Tölzer tourism balance sheet: frustrating times for hosts
Created: 04/10/2022, 08:00
Gloomy prospects prevailed last year in the tourism sector in Tölz.
© DPA
Even 2021 was not the best for the Isarstadt in terms of visitor numbers.
At the most recent meeting of the Tölz spa and tourism committee, the spa director took stock of tourism.
Bad Tölz
- "That was the nice part," was how Tölz spa director Brita Hohenreiter summed up the Wackersberger Höhe hotel presentation at the most recent meeting of the spa and tourism committee.
"Now comes the not so nice part." Hohenreiter had to report to the councils about a second devastating tourism year marked by the pandemic.
Arrivals and overnight stays were well below the pre-Corona period.
The 43,249 arrivals mean a minus of 46.5 percent compared to 2019.
Overnight stays (231,481) fell by 33.4 percent.
After the lockdown in spring, the short-term announcement of the reopening was of little help.
The hope of spontaneous bookings was then destroyed by the bad weather.
Tourism only picked up noticeably from the second half of June.
And in such a way that rooms and apartments were fully booked until autumn.
"We also had to turn down good requests."
Spa town needs more beds
Bad Tölz urgently needs beds.
Two houses were generally closed in 2021, Hohenreiter reported.
Many others struggled with the shortage of skilled workers.
Corona acted as a “fire accelerator” here.
Many employees in the hotel and catering industry have migrated.
The problem had become so blatant that some hosts had to cut back on their offerings.
Nevertheless, we went into the winter with optimism.
When the corona numbers rose in November, a wave of cancellations began within a few days.
Headlines from "collection points for corpses" in Bavaria would have done the rest.
Regular guests also asked the tourist information with concern.
Not all developments were negative.
Hohenreiter was pleased to say that new beds had been created in the Buchberg Clinic.
The Geiger house in the bathing area has also found a new tenant and is "in good hands".
And a small boutique hotel is being built in the “Oberbräu” on Marktstrasse.
Tölz now has a total of 2075 beds.
That is 1.7 percent more than in 2019.
12,000 campers visited
The spa town is blossoming into a classic holiday destination for Bavarians.
Instead of 9,300 foreign guests, only 2,900 came in 2021, most of them from Switzerland and Austria.
Incidentally, ten Russians were also counted last year.
In 2019 there were 146. A very pleasing number: The mobile home parking space on the Isar is being accepted better than ever.
Almost 12,000 campers came.
What is the outlook for 2022?
Advance bookings and inquiries would go very well from today's perspective, said Hohenreiter.
However, the general conditions are “volatile”.
Massive price increases are not only expected in the energy sector as a result of the Ukraine war.
Individual hosts would have offered their houses as refugee accommodation.
This reduces the number of beds again.
Hohenreiter: "Positive forecasts are difficult to make." (CHRISTOPH SCHNITZER)
You can find even more current news from the region around at Merkur.de/Bad Tölz.
