German Hotel Industry Out of the Doldrums

Germany's hotel industry is beginning to show signs of recovery after a three-year crisis period. The German Hotel Association said in Berlin on Wednesday that bookings in Germany's 38,000 hotels and motels were up by 5.5 percent in the first half of 2004. At the same time room rates sank by 0.5 percent as compared to the same period last year. The average price amounted to €84 ($102.7). Fritz Georg Dreesen, head of the German Hotel Association said these were definite indications that a recovery was underway but warned that the better figures didn't improve the situation for all companies in the hospitality industry. "Only a sustained revival of the entire economy would create a mid-term perspective for the hotel industry," he said.