I heard this statistic on the radio yesterday and thought it was surprisingly low. So what I’d like to know from UK dopers is, do you just not travel abroad much, at all, or is Germany particularly avoided?
Generally, does anyone know of any websites that offer foreign travel statistics for citizens of various countries?
UK residents travel abroad a lot – mainland Europe is very cheap to get to in particular.
I imagine Germany is not a popular destination because it’s not that cheap compared to places like Spain and Portugal (or, for city breaks, places like Prague), and because it’s not a glamourous “sun, sea, sand and sangria” location. IMHO Britons either go for cheap package holidays, invariably to Mediterranean countries, or further abroad (South Africa / Hong Kong / Singapore / Thailand / Australia / New Zealand / US / Canada etc). Germany just doesn’t have as much “surface appeal”.
For what it’s worth, my last holiday was a long weekend in Cologne, and I did enjoy that.
I wish I lived closer to Europe, too. 
I enjoyed my time in Berlin, the climate is very similar to the UK, but the place seems a lot cleaner, and less meaner than UK Northern towns.
I am sure that more than 1% of Brits have visited Germany judging by the number of no frills airlines that fly there. Just last month three , repeat three , new German low-cost airlines have started flying into Stansted Airport so the demand must be there. I don’t beleive that these newcomers will only be catering for German citizens flying to the UK. I agree that people do not go there for the sun but Rhine cruises , city breaks , the beer and wine festivals and winter sports all must produce sizable tourist numbers from the UK.
I lived in Berlin for 14 years and it sure seemed like a lot of people from the UK either lived there, or visited. When I first started teaching ESL at a private school in Berlin, I was the only American - the rest were all British.
It sometimes seemed like there were more British (owned and operated) pubs in Berlin than German. Plus, back in those days, the British army was there along with the French and American.
Although I admit it is not the number 1 destination for British on holiday, I don’t believe the 1% story. My guess is that Oktoberfest alone would be enough to motivate 1% of the British population to saunter over for a pint.
If any of you Brits go, don’t…talk…about…the…war…
I’ve been once (not counting changing planes at Frankfurt) for a one day business trip. I’d never considered going for a holiday, and I suspect few do, given that France, Spain, Italy and Portugal are more obvious tourist destinations.
Even so, 1% seems somewhat low. I could believe it if it were per year, not “ever”. 600,000 per year sounds about right.
<pause for some googling>
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/xsdataset.asp?More=Y&vlnk=1446&All=Y&B2.x=76&B2.y=8 shows that in 1998 1.8% of overseas holidays were to Germany, out of a total of 32.3 million. This is almost exactly 1% of the total population, but I suspect that the 32.3m counts every holiday once i.e. the same person is counted more than once if they have more than one holiday abroad that year.
The statistics lead me to think it most unlikely that only 1% ever visit Germany, but 1% per year is quite believable.
Torgo said:
“If any of you Brits go, don’t…talk…about…the…war…”
Not everyone in Germany supported the Nazis. I found the people to be very respectful when that particular subject came, of course your experience maybe different.
I lived there for almost three years and enjoyed it. I would prefer going to Germany over “sand, sea and sangria” any day.
From Fawlty Towers
German Tourist: Stop talking about the war, we Germans find it very upsetting.
Basil: Well, you started it!
German Tourist: No, we didn’t!
Basil: Yes, you did; you invaded Poland!
I’m with Crusoe on this one: easy to get to, but few peoples’ first choice. I’ve been - fabulous week in Berlin, plus various stopovers - but, thinking of the people I know, it’s a bit evenly split. Even of those who have, most only went there while Interrailing. So that possibily doesn’t really count, on the grounds they weren’t specifically visiting Germany, other than as the next country on the list. Overall, I’d guess 1-10% as a plausible estimate for the whole population.
Then again, one wonders what the comparable figure is for southern Europeans: Italians, Portugeuse, Spanish, etc. ?
amarone Great statistics. Thanks.
But the 32million vacations abroad would mean that one out of every two Brits took a vacation outside of Britain(although you correctly suggested the figures count some individuals multiple trips, so the actual number isn’t correct).
That hardly seems likely. Let’s say that one out of four took a holiday abroad. I still doubt it. While I have a US bias, I have many friends in the UK over the last 20 years and visiting them would lead me to believe that many/most Brits have never been on holiday outside of the country.
If you could find a cite that indicates what percentage of Brits have ever traveled abroad, you’d be a hero.
I admit freely that I am just speculating, and using my personal feelings which may be outdated.
I couldn’t find quite what you were asking for, but these statistics show that by 1998 more than 50% of holidays/vacations by UK people were taken abroad, with an increasing trend.
That backs up my personal experience, where I probably could not name you a relative of friend who has not taken a holiday abroad. I’m from a lower-middle class and working class background, so we are not exactly rich. Still, I expect that there are many poorer families in the UK. However, holidays to Spain can be very, very cheap, so few people are excluded through not being able to afford it.
This Christmas over one and a half million Brits went abroad ( mainly to Spain ) for a holiday. This shows how widespread foreign travel is for UK citizans. Even the smallest town in the UK has at least one travel agent and they are all doing good buisiness so the foreign travel bug is certainly strong in the UK.
It says here http://www.germany-tourism.de/pdf/importance_of_tourism_2001.pdf that there were 3.5m overnight stays in Germany by people from the UK in 2001. The average visit to Germany was 7.6 nights which would mean .46m visits per year (assuming that Britons stay the same length of time as the average visitor - not unrealistic as almost three quarters of Germany’s visitor are from Europe so distance travelled shouldn’t be an issue). If not too many of those are return trips within a year then that would back up about one percent a year as reasonable… making one percent in total look a bit on the low side.
From another angle, I reckon about .5m people must have served in the UK Army or Air Force between 1970 and 1995 (kind of a guess based on this http://www.dasa.mod.uk/natstats/servstats.html#). I think most of them would have spent time in Germany waiting for the Russians, which takes you close to one percent before you even factor in their families.
It’s a good thing too. Germany’s definitely worth a visit especially as the Reinheitsgebot means that the beer’s good and you have to work pretty hard at getting a hangover.