BERLIN WHO'S COMING
Berlin closed 2025 with 12.4 million guests and 29.4 million overnight stays — holding its European top-tier rank on a flat year, with the USA the largest foreign market and Asia climbing fast.
Berlin held its level in a difficult German travel year: 29.4 million overnights across more than 700 accommodation establishments, roughly flat on 2024, and still the country’s undisputed city-break capital. Germany was the biggest source market by far — 7.9 million domestic guests and 17.34 million nights — while international guests held 41% of the total. The top foreign three read: USA around 1.28 million nights, the United Kingdom 1.27 million, the Netherlands 786,400, with Spain and Italy behind.
The momentum moved east and south: overnight stays from Turkey grew 8.5%, Israel 9.5%, Canada 6.6%, India 10% and China 14.4% — the last pair restoring the long-haul Asian base the city lost in the pandemic decade. Congress tourism is the second engine: Berlin’s fair calendar (ITB, IFA, ILA, InnoTrans on even years) anchors the midweek rate, and city hall’s strategy now explicitly manages tourism “compatible with the city” — growth steered into neighbourhoods rather than against them.
THE TIO READ
Plan around the fair calendar, not the season: Berlin’s price spikes are ITB in March and IFA in September, while August — peak tourist month elsewhere — is the locals’ flight month and the visitor’s bargain. Book congress weeks six months out or not at all.
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