If you want to fly south spontaneously in the summer vacation, you have to dig deep into your pocket. For ten days, at least 2000 euros are due for a family of four. At the Berger travel agency in Frankfurt, boss Anke Dannesberger simulates the spontaneous vacation request at the request of the FAZ. Two adults and two children, six and ten years old, want to find a cheap trip for the holidays in July. Ten days from the second or third week of vacation. Beach location would be nice, the airport transfer would be happy to be included.
A little later, the computer shows a few results: The cheapest offer is a hotel in Side in Turkey. 2000 euros, but only including breakfast. The second cheapest is one on rhodes, 2100 euros, without catering. Then follows Egypt, 2200 euros, but with all-inclusive catering. “But the hotel is not so great. We don't like to sell that, the customer is not satisfied in the end,” says Dannesberger.
The time of the last minute hot tips, right now at the holiday season, is long gone, says the travel agency manager, who has been sending holidaymakers into the distance at Berger Strasse for more than 30 years. “There is nothing more cheap now.” Most of the customers book their trips long in advance, some as early as summer or autumn of the previous year. “The prices are simply the cheapest.”
Last minute prices do not arrive against early book prices
According to Matthias Schäfermeyer, holidaymakers should not hope for a last-minute bargain, who runs a travel agency in Hanau together with his mother. “It just doesn't work on vacation, but only if hotels and organizers have too much of their goods and want to get rid of them.”
He also advises to plan and book vacation as early as possible, especially when they fall into the holiday season. Against early bird prices, large discounts on last-minute offers would not be due. “You can only get it if it was so expensive before that nobody booked the trip.” But the prices are not low for early bookers either. “The overall price level is high at the moment.”
Both travel agency managers confirm popular destinations: Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, a little Turkey, Greece and Egypt. All of this as a package tour, because customers are happy to be secured and wanted to take care of as little as possible, says Dannesberger.
This is also confirmed by Torsten Schäfer from the German Travel Association (DRV). According to numbers from the association, the flat-rate and building new travel increased by seven percent last year. Almost half of the over 83 billion euros, which Germans spent on their vacations, were on package tours. Booking earlier. “Booking early is the new last minute,” says Schäfer.
It is particularly striking for Dannesberger that fewer and fewer customers want to go on vacation in the United States. As the cause, it suspects the political situation there. “We totally notice that.” A customer recently wanted to fly to South America. “But he didn't want to change in the United States. I then sent it via Canada.”
Schäfermeyer also notices the decline. For him, however, the policy of Trump administration is not to blame, but simply the price. “Travel to the USA gets less because they are expensive,” he says. Hotels and restaurants there are more on vacationers to the cash register than in other countries. The result of the demand for demand: flights over the Atlantic are currently cheap. “Two days ago I created an offer: New York, return flight with luggage, direct flight, 650 euros with a well-known airline.”
Are becoming increasingly popular in Hessian travel agencies and also nationwide river ship trips. For example, people got in Frankfurt and lead over the Main and the Rhine towards the Netherlands, says Dannesberger. Cruises are also very popular. According to the DRV figures, 3.8 million people went on vacation on a river or right-hand cruise last year. A new record.
In order to save money, Schäfer from the DRV, after the cheapest, does not recommend looking at the next airport. In addition, departure days during the week are often cheaper than on Friday or Saturday. Likewise, the wallet could protect not to book exactly seven or 14 days, but to play something with a long time. Flexibility in the goal, accommodation and travel date also help.
Schäfermeyer also advises to go on vacation outside of the holiday season if possible. Best in November. “This is the best time to take bargain.”