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### *INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES.* 

**Summary**

The German online travel market is booming and Internet travel portals
have become very popular over the past six years, as the Internet has
gained importance in all areas, but especially in the travel and tourism
sector. According to recent research, Germans spent more than EUR 3.5
billion on travel and tourism services online in 2004. In 2005, this
figure is expected to rise to EUR 6.5 - 7 billion (Source: Ulysses
Management Rossmann & Donner GbR). German online sales represent
one-fifth of total European online sales in travel and tourism.

Online booking in Germany, however, is still lower than in the United
States. Package tours, flight and train tickets are most popular. In
Germany, the market for Internet travel portals is highly decentralized
and a true market leader has not emerged yet.

**Market Overview & Trends**

In January 2005, 53 percent of the German population had Internet
access. This is an increase of two-thirds compared to January 2001.

**[Chart 1: Internet access in Germany]{.underline}**

![](media/image2.wmf)

Source: F.U.R., Reiseanalyse RA 2001-2005

According to "PhoCusWright Inc.", an independent travel, tourism and
hospitality research firm, the German online travel market is growing.
Internet travel portals are booming with a wide selection of
information, offers and outlets available at a mouse-click.

**[Chart 2: Information search via web regarding:]{.underline}**

![](media/image3.wmf)

Source: F.U.R., Reiseanalyse RA 2001-2005

Online booking grew by 50 percent in 2003. "PhoCusWright" estimates that
Germany will have a share of 20 percent of the European Online Market by
2006. In January 2005, 33 percent of Germans searched for information
for their travel planning and 15 percent booked a travel related
service.

Results of the new trend survey of the Travel and Leisure Research
Network (F.U.R. is its German acronym) show that the number of Germans
searching the web for travel information is expected to rise from the
current 19 million to about 33 million in 2015, which would represent an
increase of about 75 percent.

Online bookings made by Germans will triple from the current seven
million to an estimated 20 million. However, it should be pointed out
that there is still the so-called "look to book rate", which indicates
the large gap between searching for information via the web and actually
booking. (Source: Verband Internet Reisevertrieb, see
[http://www.v-i-r.de](http://www.v-I-r.de/), 04/13/05)

**[Chart 3: Internet usage for holidays]{.underline}**

![](media/image4.wmf)

Source: F.U.R., Reiseanalyse RA 2001-2005

**Market Barriers**

The cost of surfing the Internet, a perceived lack of transaction
security and the fear of misuse of personal data are impediments to
rapid growth in online booking. Furthermore, customers considering
booking a vacation via the web seem to miss personal service. (Source:
Verband Internet Reisevertrieb, see http://www.v-i-r.de, 05/09/05)

**ONLINE BOOKING AGENCIES IN GERMANY:**

**[1. Avigo]{.underline}**

**Contact details:**

REWE Travel New Media GmbH

Emil-von Bering-Strasse 6

60439 Frankfurt/Main

Germany

Mr. Thomas Benz, Sales Manger

Phone: +49-69-9588-4801

Fax: +49-69-9588-4806

Email: thomas.benz@avigo.de

[www.avigo.de](http://www.avigo.de/)

**Company description:**

-   Full-service website pertaining to the topic tourism

-   40.000 daily updated last-minute offers, package tours and flights

-   Unique website community

-   Well-known tour operators listed on their web page

-   Member of VIR (Verband Internet Reisevertrieb e. V.)

**[2. Deutsche Bahn AG]{.underline}**

**Contact details:**

Frankenallee 2-4

60326 Frankfurt/Main

Germany

Mr. Reinhold Pohl, Manager E-Commerce

Phone: +49-69-265-40901

Fax: +49-69-265-40930

Email: reinhold.pohl@bku.db.de

[www.bahn.de](http://www.bahn.de/)

**Company description:**

-   German Railways main website for booking train tickets in Germany

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-   Last minute

-   City tours

-   Hotel Reservation

**[3. Ebookers.de Deutschland GmbH]{.underline}**

**Contact details:**

Dietkirchenstr. 30-32

53111 Bonn

Germany

Mr. Gereon Krahn, Managing Director

Phone: +49-228-2670-20

Fax: +49-228-2670-243

Email: <gereon.krahn@ebookers.com>

[www.ebookers.de](http://www.ebookers.de/)

**Company description:**

Ebookers.com is one of the leading online European retail travel
agencies. In Germany, ebookers.de is online since September 1999 and
operates in twelve countries: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, UK, Spain, Sweden and
Switzerland.

-   Package tours

-   Flights, hotels, car rental, event tickets

-   Holiday homes, wellness, travel guides

-   Weather worldwide, currency converter, travel insurance

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-   Member of VIR (Verband Internet Reisevertrieb e. V.)

**[4.Expedia.de GmbH]{.underline}**

**Contact details:**

Landshuter Allee 10

80637 Munich

Germany

Mr. Jens-Uwe Parkitny, Product Manager

Phone: +49-89-370063-640

Fax: +49-89-370063-61

Email: jensuwep@expedia.com

######## www.expedia.de

**Company description:**

Expedia.de, the big Internet travel portal, has been offering a complete
and attractive range of travel and tourism products since September
1999. It is the first German online travel agency that allows flexible
combinations of flights, hotels and/or rental cars in individual package
tour with guaranteed price advantage for the customer. This service
falls under the section "Click & Mix". Expedia.de is a subsidiary of the
U.S.-based Expedia, Inc. Furthermore, the company is <s@fer-shopping>
certified and a member of VIR (Verband Internet Reisevertrieb e.V.).

**[5. Flug.de]{.underline}**

**Contact details:**

c/o Travel Overland Flugreisen GmbH & Co.

Saarstr. 7

80797 Munich

Germany

Mr. Erwin Steyer, Manager E-Commerce

Phone: +49-89-272-76-506

Fax: +49-89-272-76-569

Email: <Erwin.Steyer@travel-overland.de>

[www.flug.de](http://www.flug.de/)

**Company description:**

-   Last minute

-   Detailed country/travel information for 213 destinations

-   Travel insurance

-   Part of Travel Overland Group

**[6. Last-minute.de]{.underline}**

**Contact details:**

c/o Travel Overland Flug-Reisen GmbH & Co.

Saarstr. 7

80797 Munich

Germany

Mr. Erwin Steyer, Manager E-Commerce

Phone: +49-89-272-76-506

Fax: +49-89-272-76-569

Email: <Erwin.Steyer@travel-overland.de>

[www.last-minute.de](http://www.last-minute.de/)

**Company description:**

-   Package tours

-   Last minute

-   Car rental

-   Flights

-   Part of Travel Overland Group

**[7. lastminute.com GmbH]{.underline}**

**Contact details:**

Rosenheimer Strasse 145e

81671 Munich

Germany

Mr. Olaf Hein, Product Manager USA

Phone: 49-89-444-6900

Fax: 49-89-444-690-330

Email: <ohein@lastminute.com>

[www.lastminute.com](http://www.lastminute.com/)

######### Company description:

Lastminute.com Germany is a wholly owned subsidiary of the London based
company lastminute.com plc. Since its creation in 1998 in Great Britain,
the company has grown continuously and is represented in Europe, Asia,
Australia and South Africa. According to PhoCusWright, Last Minute.com
is one of the leading Internet travel portals in Europe. Lastminute.com
has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since March 2000.

Offers last minute high-quality products under the categories travel,
flights, hotels, flights+hotels (dynamic packaging), car rental,
cruises, summer residence, travel insurance and is a member of VIR
(Verband Internet Reisevertrieb e.V.)

**[8. L'TUR Tourismus AG]{.underline}**

**Contact details:**

Augustaplatz 8

Germany

Ms. Kirsten Wiegand, Online Marketing

Phone: +49-7221-2001

Fax: +49-7221-2091

Email: K.Wiegand@ltur.de

[www.ltur.de](http://www.ltur.de/)

**Company description:**

-   Founded in 1987

-   Last minute specialist market leader in Germany & Europe

-   Last minute package tours, hotels, flights, rail tickets, car
    rental, travel insurance, city tours, family vacation, camping, ski
    vacation

-   More than 40 million page impressions monthly (Source:
    Nielsen/Netratings Home and Work Panel July 2004)

-   Popular trade mark, known by 62% of Germans (Source: RA 2004)

**[9. McFLIGHT Flugvermittlung GmbH]{.underline}**

Contact details:

Elisenstrasse 13

63739 Aschaffenburg

Germany

Mr. Klaus Wissel, Managing Director

Phone: +49-6021-3366-662

Fax: +49-6021-336-667

Email: Klaus.Wissel@mcflight.de

www.mcflight.de

Company description:

-   large offer of worldwide scheduled and charter flights

-   over 50 million different tariffs

-   hotels, car rental, travel insurance,

-   cruises, condominiums, city packages and fly & drive programs

-   founded in 1987, online since 1997

-   150,000 website visits monthly

**[10. Opodo GmbH]{.underline}**

**Contact details:**

Beim Strohhause 31

20097 Hamburg

Germany

Mr. Rudolf Hengefeld

Phone: +49-40-2715-9268

Fax: +49-30-4366-1215

Email: product@opodo.com

[www.opodo.de](http://www.opodo.de/)

**Company description:**

Opodo is the first truly pan-European travel service created to address
the real needs of today\'s traveler. They offer access to over 500
airlines, 45,000 hotel properties and more than 7,000 car rental
locations worldwide as well as travel insurance, all on an easy to use
and attractive site. Opodo is owned by nine of Europe\'s leading
airlines: Aer Lingus, Air France, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, British
Airways, Finnair, Iberia, KLM, Lufthansa and by GDS and travel
technology provider, Amadeus and is a member of VIR (Verband Internet
Reisevertrieb e.V.).

**[11. Reisen.de GmbH & Co KG]{.underline}**

**Contact details:**

Planegger Str. 16

82110 Germering

Germany

Mr. Gerhard Browa, CEO

Phone: +49-89-5003-9133

Fax: +49-89-5003-9117

Email: <browa@reisen.de>

[www.reisen.de](http://www.reisen.de/)

**Company description:**

-   Last minute offers

-   Package tours

-   Flights, car rental, cruises, summer residences

-   Several information to the topic tourism

-   S[\@fer-shopping](mailto:s@fer-shopping) certified

[**12. Skytours GmbH**]{.underline}

**Contact details:**

Bismarckallee 9

79098 Freiburg

Germany

Mr. Rudi Seiberlich, President

Phone: +49-761-459-460

Fax: +49-761-459-4646

Email: <rs@skytours.de>

[www.skytours.de](http://www.skytours.de/)

**Company description:**

-   Special offers

-   Car rental worldwide

-   Ferry Boats

-   Hotel Reservations

**[13. Skyways]{.underline}**

**Contact details:**

SKW Flugreisen GmbH

Blütenstr. 11

80799 Munich

Germany

Ms. Elfi Linke, Managing Director

Phone: +49-89-3300-7655

Fax: +49-89-3300-7650

Email: <tickets@skyways.de>

[www.skyways.de](http://www.skyways.de/)

Company description:

-   Founded in Munich 1994, introduced first online booking service in
    Germany in 1995

-   Flights, package tours, last minute, car rentals, hotels

**[14. Start.de]{.underline}**

Contact details:

# DB Personenverkehr 

Management GmbH

Stephensonstr. 1

60326 Frankfurt/Main

Germany

Mr. Reinhold Pohl, Manager E-Commerce

Phone: +49-69-265-40901

Fax: +49-69-265-40930

Email: reinhold.pohl@bku.db.de

www.start.de

## Company description:

-   4.5 million daily updated last minute offers

-   Offers from well-known tour operators, e. g. TUI, Neckermann, ITS,
    Thomas Cook and Alltours

-   Flights, hotel, car rental

-   Detailed rail info, rail & vacation

-   Summer residences in Europe & Florida

-   Online Booking of international cultural and sporting events

**[15. T-Online Travel GmbH]{.underline}**

Contact details:

Waldstr. 3

64331 Weiterstadt

Germany

Mr. Stefan Behrendt, Managing Director

Phone: +49-6151-680-3360

Fax: +49-421-5250-601

Email: <internet.service@t-online-travel.de>

www.t-online-travel.de

Company description:

-   Last minute

-   Package tours

-   Flights, hotels

-   Holiday residence, car rental

[16. Travelchannel & Co. KG]{.underline}

**Contact details:**

c/o Travel Overland Flug-

Reisen GmbH & Co.

Saarstr. 7

80797 Munich

Germany

Mr. Erwin Steyer, Manager E-Commerce

Phone: +49-89-272-76-506

Fax: +49-89-272-76-569

Email: <Erwin.Steyer@travel-overland.de>

[www.travelchannel.de](http://www.travelchannel.de/)

**Company description:**

-   Joint Venture of one of Germany's most popular mail order company
    "Otto" and Travelocity.com

-   1 million visits monthly

-   More than 4 million last minute offers daily

-   Package tours, flights and car rental

-   City passes

-   Part of Travel Overland group

[**17. Travelocity**]{.underline}

**Contact details:**

c/o Travel Overland Flug-

Reisen GmbH & Co.

Saarstr. 7

80797 Munich

Germany

Mr. Erwin Steyer, Manager E-Commerce

Phone: +49-89-272-76-506

Fax: +49-89-272-76-569

Email: Erwin.Steyer@travel-overland.de

www.travelocity.de

**Company description:**

-   Popular travel service on the web

-   Airline reservations, hotel rooms, cruises, vacation packages, car
    rentals, and last-minute deals

-   Web sites in five languages across four continents

-   Sixth-largest travel agency in U.S.

**[18. Travel Overland Flugreisen GmbH & Co. KG]{.underline}**

**Contact details:**

Saarstr. 7

80797 Munich

Germany

Mr. Erwin Steyer, Manager E-Commerce

Phone: +49-89-272-76-506

Fax: +49-89-272-76-569

Email:
[Erwin.Steyer@travel-overland.de](mailto:tickets@travel-overland.de)

[www.travel-overland.de](http://www.travel-overland.de/)

**Company description:**

-   Package tours

-   Last minute

-   Flight, car rental, hotels

**[19. TravelScout24]{.underline}**

**Contact details:**

Rosenheimer Str. 145b

81671 Munich

Germany

Mr. Christoph Hoelzlwimmer, Managing Director

Phone: +49-89-4902-670

Fax: +49-89-4902-6711

Email: christoph.hoelzlwimmer@scout24.com

[www.travelscout24.de](http://www.travelscout24.de/)

**Company description:**

-   Offers independent counseling and service regarding vacation
    planning online

-   Is an online specialist for tour operators, package tours and last
    minute travel

-   Is part of the leading European network of online market places
    Scout24 in connection with innovative offline-services

-   Scout 24 is known to German Internet users as a strong brand with an
    average name recognition of 70% (ICON-Study 11/01)

**[20. Travel24.com AG]{.underline}**

**Contact details:**

Motorstrasse 56

80809 Munich

Germany

Ms. Ulrike Hierl, Marketing Manager

Phone:+49-89-25-007-1000

Fax: +49-89-25-007-1021

Email: Ulrike.Hierl@travel24.com

[www.travel24.com](http://www.travel24.com/)

**Company description:**

Travel 24.com is an independent travel company which offers access via
the web and call center to vacation information and offers. Specialist
counseling supports interactive searching, booking and comparing: 24
hours a day, 365 days a year.

The company is one of the most popular online booking sites (cp.
Reiseanalyse 2004, Focus Markenstudie 2003) and a member of VIR
(Vertrieb Internet Reisevertrieb e. V.). In 2004, Travel 24.com
registered more than 119.2 million page impressions and ca. 5.9 million
visits.

[**21. USA Mediengesellschaft fuer Internet-Marketing mbH**]{.underline}

**Contact details:**

Emil-von-Behring-Str. 6

60439 Frankfurt am Main

Germany

Ms. Eva Billetter, USA Media Coordinator

Phone:+49-69-9588-4063

Fax: +49-69-9588-3009

Email:eva.billetter@usa.de

[www.usa.de](http://www.usa.de/)

**Company description:**

-   Online booking portal

-   Dedicated USA information in German

-   Reports and exchange of travel experiences under the section "MyUSA"

**Online Hotel Reservation**

**[1. Hotel Reservation Service (HRS)]{.underline}**

**Contact details:**

Blaubach 32

50676 Koeln

Germany

Ms. Katrin Siepel, Product Manager International

Phone: +49-221-2077-554

Fax: +49-221-2077-666

Email: <katrinsiepel@hrs.de>

[www.hrs.de](http://www.hrs.de/)

**Company description:**

Database with 150,000 hotels in all price categories which can be booked
directly online, hotels range from the individual private hotel to the
hotel chains and corporations and the top international hotels;
everywhere in Germany, Europe, the United States and Asia.

**[2. Hotel.de AG]{.underline}**

**Contact details:**

Alfred-Fischer-Weg 11

59073 Hamm

Germany

Ms. Britta Winter

Phone: +492381-98082-0

Fax: +492381-98082-39

Email: <sales@hotel.de>

www.hotel.de

**Company description:**

Hotel.de is a leading online hotel reservation service. Via Hotel.de,
customers book about 150.000 hotels worldwide as well as book hotel
package offers at discount room rates. Hotels benefit from hotel.de as
an additional sales channel for distributing their offers and specials
to the right target groups.

**[3. ehotel AG]{.underline}**

Contact details:

Greifswalder Strasse 207

1045 Berlin

Germany

Phone: +49-30-473-730

Fax: +49-30-473-100

Email:partnerprogramm@ehotel.ag

[www.ehotel.ag](http://www.ehotel.ag/)

Company description:

-   Worldwide 24 h presence for hoteliers

-   Listing of hotels is free of charge

-   70.000 hotels are currently listed

-   Online Booking is free of charge for the customer

**LINKS:**

** [www.tia.org](http://www.tia.org/)**

TIA (Travel Industry Association of America)

** [www.seeamerica.org](http://www.seeamerica.org/)**

U.S. travel and tourism online portal created by TIA

** [www.vusa-germany.de](http://www.vusa-germany.de/)**

Visit USA Committee Germany e.V.

** [www.V-I-R.de](http://www.V-I-R.de/)**

Association of German Online Booking Agencies

For more information on Travel and Tourism and how the Commercial
Service can assist U.S. companies develop their business in the German
market, contact:

U.S. Commercial Service

Elizabeth Powell

Commercial Specialist - Tourism

American Consulate General

Siemayerstrasse 21

60323 Frankfurt am Main

Tel: 49-69-956 20417

Fax: 49-69-56 1114

E-mail: Elizabeth.Powell@mail.doc.gov

[www.buyusa.gov/germany/en/itbberlin.html](http://www.buyusa.gov/germany/en/itbberlin.html)

The U.S. Commercial Service Germany can be contacted via e-mail at:
<berlin.office.box@mail.doc.gov>, website:
<http://www.buyusa.gov/germany/en/>.

You can locate your nearest U.S. Export Assistance Center, as well as
Commercial Service offices overseas by visiting
[www.buyusa.gov](http://www.buyusa.gov/).

*To the best of our knowledge, the information contained in this report
is accurate as of the date published. However, The Department of
Commerce does not take responsibility for actions readers may take based
on the information contained herein. Readers should always conduct their
own due diligence before entering into business ventures or other
commercial arrangements. The Department of Commerce can assist companies
in these endeavors.*