Have you already decided where to go for the winter holidays? Want to spend Christmas warmly? Many people have already thought about it and booked their vacations. If you are not ready yet, here you can find all the information about the upcoming winter season. You can find discounts, trends, offers, and information on discounts to escape the cold.
When does the winter season start?
For hosts, it usually starts on November 1st. The Christmas, winter and Easter holidays fall in the winter season and usually last until the end of April. The summer tourist season starts again on May 1st.
How do travel prices change in winter?
There are places where there is no significant increase compared to the previous year, and even a decrease. Here is a summary of the survey conducted by the dpa thematic service targeting large-scale event organizers.
What is an early bird discount?
Depending on the country and time, there are still great discounts available if you book early. In Egypt in particular, organizers sometimes offer discounts of up to 50%. In other areas, the discounts are smaller.
According to Anex, anyone looking to save money by booking early can get the biggest discounts until the end of September, which is usually “the hotels here have different deadlines, so Alltours also designates the end of September as a discount date.” Up to 35%. If you book in October, you can still get up to 15%, after which the winter season discounts expire.
There is not always a booking deadline for the discount, Dertour points out. In some cases, the discount is applied at different times. For example, you may receive a discount by booking 30, 45, 60 or 90 days before departure.
The idea behind the discount: It’s good for the host if many people book their vacations as early as possible, because most of the flight and hotel allocations are purchased in advance, and early booking provides some level of planning security.
However, even though early bird discounts sound attractive, it is difficult to be transparent about how much you can actually save by doing so. That is why the advice is not always to be guided by percentages, but to compare travel prices coldly and make sure all the services you want are included, such as airport transfers to your hotel.
Dertour says it still has good availability everywhere for the winter months and offers a range of products to suit a variety of travel needs. “If you want to secure your dream hotel for the time period you want, we recommend booking as early as possible.”
When and where: What are the trends?
More and more holidaymakers are booking early again. Tui is seeing a strong early bird trend, which has resulted in double-digit bookings for Germany’s largest travel agency so far compared to the previous winter season. Alltours is also seeing double-digit growth. Dertour Group reported a 40% increase in total winter guests in early September compared to the previous year.
According to Dertour, the booking situation for the Easter holidays is also very positive, with most of them scheduled for April 2025. According to Germany’s second-largest airline, bookings for long-haul, short-haul and medium-haul routes have more than doubled on average compared to the previous year.
Of course, the collapse of FTI in early summer has had an impact on all this. Customers who may have previously booked with the now-insolvent operator are now looking for alternative suppliers for their trips, which is helping Tui, Alltours and Co grow. FTI’s air and hotel quotas are also being transferred to competitors.
Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt offer mild winters and are becoming increasingly popular year-round destinations, according to Dertour. In general, many sun destinations, such as Greece, tend to have longer seasons, starting earlier in spring and extending into late fall.
“We explicitly encourage the development of new destinations throughout the year,” says Ingo Burmester, CEO of Dertour Central Europe. “Despite the debate over overtourism, we believe that it makes sense to extend the season in popular destinations to better distribute holiday flows throughout the year. In simple terms, the term overtourism describes the negative effects of mass tourism.”
What is in demand during Christmas, New Year’s Eve and winter holidays?
Of course, many people go skiing in the mountains during the winter holidays, and there is a “special season” around New Year’s Eve when city trips to places like New York, London, Dubai, Berlin or Hamburg are very popular, says Tui.
According to the organizers, among European winter destinations far from the mountains, Spain, especially the Canary Islands and Mallorca, often leads when it comes to booking vacation dates, followed by Turkey.
Egypt has plenty of supply, but it also has holiday demand. Despite the Middle East conflict, the country was already the second-busiest winter destination last year, according to Alltours. Organizers are projecting another 50 percent growth and 100,000 guests for the coming winter season.
Industry expert Michael Buller said Egypt will be booming as the winter season approaches. One caveat: “Of course, we need to keep an eye on what’s happening in the Middle East. If things get worse, that could have a negative impact on demand,” said the board of directors of the Internet Travel Retailers Association (VIR), which represents digital tourism interests. Egypt borders Israel and the Gaza Strip and also acts as an intermediary between Israel and Hamas.
Long-haul destinations include Indian Ocean countries such as Thailand and the Maldives, the Dominican Republic, North America and Caribbean countries such as the United Arab Emirates. “We are seeing strong demand for exotic destinations. The greater flight capacity in the market makes exotic travel attractive in terms of price next winter,” said Stefan Baumert, President of Tui Germany.
What saving tips do experts have?
Michael Buller, VIR board member, advises that you should always check how much it costs to book flights and hotels separately, even if you are on a package holiday. Overall, this can save you a lot of money, but you miss out on the better travel protection offered by package holidays offered by the organizer. You have to evaluate it.
Travel sales experts recommend looking at the local cost of living in addition to airfare and hotel costs. “In the U.S., for example, consumer prices have skyrocketed. It’s ridiculous to pay for groceries or restaurants there.”
Many other destinations, including those further afield, are much cheaper than Germany in this regard. There, you can get a lot of goods and services for relatively little money. “Villas or lodgings that don’t provide meals in particular can be worthwhile,” says Buller. Conversely, if the cost of living in your destination country is high, all-inclusive hotels can be particularly worthwhile.
The Federal Statistical Office provides information through international price comparisons that can be accessed online.
