Dresden's tourist numbers return to pre-corona level

Dresden is returning to pre-coronavirus pandemic tourist numbers. With 5.7 million overnight stays and 2.6 million arrivals, the city has almost reached the level of the record year 2019, according to Dresden Marketing GmbH (DMG). The 250th anniversary of the birth of the painter Caspar David Friedrich, major events and an increase in business travel had ensured growth.

Most foreign tourists to Dresden come from Poland

84 percent of visitors to Dresden and the Elbland region come from within Germany, it said. As in 2023, most tourists from abroad came from Poland. They were followed by tourists from the USA, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands. The major concerts by Rammstein, AC/DC and Roland Kaiser, for example, proved to be a driver for tourism. Room occupancy here was almost 100 percent.

Dresden presents itself as a city of dance this year

This year, Dresden wants to present itself to tourists as a "city of dance". The background to this are the anniversaries of 200 years of ballet at the Semperoper and 100 years of the Palucca University of Dance Dresden. "With dance, we once again have a strong annual theme with which we can present exciting, contemporary positions and offerings and at the same time show our traditional roots," said Head of Marketing Corinne Miseer.

"Dresden's tourism industry invests around 20 million euros in private funds each year in the marketing and visibility of offers in the Saxon state capital. The city can only do its part if Dresden Marketing GmbH has sufficient financial resources at its disposal," emphasized Sebastian Klink, CEO of the Dresden Tourist Board.

Klink envisions a model for the future similar to that in Leipzig, where a fixed percentage of the revenue from the accommodation tax goes directly to Leipzig Tourismus und Marketing GmbH for additional acquisition and marketing measures. It would also be conceivable to set a threshold amount from which every additional euro collected would go to DMG.