Millennials and Generation Z: Andalusia sets out to conquer the young audience in Germany

Millennials and Generation Z. These are the new audiences that Andalusia aims to attract in Germany and other European destinations with a strategy designed to draw a younger visitor with higher spending power who will find in the Andalusian destination a place to become a loyal tourist. The trend in the German tourism sector is moving in this direction, and this was communicated to the Andalusian Government in a meeting that the Tourism Councilor, Tourism, Arturo Bernal, held with airlines, tourism agents, travel agencies, and operators, who work not only in the German market but also in others like the Czech or Polish markets. "We had the opportunity to validate our tourism strategy not only in Germany but also in Europe, which is our nearby market," explained Bernal, who framed it within the strategy of consolidating this market and "renewing the target customers we are addressing."

The councilor reported that German professionals have conveyed that the German market is evolving and that it is precisely the millennial and Generation Z audiences who are beginning to define the tourist profile in Germany and Central Europe compared to the consumers of decades ago "who have stopped traveling or do so with much less interesting spending behavior for the destinations."

Andalusia had already come to this edition of the ITB, which today faces its second professional day, with the primary goal of attracting that younger and middle-aged tourist who has a higher purchasing power, especially in a market like the German one that presents a higher average expenditure and a longer stay compared to other European destinations. In this regard, the Tourism Councilor valued that the German professionals have endorsed this strategy. "We are one of the destinations that are pioneering this effort", emphasized Bernal, who nevertheless recognized that in some sectors of the younger population "Andalusia is not yet on their radar." "They have other destinations like the United States, Asia, and the Pacific, which is normal because young people want to make longer trips," clarified the councilor, who trusted that the work being done to make Andalusia known, along with intermediaries such as agencies, will place the destination on the radar of the young and "we will significantly increase that traffic." Regarding the millennial tourist, he also valued that it is a profile that currently presents higher spending, so it can be targeted towards the premium tourism segment.

Andalusia surpasses the pre-pandemic share in the German market and aims to grow more than 10% in air seats

Other Competitors

The councilor also highlighted that in this new strategy that Andalusia wants to implement to attract another type of visitors, the destination is not competing with other Mediterranean markets like Turkey or Tunisia, but presents itself as a destination "that competes in quality and with high sustainability criteria" and this is beginning to be recognized by the German public. "We are pleased because it means that these efforts have started to have an impact on the minds of German consumers," he stressed. "Andalusia no longer competes in costs, Andalusia does not compete in prices," he highlighted from that strategy in which the community aims to also show itself as a destination committed to sustainability. "We do not want to compete in that segment, we want to compete in a high-quality segment that also brings us tourists who contribute more value," he elaborated, ensuring that the German professionals see "our strategy of differentiation by quality and not by price" as correct.

Bernal also highlighted how the professionals of the German tourism sector provided this morning in the meeting held at the ITB some keys to "reposition" the destination in some aspects of its marketing, with a view to orienting it to the periods of the year when the German visitor is planning their vacations. The councilor explained that Tourism is already working in this direction, "we are precisely working on a Big Data strategy with artificial intelligence to know which are, by communities and by seasons, the moments when Germans are making the decision to travel to make at those specific times the communication and promotion campaigns so that we have a much more efficient and effective action."