Olivo de León, reporting from Berlin for the newspaper Hoy, said that Germany has become a battleground for companies, countries and organizations seeking an increase in the market share of the country’s two million who traveled abroad in 1995. He writes that of the total some 400,000 traveled to the Dominican Republic. According to Olivo De León’s investigations, the principal contenders in the fight for market share are the Association of German Pilots, the airlines, the tour operators, and competing countries, including those from the Caribbean, Latin America, and the United States, Canada, and Spain.
It is also said that long haul destinations confront competition from within Germany itself, where tourism businesses are trying to lure the Germans into taking their holidays in their own country by offering reductions in rail fares for entire families, free transport from the railway station to the hotel and many other incentives.
During an evaluation of the behavior of German and European tourism in 1995 carried out at the end of the ITB that was held 9-13 March in Berlin, it was said that 65% of Germans of more than 14 years travel abroad every year. It was also said that the Germans prefer to limit their purchases of clothing, cars and other items to spend their vacations abroad.