first traffic light politicians!
“Of course, making the holiday season more flexible is also a debate that we as tourism politicians will have,” announces tourism expert Nico Tippelt (56, FDP) in BILD. “Especially in the main holiday season, young families have to cope with enormous price increases. On the other hand, making vacation times more flexible would be an instrument to be able to lower prices.”
Promotes more flexible vacation times: FDP tourism expert Nico Tippelt (56) (archive photo) Photo: picture alliance / photothek | Felix Zahn
The holiday resorts as such would also be relieved, “because not everyone goes on holiday in the same place at the same time,” continued the FDP chairman in the German Bundestag’s tourism committee.
Package tours in the high season are up to 36 percent more expensive
Exclusive figures from the comparison portal Check24 for BILD prove that tour operators take full advantage of the high demand in the high season, charging up to 36 percent more for package tours at popular travel destinations than in the off-season.
| REGION | AVERAGE DAILY PRICE MAY 2023 | AVERAGE DAILY PRICE JULY 2023 | PRICE SURCHARGE IN EURO | PRICE SURCHARGE IN PERCENTAGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Side & Alanya (Türkiye) | 95.25 euros | 129.90 euros | 34.65 euros | + 36 percent |
| Antalya & Belek (Türkiye) | 118.75 euros | 159.27 euros | 40.52 euros | + 34 percent |
| Majorca (Spain) | 105.05 euros | 135.19 euros | 30.14 euros | + 29 percent |
| Crete (Greece) | 121.91 euros | 150.05 euros | 28.14 euros | + 23 percent |
“It certainly makes sense to think about and debate about better distributing the vacation and holiday periods throughout the year,” says tourism expert Reginald Hanke (66, FDP). This would allow families with children in particular to make better use of the opportunity “to travel in the off-season and thus save money”.
Hanke cites further arguments: “A side effect would be that traffic jams would be avoided and trains would be relieved. As the summers get warmer, that would be another reason to make vacation times more flexible. Not all families want to vacation in high temperatures in July and August.”
The initiative is not entirely out of thin air: the summer holidays are ending today on the North Sea islands of Amrum, Föhr, Helgoland, Sylt and the Halligen – ie a week earlier than in the rest of Schleswig-Holstein. Accordingly, the autumn holidays start a week earlier on the islands.
And: In many formerly rural federal states (including Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg), the summer holidays traditionally start later and last until autumn. Historical reason: The school children were needed as harvest helpers.