Tourism and hospitality
Slight rise in the number of tourists visiting Leipzig in 2021
In the second year of the pandemic, Leipzig’s tourist industry continued to suffer greatly from the almost six-month ban on tourism. This clearly affected visitor statistics in 2021. According to the Saxon Department of Statistics, with a total of 2.032.368 overnight stays, Leipzig recorded a slight increase of 3.7 per cent compared to the previous year. However, the number of overnights was significantly below the figure for 2019 – a record year for Leipzig when the figure rose to 3.6 million. When accommodation was reopened to tourists again, demand was very high. For example, the number of overnight stays in Leipzig between August and October 2021 was 1.024.655 – higher than the same period in 2019 before the pandemic (1.006.883). In fact, the figure of 368.339 overnights in August 2021 was a new record. Visitors mainly comprised families and individual travellers on short trips as well as people actively exploring the Leipzig region.
International cuisine: A mouth-watering choice
In Leipzig, visitors are spoilt for choice when it comes to eating out. There are 1.388 restaurants, bars and cafés. They range from simple bars to gourmet restaurants serving Saxon and international cuisine. When the weather's fine, visitors dine alfresco and watch the world go by thanks to the additional outdoor seating for 17.000.
One typical feature of Leipzig is the various districts of bars and restaurants, such as Drallewatsch starting on the marketplace and continuing along Barfussgässchen, the bistros, bars and cafés in 'theatreland', and Connewitz in south Leipzig. All in all, guests are welcomed by Leipzig's some 10.096 restauranteurs and landlords and their staff.
The oldest part of Leipzig in the area around Barfussgässchen provides an impression of just how compact the architecture in the city centre used to be. Renaissance, baroque and fin-de-siècle buildings nestle cheek by jowl with picturesque spots and winding arcades. Some of Leipzig's restaurants are closely associated with historical celebrities, such as "Auerbachs Keller", where part of Goethe's Faust is set, and "Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum", which local luminaries like Goethe, Lessing, Wagner, Schumann and many more used to frequent.
Foreign visitors by country of origin
Sources: Statistical Office of the city of Leipzig (2021)