Key findings of the study include:
- Just over two thirds of respondents (67 percent) stated in 2024 that ecological or social sustainability is important to them when traveling – a figure that has continuously increased since 2012.
- The share of bookings for travel offers with sustainability labelling nearly doubled from six percent in 2019 to almost eleven percent in 2023.
- However, the sustainability of a travel offer was still only rarely decisive in the final travel decision (in up to five percent of trips).
- Never before have Germans, on average over all holiday trips (of at least five days’ duration), travelled so far per day of their holiday. At 143 kilometers, the value for 2023 is higher than the previous record from 2019 (140 kilometres per day).
- An increase, especially in long-distance and international travel, led to a new record in tourist transport services by air in 2024. The environment- and climate-damaging aeroplane is the most popular means of transport for holiday travel, ahead of the car.
UBA President Dirk Messner says: “We see a clear contradiction here: Many people want to be more sustainable when travelling, but in reality the share of climate-damaging air travel continues to rise. This discrepancy between attitude and behaviour is a central problem that we need to address more intensively.”
The UBA study identifies the reason for this contradiction in the various expectations that holidaymakers have of their trips: Sustainability is just one of many factors in travel decisions. “The vast majority of Germans do not primarily travel to engage in sustainability or to do something good for the people in their destinations, but rather to get away from everyday life, to relax, and to enjoy themselves”, explains Wolfgang Günther, tourism expert and co-author of the study.
How travel can become more sustainable: According to the authors of the final report, the travel industry has repeatedly demonstrated in the past that it is capable of awakening new desires and placing alternative travel ideas on the market through appropriate communication. The study shows: There is room for such changes in demand – particularly towards sustainability. The overwhelmingly positive attitude towards environmentally and socially responsible travel underlines that customers generally welcome sustainability when traveling. For the travel industry, this means: Those who now offer sustainable options are not taking a risk – quite the opposite. The industry can awaken new desires and successfully place alternative travel ideas on the market.
Conclusion of the report: It is not just the responsibility of consumers to effect fundamental change in travel behaviour towards greater sustainability. The tourism industry has the opportunity to set the course – through attractive offers and clear communication – towards travel that protects our natural resources.
Further information:
The Demand Monitor (Sustainability in Holiday Travel) is a study by the Research Association for Holidays and Travel (Forschungsgemeinschaft Urlaub und Reisen e.V., FUR). It was conducted over three years with financial support from the German Environment Agency, using funds from the Federal Ministry for the Environment. The data is based on FUR’s travel analysis, an annual, representative population survey of over 7,000 people aged 14 and over about their travel behaviour.