In 2024, guests from both domestic and international destinations booked a total of 60.4 million overnight stays in holiday apartments and houses in Germany through the four major online platforms, Airbnb, Booking, TripAdvisor and Expedia. This represents a 22.6% increase in overnight stays compared to 2023, according to the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), which announced the figures on Wednesday. The pre-COVID level of 2019 was significantly surpassed in 2024, with domestic and international guests booking a total of 37.2 million overnight stays through the platforms. In comparison, the numbers in 2024 were 62.3% higher.
The number of overnight stays booked through the four online platforms by domestic guests increased significantly by 23.6% in 2024 compared to 2023, reaching 42.1 million. The growth in overnight stays by foreign guests was slightly lower, increasing by 20.3% compared to the previous year to 18.4 million.
The pre-COVID level for cross-border tourism in holiday apartments and houses in Germany was also surpassed in 2024, with the number of overnight stays by foreign guests being 33.8% higher than in 2019. The number of overnight stays by domestic guests was even 78.9% higher than before the pandemic.
The most overnight stays by foreign guests in 2024, as in the previous year, were booked by guests from the Netherlands with 2.6 million stays, followed by Poland with 1.8 million stays and the United States with 1.4 million stays on the third place. The top 5 countries of origin in 2024 were completed by France with 1.3 million stays and Switzerland with 1.0 million stays, as in the previous year.
The most overnight stays were booked in Bavaria through the four online platforms in 2024, with a total of 9.2 million stays, representing 15.2% of all stays. The following states in order of the most stays were Baden-Württemberg with 7.2 million, North Rhine-Westphalia with 7.1 million and Lower Saxony with 6.8 million stays.
When looking at the distribution of domestic and foreign guests across the states, some differences can be seen. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, 92.9% of stays were booked by domestic guests, followed by Schleswig-Holstein with 88.2% and Lower Saxony with 82.8%. On the other hand, in Berlin, 70.4% of all stays were booked by foreign guests, followed by North Rhine-Westphalia with 44.8% and Baden-Württemberg with 41.8%.
The platform data complement the overnight stay numbers for holiday accommodations from the official tourism statistics, as they mainly represent bookings from smaller providers: Around 95% of the overnight stays booked through the four online platforms were in holiday apartments or houses offered by accommodations with a total of less than 10 beds, according to the federal agency. These are often offered by private landlords who rent out their accommodations as a secondary business.
On the other hand, the official monthly survey in tourism only captures overnight stays in accommodations with at least 10 beds. The official tourism statistics indicate 96.8 million overnight stays in 2024. Of the 60.4 million overnight stays booked through the platforms, 95% or 57.2 million were not captured in the tourism statistics and thus complement the picture of this type of accommodation.