The German city of Leipzig announced tourism statistics for 2019. It has been another record-breaking year in a row for the tourism industry in Leipzig.
Leipzig’s 1.5 square kilometer city center is the most compact city center in Europe, making it perfect for an extensive shopping stroll without getting sore feet. Listed as one of the 52 Places to Go by New York Times, Leipzig registered 1.929.694 arrivals (+5.1 per cent) and 3.602.857 overnight stays (+6.7 per cent) last year. These numbers conclude the successful decade Leipzig has witnessed since 2010.
The largest growth was generated among German travelers. In comparison to 2018, overnight stays from Germany increased by 8.3 percent reaching 3.070.287 in 2019. With a total of 1.670.046, arrivals performed equally gratifying topping the 2018 figures by 6.6 percent. This counts for roughly 85 percent of all overnights. Most visited were the months of June (295.000 overnights) and October (293.862 overnights).
The top 10 international markets (in terms of overnights) were:
- United States: 47.159 (- 4.4%)
- Austria: 38.790 (- 5.5%)
- Switzerland: 38.315 (- 8.0%)
- Netherlands: 37.438 (+ 0.1%)
- United Kingdom: 35.996 (- 11.7%)
- Poland: 33.860 (+ 8.4%)
- Italy: 20.407 (+ 13.4%)
- Russia: 19.836 (- 10,4%)
- Czech Republic: 18.932 (+ 27.5%)
- France: 16.523 (- 3.2%)
Despite a slight decrease of -1.8 percent in international overnights compared to 2018, the five-year development (2015-2019) shows a double-digit growth of 25.3 percent. The summer months of June (59.909), July (59.295) and August (53.807) performed best in 2019.
Volker Bremer, CEO of Leipzig Tourism and Marketing (LTM) GmbH, is delighted about the new guest record: “Our extensive marketing activities in Germany and abroad, as well as Leipzig’s cultural institutions like the Gewandhausorchester, Leipzig Opera, St. Thomas Boys Choir and the many diverse museums have played a major role in attracting more guests once again. We will continue to rely on the successful cooperation with the Leipzig Fair (Leipziger Messe GmbH) and the congress initiative ‘do-it-at-leipzig.de’.“
Taken the 2.1 million overnight stays in the region into account, the destination LEIPZIG REGION reached a total of 5.7 million overnights in 2019, which is a share of 27.6 per cent in Saxony. With a plus of 4.7 per cent among hotel beds in 2019 (19.823 as of 12/2019), the positive trend is also visible in the accommodation sector. On average, visitors spent 1.9 days in the city contributing to an occupancy rate of 67.2 per cent (hotels with 25 ≤ rooms).
Volker Bremer is optimistic for the future: “City trips are still trending in Germany and Leipzig is an up-and-coming destination. Besides, being located only a one-hour train ride away from Berlin and the capital’s global flight connections, Leipzig is easily reachable. The recent ranking on the prestigious New York Times “52 Places to Go” list is a great example of the city’s reputation. We are working to expand this positive image by intensifying PR, creative project co-operation as well as maintaining our close cooperation with the German National Tourist Board (GNTB). We therefore expect further growth in 2020 and 2021. From 2022, we seek to reach 4 million.”
