Bird's eye view of an empty stretch of beach

Company

21 January 2026

Germans’ desire to travel unabated

New summer catalogs, new travel offers and a new management team with ambitious goals: The DERTOUR Group is entering the coming travel season with lots of news and good forecasts.

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Two people wearing sunglasses are sitting in a steaming pool. In the background are snow-covered mountains.

Story

25 July 2025

From the beach to the snow

Since the end of November, making travel plans for the summer has become even more fun: the new DERTOUR Germany summer programs are now available. As usual, there is a wide range of offers. And this year, DERTOUR has gone one step further: among other things, there are 1,500 new hotels, 250 new round trips, and even more special trips in the program.

The current booking figures of the second largest tour operator Europe’s indicate a continuing desire to travel among Germans. The forecast for the coming summer of travel is optimistic: In this still early booking phase, we are already seeing strong demand for summer vacations across all segments. The Germans’ enthusiasm for travel thus seems unbroken; the summer vacation will also be firmly established in 2026, explains Boris Raoul, since November CEO DERTOUR Germany and Austria and Chief Technology Officer of the DERTOUR Group.

Our mission and our claim is to provide the right offer for every situation in life and every budget – from budget-conscious family vacations to extraordinary long-haul trips. With our new program, we offer a variety of trips that are not only attractively priced, but also reach into the niche.

Boris-Raoul-Portraet

About:

Boris Raoul

CEO DERTOUR Germany and Austria, CTO DERTOUR Group

Winter bookings stable at a high level

After a guest increase of almost 40 percent in the previous winter season, bookings for the current winter season in Germany are stable at a very high level. Demand for vacations in the sun remains high. The fact that we are maintaining last year’s high level of bookings this winter season once again highlights the trend towards investing in travel and experiences. Winter breaks in the sun are still in high demand, explains Boris Raoul.

Germans book early

There is currently a pronounced early booking phase, with travel agencies remaining the most popular booking channel. In the previous year, the average advance booking period for summer vacations increased by a total of eight days to 135 days before departure. With early booking discounts of up to 50 percent, the trend towards early bookings continues: We are once again seeing that German travelers attach great importance to planning security and want to benefit from high discounts, says Boris Raoul. The early booking discount in combination with a flex option offers guests double security: they benefit from attractive prices and at the same time remain completely flexible if plans change.

Our mission and our claim is to provide the right offer for every situation and every budget – from budget-conscious family vacations to extraordinary long-haul trips. With our new program, we offer a variety of trips that are not only attractively priced, but also reach into the niche market.

Boris Raoul, CEO DERTOUR Germany and Austria, CTO DERTOUR Group

Boris-Raoul-Portraet

Boris Raoul, CEO DERTOUR Germany and Austria, CTO DERTOUR Group

Person sits in front of a laptop and looks at the website of Dertour.

Story

18 July 2022

Digital holiday planning: where human meets machine

Largest tour operator program: trips for all budgets and preferences

An attractive price-performance ratio, high quality and a special variety of experiences – these are decisive criteria for summer vacations in 2026. They influence the choice of destination as well as the time of booking and the type of vacation, says Boris Raoul. For the coming summer, travelers can therefore choose from the largest portfolio in the German tour operator market, das promising a special variety of experiences at fair prices.

1.500 new hotels, 250 new round trips, even more special tours

DERTOUR Germany and its sister brands ITS and Meiers Weltreisen are presenting an unprecedented variety for summer 2026, with around 180,000 hotels in almost 180 destinations worldwide. These include 1,500 new hotels and around 200 hotels that can be booked exclusively through DERTOUR tour operators in popular destinations such as Turkey, Egypt, Greece, and Italy. One focus of our ongoing expansion is on new exclusives, i.e., hotels that can only be booked on the German market through our tour operators. Another focus is on expanding our own hotel brands. In the summer of 2026, we will launch a total of seven new hotels under the ananea, Sentido, and Calimera brands, explains Sven Schikarsky, Managing Director of Product at DERTOUR Germany.

The range of round trips is also larger than ever and is growing by around 250 new offers to a total of 1,600 round trips worldwide. In addition, travelers can choose from product lines such as DERTOUR Deluxe, DERTOUR Sports, DERTOUR À la Carte (tailor-made individual and group tours) and more sustainable offers from the “Bewusst Reisen” (Conscious Travel) program.

Portrait of Sven Schikarsky

About:

Sven Schikarsky

Head of Product at DERTOUR and its sister brands ITS and Meiers Weltreisen

Most popular destinations in summer 2026

A look at the early bird data shows: The most popular destinations of Germans on short and medium-haul routes remain Turkey this summer, Spain, Greece, Egypt and Tunisia as well as the Indian Ocean, Thailand, North America, the United Arab Emirates and the Caribbean on long-haul routes. Germans continue to show a preference for value-for-money favorites: Destinations such as Tunisia and Bulgaria are among the clear rising stars of the coming summer season in the current incoming bookings.

One in five summer vacations goes abroad

The popularity of long-distance travel is also continuing to grow: Almost one in five bookings at DERTOUR Germany is currently a long-haul trip. This means that this segment is currently experiencing guest growth of +33% compared to the previous year. Among the top long-haul destinations, Thailand once again improved its ranking and took second place. Overall, East Africa, the Caribbean, the United Arab Emirates and the Indian Ocean are currently showing the highest growth rates.

Top 5 short and medium-haul routes summer 2026*

  • Turkey

  • Spain

  • Greece

  • Egypt

  • Tunisia

Top 5 long-haul routes summer 2026*

  • Indian Ocean

  • Thailand

  • North America

  • United Arab Emirates

  • Caribbean

*Top destinations by number of guests.

Here you will find all the news from DERTOUR’s summer programs at a glance.

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