The latest visitor and accommodation figures for Frankfurt have once again surpassed the record results of the year prior. In 2016, Frankfurt welcomed around 5.2 overnight guests, an increase of 1.9%. Better yet, with a grand total of 8.8 million overnight stays (+1.5%), Frankfurt’s hotel industry recorded more overnight stays than ever before.

Both the domestic market with 2.9 million guests (+1.3%) and 4.8 million overnights stays (+0.4%) and the foreign market with 2.3 million guests (+2.8%) and 4 million overnight stays (+2.9%) achieved record results.

The pan-European market was responsible for some 1.8 million overnight stays (+3.4%). Key European source markets like the Netherlands (116,617 overnight stays, +12.9%), Spain (167,838 overnight stays, +11.8%) and Switzerland (141,659 overnight stays, +4.9%) recorded significant growth. Despite suffering a slight downturn, Great Britain remains as Frankfurt’s leading European source market with 295,280 overnight stays (-1.8%). Russia was the only major source market to record a significant decrease (11.5%), most likely due to the current political climate.

Overseas markets, especially Asia, have been instrumental in driving growth. Approximately 2.2 million overnight stays (+1.7%) by overseas visitors were recorded in 2016. The vast majority of these came from the USA, some 578,549 in all (+5.0%). China was second with 308,546 overnight stays (+10.3%). The Middle Kingdom has thus become Frankfurt’s second-most important overseas market, replacing Great Britain. After several years of strong growth, the source market representing the Arab Gulf States recorded its first negative year with 229,701 overnight stays (-7.9%). The Japanese market also suffered losses in 2016, most likely due to security concerns in Europe, recording 154,299 overnight stays (-13.1%).

Frankfurt’s hotel industry is one of the fastest growing in all of Europe. With some 271 establishments (+6) and 49,392 beds (+4,000), the city’s accommodation offers are more extensive and diversified than ever before. What's more, there are further investments and new accommodation establishments planned for the near future as well. At the moment, bed occupancy is at 48.9%, having decreased very slightly in 2016. Average room occupancy, meanwhile, was at approximately 68.5%. The duration of stay has remained almost exactly the same at 1.69 days.

Frankfurt has every reason to be optimistic about tourist and visitor activity in 2017 and will most certainly be breaking the nine million overnight stays mark during the course of the year.