Tourism as an economic factor in Bavaria – Tourism Satellite Account 2019 and 2020

The Free State of Bavaria is an attractive destination for tourists. On behalf of the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy, DIW Econ has for the first time fully assessed the economic importance of the tourism industry in Bavaria using the TSA system.

The calculation was carried out for the years 2019 and 2020. This means that not only the Bavarian tourism industry in the last year before the crisis can be analysed, but also the effects of the Corona pandemic.

Total tourist expenditure in 2019 was 47.5 billion euros. In 2020, 27.9 billion euro was still spent by tourists in Bavaria due to the pandemic. The majority of consumer spending in both years was made by tourists from Bavaria itself, followed by tourists from other federal states. In both 2019 and 2020, Bavaria was primarily a destination for private trips, especially private day trips. However, business trips also accounted for a significant share of total consumption.

In 2019, tourists’ consumption expenditure directly and indirectly generated gross value added of €28.1 billion, equivalent to 4.9% of the total economy. The regional economic importance becomes even clearer when looking at the employment effect: 548,400 jobs were directly or indirectly related to the tourism industry in 2019. This represented 7.1% of total employment and illustrates the employment-intensive nature of the industry.

Although there was a significant downturn in the tourism industry in 2020, it was still responsible for 2.9% of Bavaria’s total economy, with a generated gross value added of 16.6 billion euros. There were still 323,600 people directly or indirectly employed in the tourism industry, accounting for 4.2% of total employment.

Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy

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