Germans, including Bavarians, like to travel: whether in the USA, Thailand or Mallorca, they can be found everywhere. According to the German Travel Association, around 70 billion euros are spent annually on vacation trips. However, many travelers do not go abroad to spend money, but to save. Tank tourism to Austria and the Czech Republic has been one of the biggest issues in the border areas for years.
In Austria and the Czech Republic, a liter of petrol or diesel costs significantly less than in Bavaria. This is mainly due to the fact that there are higher tax levies on the respective fuels in this country: mineral oil tax, value added tax and, since the beginning of this year, the CO₂ levy make up 78 cents for diesel and 98 cents for premium gasoline. In Austria, for example, the tax on diesel is 58 cents and that of premium gasoline is 66 cents. This price difference is clearly noticeable when filling up and causes many people who refuel to drive for kilometers beyond national borders.
“Sooner or later we will no longer exist.”
This is how Birgit Wimberger experiences it in Kirchdorf. There she operates one of the last German petrol stations before the border to Austria in the Rottal-Inn district. She has felt the fuel tourism for years. The higher the taxes go, the more the problem gets worse. “Twenty years ago there were 13 or 14 petrol stations here,” she says. Two of them stayed before the border: Wimberger’s free petrol station in Kirchdorf and an Aral petrol station just before the Inn Bridge in Simbach. On the other bank of the Inn on the Austrian side, the gas stations pop out of nowhere: 15 gas stations within a five-kilometer radius. Wimberger is certain: “Sooner or later we will no longer exist.” You are calling for politicians to have a uniform tax regime in the EU.
The Central Association of the Petrol Station Industry (ZTG) has now announced that tank tourism has increased significantly again recently. This is due in large part to the record-high fuel prices currently in place. According to ADAC, a liter of diesel costs 1.555 euros on average across Germany, which is more than ever before. The petrol price per liter is 1.667 euros and is only 4.2 cents away from its all-time high. On the one hand, these high prices are due to an increased demand for crude oil, due to a recovering economy after the restrictions of the corona pandemic. At the same time, however, the supply is not increased to the same extent, which causes a drastic shortage and thus a price increase. In addition, there is an additional demand for heating oil in the autumn and winter months and thus an increase in diesel prices.
Association speaks of “gasoline price paradox”
These price increases are of course also noticeable in other countries. “Our prices are higher than ever before,” confirms the Austrian petrol station operator Karl Thrainer on the phone. With an average of 1.38 euros per liter of diesel and 1.40 euros per liter of premium gasoline, Austria also has the highest prices since 2012. Nevertheless, more and more German tank tourists come to Thrainer’s gas station on the German-Austrian border near Kufstein. Compared to October 2019, he already sold around eight percent more fuel this month. Since 90 percent of his clientele are German tank tourists, this speaks for a significant increase in tank tourism. The Central Association of the Petrol Station Industry (ZTG) speaks of this increase as a “petrol price paradox”, because the price difference between Austria and Germany has not changed significantly in recent months.
Tank tourism is making itself felt in Bavarian cities on the border with Austria such as Passau. “We have a traffic jam through the whole city center because of the tank tourism,” says Manuel Lang. He is the owner of a Shell petrol station, and an Austrian petrol station 500 meters away sells petrol for 30 to 40 cents less. Only corporate customers come to him. Markus Färber, owner of a gas station in the family business, says he will have to shorten his opening times. Like him, the other petrol station operators in the border regions such as Burghausen or Mittenwald are doing. In Neuhaus, which is across from Schärding in Austria, on the other side of the Inn, there is no gas station at all.
According to the German Institute for Economic Research, the development of fuel prices is currently unpredictable, so it is also unclear how fuel tourism will develop in the near future. The uncertain pandemic situation in the coming months also plays a role in this uncertainty. If the borders were to close again, as they did last year, the gas stations on the Austrian side would have no customers and some German towns would have no gas stations.