Germany
Germany
Travellers from Germany made 116.6 million outbound visits in 2023, with a total international tourism expenditure of US$111.9 billion.
In 2023, the UK welcomed 3.0 million visits from Germany. During the travellers’ visits, their total expenditure was a record £1.8 billion, with an average spend of £619 per person.
Discover visitor behaviour, travel trade insights, detailed data visualisations for this market – and more. The statistics in this market report are collated from a range of sources such as the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as well as sponsored questions and our own research. For further details, see How we source this information.
Visitor characteristics
- Business visitors from Germany are more than three times as likely to be male than female.
- More than three-in-five holiday visitors are making a repeat visit to Britain (excluding British expats, within ten years).
- Virtually all holiday and business visitors are German nationals, but 20% of visiting friends and relatives (VFR) visitors are British nationals.
- 96% of departing Germans are either ‘likely’ or ‘extremely’ likely to recommend a visit to Britain.
Popular activities for this market
Dining in a restaurant.
Sightseeing of famous buildings/monuments.
Going shopping.
Explore the inbound data in full
Use our visualisations to see data from this market in greater depth and clarity. Compare annual statistics, and filter by age group, gender, trip duration and more. It includes seasonality, trip purpose and regional spread of visitors to UK destinations. These data are based on the International Passenger Survey, conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Perceptions of Britain in the German market
- Germans rate the UK highly for contemporary culture, culture in general, sports, vibrant cities, historic buildings and cultural heritage, but less so for scenic natural beauty and welcome. They rated the UK 37th out of 60 nations on each of these two attributes in 2023.
- Music, museums and films are the cultural products or services most strongly associated with the UK among Germans (2022).
- A trip to the UK would be expected to be ‘exciting’, ‘educational’, and ‘fascinating’.
- Australia, and to a lesser extent the USA, are the destinations that Germans consider the ‘best place’ for delivering the things they most want from a holiday destination.
- Areas of strength for Britain include being somewhere to see ‘famous sites’ and for ‘lots of history’, while very few consider Britain is the ‘best place’ for ‘food and drink’.
- Activities that appeal to potential visitors from Germany include ‘driving through the countryside in England’, ‘visiting Madame Tussauds’, ‘spotting wildlife in the Scottish Highlands’, ‘sharing stories over a pint with locals in a cosy rural pub’ and ‘going hiking on the South West coast’.
Global context
Top-level statistics relating to the population, GDP, tourism expenditure and popular destinations for this market. For greater detail on inbound tourism flows from this market to the UK, see our data visualisations.
| Measure | 2023 |
| International tourism expenditure (US$bn) | 111.9 |
| Global rank for international tourism expenditure | 3 |
| Number of outbound overnight visits (m) | 116.6 |
| Most visited destination | Austria |
Key demographic and economic data
| Measure | 2023 |
| Population (m) | 84 |
| GDP per capita PPP (US$) | 65,587 |
| Annual average GDP growth over past decade (%) | 1.1 |
| Annual GDP growth (%) | 0.0 |
Caring for visitors
- Very few German visitors expect their British hosts to speak German. The majority of younger Germans speak English.
- German visitors are likely to have planned their itinerary in detail, but younger visitors may be more spontaneous. However, all welcome local recommendations for things to do and see.
- Germans often try to find accommodation that has ‘character’.
- German vegetarians are often impressed by the range of choices on offer in Britain.
The leisure and travel trade
- The German travel market is very mature. There are a few big players dominating the market, but also a fair number of small specialist operators with comprehensive Britain programmes.
- In Germany, retail agencies are more important than in other European countries, but they are increasingly facing competition from online travel portals.
- Large tour operators research their main season programmes between April and June, with off-season and city break operators doing their research in March and April.
Access to Britain from Germany
The key routes and transport modes that connect this market with the UK.
| Measure | 2023 |
| Weekly aircraft departures | 847 |
| Weekly seat capacity | 135,313 |
| Airports with direct routes in Germany | 18 |
| Airports with direct routes in Britain | 18 |
- 78% of German visits are made by plane, 17% came via sea and 5% through the Channel Tunnel.
- In 2023 there were an average of 847 weekly departures, with an average seat capacity of 135,313.
- 18 German airports have access to 18 British airports.
- Following the COVID-19 pandemic, scheduled seat capacity on non-stop flights from Germany to the UK has recovered to 76% of 2019 levels in 2023.
- German visitors flying home from Britain pay £13 in Air Passenger Duty.
Further resources
Germany Market Snapshot.pdf
Germany Market Snapshot
Germany Market Profile
Direct transport links and sustainability are particularly important to German bookers.
Germany Aviation Profile
Germany Aviation Profile
Germany COVID-19 Travel Sentiment
Germany COVID-19 Travel Sentiment
Where visitors from Germany to the UK reside in their own country.xlsx
Where visitors from Germany to the UK reside in their own country
Perceived barriers to exploring Britain beyond London for Germans
Perceived barriers to exploring Britain beyond London for Germans
The role of culture and heritage for German visitors
The role of culture and heritage for German visitors
How we source this information
We work with a number of data sources to provide a rich and insightful picture of our key inbound source markets. This includes, but is not limited to, data provided by Oxford Economics, the UNWTO, Apex, Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index and from our own surveys and ad-hoc research. The largest share of these data comes from the International Passenger Survey (IPS) by the ONS.
Visit our About the International Passenger Survey page for more information on how this data is collected and analysed.
