The flood disaster in northern Rhineland-Palatinate had serious negative consequences for tourism - not only in the worst affected Ahr valley, but also in other regions.
As the State Statistical Office announced on Friday, the number of guests fell nationwide in August compared to the previous year by eleven percent to 845,300.
The number of overnight stays fell by eight percent to 2.5 million in the same period.
Bad Ems - The losses are even clearer compared to August 2019 and thus to the time before the corona pandemic: The number of guests fell by 22 percent, while the number of overnight stays is 15 percent.
In the month after the flash flood of 14./15.
July, the number of bookings in the devastated Ahr region collapsed to less than a quarter of the previous year's figure.
In the neighboring regions of the Eifel and Mosel-Saar there were also significant losses in the number of overnight stays, by 19 and 12 percent respectively compared to the previous year.
The number of guests also fell drastically in these regions: on the Ahr there were three quarters fewer guests, in the Eifel and Mosel-Saar regions 26 percent and 17 percent fewer respectively.
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Thousands of buildings were damaged or destroyed.
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But there were also regions with an upward trend in the number of guests and overnight stays: Naheland, Rheinhessen and the Palatinate.
There was an increase of 20, 13 and 1.2 percent in overnight stays.
The number of guests rose by 15, 9 and 3.7 percent, respectively.
In the Westerwald-Lahn and Hunsrück areas, fewer guests were welcomed (minus 2.2 and 7.4 percent, respectively), but more overnight stays were booked (plus 8 and 4.4 percent, respectively).
The decline in the number of guests is mainly due to foreign tourists.
Their number fell by around a quarter compared to the previous year.
For travelers from Germany, the decline was eight percent.
At just under 83 percent, domestic guests continue to make up the majority of travelers.
A comparison over a longer period also shows the extent of the losses: According to the state office, around 2.6 million guests were counted in Rhineland-Palatinate from January to August (minus 32 percent) with almost eight million overnight stays (minus 24 percent).
Because of the officially imposed corona lockdown, many companies had to close or significantly restrict their operations in the first few months of this year.
dpa
