German tourism sector sees bumper 2023 after end of COVID woes

BERLIN (Reuters) - German tourism is gearing up for a bumper year in 2023 following the hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic, as holidaymakers return in droves despite high inflation and the war in Ukraine, businesses said at the ITB travel fair on Tuesday.

"We expect an Easter and a summer business which is not only very stable, but loosely matches that of 2019," said the head of Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings, Jens Bischof, on the sidelines of the event in Berlin.

"Tour operators are very bullish about summer," Bischof added.

German travel giant TUI reported a surge in bookings at the start of the year, with CEO Stefan Baumert saying business in this period had been stronger than the company had seen in a long time.

"We expect a good to very good summer season," he said, adding that the company expected stronger growth in 2023 than the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

TUI competitor Alltours already exceeded pre-pandemic levels for both guests and sales last year, the company said.

Germany's fourth-largest travel operator, Alltours said demand for this summer was also strong, reporting a 30% increase in guests for that period compared to summer 2022.

(Reporting by Ilona Wissenbach and Rachel More; editing by Matthias Williams and Bernadette Baum)