Rostock.
During the pandemic, many people discovered vacationing in their own country – and with it the houseboat.
After the end of the corona restrictions, houseboat providers have to prepare for more competition again, but expect high demand this season as well.
Because of the travel restrictions caused by the pandemic, domestic holidays, such as tours with a mobile home or houseboat, have recently been particularly popular, explained Robert Neidel, Managing Director of the Mecklenburg Lake District Tourism Association. In the meantime, the demand for houseboats is back to the level of 2019.
As usual for April, some houseboat vacationers are already on their way, according to Neidel. The Lake District is a popular region for recreational boaters. The starting signal for the water tourism season was around Easter, explained the managing director of the state tourism association, Tobias Woitendorf. With the rising temperatures, the season is now gaining in intensity. According to Woitendorf, the industry assumes that the proportion of domestic tourists could fall slightly below the pre-Corona level this year.
Germany by boat – critical attitude to air travel
“Of course we have the limiting factor that people also travel somewhere else again,” he said. On the other hand, a significant increase in travel volume is expected again worldwide, according to Woitendorf. He’s not worried about water tourism in particular.
According to Woitendorf’s estimate, around one in ten of the ten to twelve million annual holidaymakers in the north-east use the opportunities for boating. In recent years, the supply of houseboats has often not been sufficient to cover demand.
It is not surprising that demand is dropping somewhat now that carefree travel is possible again, explained Dagmar Rockel-Kuhnle, spokeswoman for the boat rental company Kuhnle-Tours in Rechlin an der Müritz. “Now of course you can see that people are flying again.”
How is the interest in the houseboat today?
Steffen Schulz from Yachtcharter Schulz in Waren also reported that the demand for houseboats is currently lower than during the Corona period: “No one could travel and people discovered Germany by boat or caravan, and we were 100 percent occupied.”
Nevertheless, Schulz assumes that interest in houseboat holidays will continue. His company is currently registering higher demand compared to the pre-corona year 2019. According to Rockel-Kuhnle, he also expects that Kuhnle-Tours will exceed the pre-Corona level. Also because more and more people are critically questioning travel by plane, Rockel-Kuhnle continues. (dpa)
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