Tourism in Leipzig is booming: With approximately 1.45 million tourist visits and approximately 2.7 million visitors staying overnight, Leipzig could easily surpass the results of its record breaking year in 2012. This includes an increase in the number of tourist visits by 7.8% and of visitors staying overnight by 8.7% in comparison to last year. These results have seen Leipzig be awarded second place by the promotional association of major German cities 'Magic Cities' behind Hamburg (9.1%) for the increased number of overnight stays in 2013.
Increase in overnight stays in major German cities in 2013
- Hamburg +9.1 %
- Leipzig +8.7 %
- Berlin +8.2 %
- Frankfurt +6.0 %
- Düsseldorf +4.7 %
- Munich +4.3 %
- Stuttgart +2.7 %
- Dresden +2.3 %
- Nuremburg +0.8 %
- Cologne -0.1 %
- Hannover -0.5 %
Source: Office of Statistics of each federal state Popularity as conference and congress location on the riseLeipzig's popularity as a location for conferences, congresses, trade fairs and events continues to increase. Between 60 to 70 percent of all overnight stays in the city are business related trips. For this reason, marketing for congresses is becoming increasingly more important for Leipzig. The new opening of the congress hall at Leipzig zoo on 21 May 2015 will mark another important development for the city.
In 2013 a total of 112 establishments providing tourist accommodation and camp sites, together providing 14,143 beds, were open for business. The average length of stay was 1.9 days (2012: 1.8 days).
Visitors from abroad
Leipzig is continuously developing into a magnet for visitors from abroad. From January to December 2013 434,594 foreign guests stayed overnight in the city, accounting for approximately 16.1 percent of all overnight stays (2012:15.8 percent). The rankings showing the number of visitors from abroad to Leipzig reveal that visitors from the USA take top spot (40,866) followed by Great Britain (33,321) and Switzerland (31, 317). For the first time since 2000 the Czech Republic finds itself amongst the top 10. Leipzig has also clearly become more popular with visitors from Poland (+20.5%), France (+26.5%) and Russia (+20.5%).
Number of visitors from abroad to Leipzig
- USA 40,866 overnight stays -15.8%
- Great Britain 33,321 overnight stays -8.1%
- Switzerland 31,317 overnight stays +5.4%
- The Netherlands 30,194 overnight stays +2.8%
- Austria 29,053 overnight stays +3.4%
- Italy 21,762 overnight stays +11.3%
- Czech Republic 20,312 overnight stays + 197.6%
- Poland 19,062 overnight stays +30.2%
- France 18,381 overnight stays +26.5%
- Russia 17,363 overnight stays +20.5%
Highlights 2014
Among the highlights of 2014 is the Auto Mobil International (31.5.-8.6.), Germany's largest automotive trade fair, the opening of 'Lutherwegs in Sachsen' (4.6), the German Evangelical Choir Festival, the Free State of Saxony Church Day (27.-29.6.) and the 25th anniversary of the Peaceful Revolution '89 marked by the Festival of Lights (9.10).