Shortly after the end of the autumn holidays in North Rhine-Westphalia, it is worth taking a look back at the summer holiday months of July and August. Because: The current tourism figures from Information und Technik Nordrhein-Westfalen (IT.NRW) for August show a very positive development for the Münsterland:
"In August 2022, we had a 22.05 per cent increase in overnight stays compared to 2019. That's a really good result and I'm particularly pleased for the accommodation businesses that had to suffer especially during the Corona peak period," says Michael Kösters, head of tourism at Münsterland e.V. "If you take the two summer holiday months together, our region records a 16.93 per cent increase compared to 2019." In figures: 877,080 overnight stays in July and August 2022 compare to 750,068 overnight stays for the corresponding period in 2019.
According to Kösters, the reasons for the pleasing growth are, in addition to a slight increase in overnight accommodation, a high level of resilience among establishments and also among guests. The trend towards German tourism also remains unbroken, he said.
"More than ever, people want to go on holiday after the restrictions caused by Corona, be outdoors, go cycling, combine a city holiday with a country holiday, attend events without a care in the world - and we benefit from that. Münsterland does much better in terms of percentage increases compared to other regions," says Kösters. Münsterland e.V. had also increasingly promoted the region as a travel destination through various marketing measures, for example through a new travel magazine or the campaigns "Schlosserlebnis trifft ... dich!" and "Dein MünsterLand Moment". As part of the EU's REACT initiative to mitigate the economic and social consequences of the Corona pandemic, another digital campaign entitled "Münsterland - experience the good" has been running since late summer.
Kösters says it is also impressive how quickly Münsterland has recovered. "After a sharp slump in 2020 and only a slight increase in 2021, today we see a much faster recovery, at least in the figures, than many had expected. However, this only applies to leisure tourism. Business tourism continues to be severely weakened. In addition, there are of course current uncertainties for all travellers and businesses, such as the shortage of skilled workers, the energy crisis, inflation and still Corona. From a tourism perspective, therefore, looking ahead to the winter months is still rather fraught with question marks."
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