Berlin, May 12th 2014 An increasing number of travellers are choosing to come to Germany's capital during the winter months, as can be seen in a year-to-year comparison of the first quarters of 2013 and 2014 respectively. From January to March 2014, Berlin welcomed 2.35 million visitors (+2.8%) who stayed a total of 5.4 million nights (+3.1%). German guests accounted for 3.1 million (57.3%) of the nights spent in Berlin during the first quarter, while the remaining 2.3 million nights (42.7%) were spent by visitors from abroad. These were the results revealed the 9th of march by the Berlin-Brandenburg Statistical Office.

"The trend for Berlin's continued attraction to visitors in the winter months continues", says Burkhard Kieker, CEO of visitBerlin. "Although the Easter holidays were in late April this year and March therefore posted weaker numbers than usual, the first quarter as a whole saw an increase in visitor numbers."

Jump in visitors from Asia – core European markets remain stabile

In the first three months of the year, Berlin was particularly attractive to guests from China (+24.5% overnight stays over the previous year) and the Arabian Gulf States (+50.4%). The Arab visitors had the highest average stay (4.1 days, compared to the overall average of 2.3 days). There was also strong growth in guests from eastern and south-eastern Europe over the same period last year (Slovenia +59.6%, Estonia +41.8%, Poland +38.4%, Slovakia +28.8%).

The number of overnight stays from the core European markets of Italy and the Netherlands increased by 8.1 and 5.9 per cent, respectively. The figures for overnight stays from the UK have traditionally been the highest in Berlin and increased again in the first quarter of 2014 (+1.8% to 257,470). There was a drop in the number of nights from Spain (-6.1%) and France (-3.6%), however. Overall, guests had 803 accommodation establishments and 134,201 beds to choose from.