Fewer Guests in Youth Hostels in Thuringia - Thuringia's youth hostels see visitor decline as last-minute bookings rise in 2025
Youth hostels in Thuringia saw fewer visitors in 2025, continuing a downward trend. The region's 16 hostels, offering 2,037 beds, recorded 190,650 overnight stays—a 3.7 percent drop from the previous year. Bookings have also shifted, with most guests now reserving just one or two days ahead instead of planning far in advance.
Thuringia's youth hostels welcomed around 80,800 guests in 2025, nearly 5,000 fewer than in 2024. School and class trips remained the largest visitor group, making up roughly two-thirds of all stays. Families followed as the second-biggest segment, matching the national pattern where they accounted for 20 percent of bookings.
Nationwide, the German Youth Hostel Association (DJH) reported 8.8 million overnight stays in 2025, a 2.8 percent decline from 2024. Some regions saw steeper drops: Niedersachsen and Bremen recorded 1.1 million stays, down 2.47 percent, while Bavaria had 1.13 million, a 4 percent decrease. Despite these figures, the association remains optimistic for 2026.
The sector has also noticed a shift in booking habits since the COVID-19 pandemic. Where guests once planned trips months ahead, most now book just days before arrival. Thuringia's network expanded in 2025 with a new hostel in Gotha, though overall visitor numbers continued to fall.
Thuringia's youth hostels face a changing landscape, with fewer guests and more last-minute bookings. The region's decline mirrors broader trends across Germany, where overnight stays fell in 2025. However, the addition of a new hostel in Gotha and the ongoing demand from school groups suggest the sector still plays a key role in travel and education.
