Berlin’s tourism sector holds its own in the first half of 2026
- 5.9 million guests and 13.6 million overnight stays in Berlin’s hotels and accommodation establishments
- Berlin is a popular destination for visitors from Germany
- Trade fairs such as IFA and InnoTrans, as well as international sporting events, are driving strong growth in travel in the second half of the year
Berlin, 10 August 2026 Berlin welcomed 5.9 million visitors in the first half of the year. This means that the number of visitor arrivals remained virtually unchanged compared with the same period last year (2025: 6 million). By contrast, the number of overnight stays fell by 2.7 per cent to a total of 13.6 million (2025: 13.9 million). This reflects the subdued economic situation in the markets. Visitors stayed in the city for an average of 2.3 days. These figures are taken from the latest report by the Berlin-Brandenburg Statistical Office, which was published this morning.
More German visitors are travelling to Berlin
The number of visitors from Germany rose by 1.8 per cent to 3.9 million. With 8.3 million overnight stays, the previous year’s level was almost matched (-0.3 per cent). The domestic market thus proved to be a key pillar of Berlin’s tourism sector from January to June 2026.
Jürgen Amann, Managing Director of visitBerlin: “The virtually stable number of visitors shows that Berlin has strong appeal. With major trade fairs such as IFA and Innotrans, sporting events and conferences in the second half of the year, Berlin is well placed to attract additional demand and appeal to new target groups.”
Sabine Wendt, Managing Director of visitBerlin: “It is important for Berlin to develop high-profile travel events and attractive offers that make Berlin an even more exciting destination and encourage visitors to stay longer. In doing so, we boost the value added for the city and create sustainable momentum for tourism.”
The United Kingdom remains the strongest overseas market
In the international market, the number of visitors fell by 4.1 per cent to around 2 million, whilst overnight stays declined by 6.4 per cent to 5.2 million. The United Kingdom remained the most important source market. British visitors accounted for 564,000 overnight stays (-5.7 per cent) between January and June. This was followed by the USA with 511,000 overnight stays (-9.9 per cent) and the Netherlands with 361,000 overnight stays (+2.3 per cent).
Many reasons to travel in the second half of the year
In the second half of the year, Berlin offers numerous additional reasons to visit, with trade fairs, sporting events, conferences and cultural events. From 4 to 8 September, the IFA will bring international exhibitors and visitors with an interest in technology to the capital. Running in parallel, the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup will take place from 4 to 13 September. This is followed from 22 to 25 September by InnoTrans, one of the world’s leading trade fairs for transport technology. On 26 and 27 September, the BMW Berlin-Marathon attracts runners and visitors from all over the world to Berlin.
From 9 to 18 October, the Festival of Lights Berlin takes centre stage with light art. Berlin also remains a sought-after venue for international health and science conferences: from 11 to 13 October, the World Health Summit will bring together experts from the worlds of politics, science, business and society. This is followed from 4 to 7 November by Neurowoche, which combines several major medical conferences.
From 7 to 14 November, the city will be in the spirit of freedom and democracy during Berlin Freedom Week. One of the highlights is the Berlin Freedom Conference on 10 November. From late November onwards, the Christmas markets in the city’s districts will provide further seasonal travel inspiration. The congress year concludes from 9 to 12 December with the European Headache Congress, which brings together international experts in headache research.
Further information and inspiration for a trip to Berlin can be found at visitBerlin.de.
