Small-Town Vacation: Binz on the Baltic Sea is the Most Popular Small Town

For a pleasurable small-town vacation in Germany, a beautiful place alone is not enough. To make the trip successful, local tourism must satisfy many demands. According to a new study, Binz on the Baltic Sea does this best.

Great sights, idyllic nature, and a charming old town are not always enough for a successful vacation in a small town in Germany. To present themselves as attractive hosts, cities and communities need to bundle attractive all-around packages. For economic success, it's not very beneficial if there are many attractions but too few hotel beds, or if a small town is famous for its cultural program but difficult to reach by car or train.

A comprehensive data analysis by the administration magazine 'Kommunal' with the help of the location analysis company 'Contor' has now taken a closer look at tourist places with 1,000 to 9,999 inhabitants in Germany and created a ranking of 'Tourism hotspots among small towns' based on various factors.

The analysis of the individual regions is based on more than 67 predominantly economic indicators, including the population number in various age groups, distances to highways, train stations, and airports, as well as unemployment rate, gross domestic product, crime rate, number of guest beds, and bed occupancy percentage.

For tourists, the ranking is a navigator to lovely small towns where one can feel completely comfortable. And it shows municipalities where there is still potential for improvement and how investments in tourism are paying off elsewhere. The study cites as advantages of a good tourism strategy, besides increased municipal and private revenue, a lower unemployment rate, fewer bankruptcies, and more immigration in areas with declining populations.

For the extensive analysis, experts evaluated data from 5,370 small towns. The distribution of tourist sites is particularly striking. Regions in Bavaria, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein, and Baden-Württemberg clearly lead the list. In contrast, places with few tourist advantages are predominantly found in North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Lower Saxony.

A look at the individual results also paints a clear picture: The top ranks are consistently occupied by small towns in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Heringsdorf on the island of Usedom takes third place and the seaside resort Göhren on Rügen takes second place. And the winner of the analysis is also located on Rügen: the seaside resort Binz has the best-developed tourism economy in all of Germany, according to the analysis.

In Binz, where around 5,500 residents are registered, the study states that the highest proportion of jobs is in hospitality, accommodation, and gastronomy, along with a significant number of guest beds that are also well-occupied. Additionally, there is a positive 'migration balance' - unlike in many other places, significantly more people statistically come to Binz than leave. A crucial reason for this is likely the upward development of available income for residents as well as the gross domestic product in Binz. "Study author Henner Lüttich ('Contor'): 'Tourism in Binz contributes to the very positive development of socio-economic indicators across the entire district. These include gross domestic product, available income, and positive population development.'

The result of the analysis aligns with reported overnight stay numbers. Of the annual 1.2 million visitors to Rügen, a quarter stay overnight in Binz according to local tourism data. And those who come to Binz don't just stay for a day - overnight tourism accounts for 93 percent of the annual tourism turnover of 280 million euros. Value creation: almost 140 million euros.

Moreover, despite economic success, Binz keeps an eye on the future: in the district Prora, according to the vacation region, about one billion euros have been invested in recent years.

Rank 1: Binz

Rank 2: Göhren

Rank 3: Heringsdorf

Rank 4: Dierhagen

Rank 5: Sankt Peter-Ording

Rank 6: Boltenhagen

Rank 7: Krün

Rank 8: Zingst

Rank 9: Oberwiesenthal

Rank 10: Prerow

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Travel Reporter