German travel sellers booked 6% fewer winter travelers and took in 2% less booking revenue, according to DRV President Albin Loidl, who will deliver the figures at the association's Capital Congress in Berlin on October 15, 2026.

The numbers mark a sharp reversal for a market that grew through the summer season. Winter, normally the steadier shoulder of the German travel calendar, is now the weak leg. For tour operators and retail agencies living on commission, a 6% volume decline compounds faster than it looks: fewer passengers means less upsell, less ancillary revenue, and thinner margins on fixed distribution costs.

Loidl, who heads the German Travel Association (DRV, the country's main trade body for tour operators and travel agents), framed the slump as an affordability problem rather than a demand problem. Customers have not stopped wanting holidays. They are increasingly unable to pay for them.

In his prepared speech he said holidays must remain affordable — a direct warning that price pressure, taxes, and regulatory cost are being passed through to consumers and are now visibly suppressing bookings.

What is the DRV demanding?

Loidl's asks to policymakers are concrete:

• Abolish Germany's aviation tax, a levy charged on departing passengers that raises ticket prices at the point of sale
• Cut bureaucracy burdening travel businesses
• Modernize tourism training to secure the sector's workforce pipeline

Each demand targets a cost input. The aviation tax feeds directly into air-inclusive package prices, the core product of German tour operators. Bureaucracy raises back-office cost across agencies and operators. Outdated training threatens the supply of qualified staff that distribution depends on.

Why the affordability question matters for sellers

The DRV's intervention raises a question the whole German trade now faces: will measures designed to support businesses also make holidays accessible to consumers? The two goals align on taxes and regulation but diverge on pricing power. If costs fall and operators hold prices to rebuild volume, margins stay squeezed. If operators restore margins, the affordability gap widens and the winter decline could deepen.

Summer growth masked the weakness until now. A winter cycle down 6% in travelers and 2% in revenue, reported by the trade's own president, removes that cover.

The stakes extend beyond Germany. The country is one of Europe's largest source markets for packaged leisure travel, and German booking behavior sets pricing expectations for operators across the Mediterranean and long-haul resorts. A structural affordability problem in the source market eventually lands on suppliers' books.

Congress delegates in Berlin on October 15 will hear the affordability argument made at the top of the association's agenda. Whether the next government moves on aviation tax will determine if the DRV's winter figures mark a trough or the start of a longer slide.