Germans spent about 73 billion euros (81 billion U.S. dollars) on vacation last year, an increase of 3 percent compared to the previous year, according to preliminary figures published by the research association for holidays and travel (FUR) on Friday, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
The total number of vacation trips of at least five days in 2019 was up 1 percent to an estimated 71 million, according to FUR.
More than three quarters of German citizens had taken at least one holiday in 2019, said FUR study author Martin Lohmann just before the start of the Holiday Exhibition CMT in the German city of Stuttgart.
The expected number of short vacation trips with a duration of only two to four days was expected to remain at the previous year´s level of 92 million, according to FUR.
The cruise industry continued its boom and recorded high growth figures. German citizens booked around nine percent more cruises last year than in 2018, Lohmann told the German news agency (dpa).
"We expect a good year of travel in 2020," a spokesperson of FUR told Xinhua on Friday. But it would "remain to be seen whether there is still a lot of room for improvement", maybe in terms of travel expenses, but less so in the number of vacation trips.
Germany was expected to be again the top travel destination for German citizens in 2020, FUR noted. It was expected to be followed by Spain, Italy, Turkey and Austria.