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Quality Monitor Tourism in Germany Multiplier effect Campaigns 800 years of Thomana Germany for young people ITB 2013 Members Business travel MICE destinations Image Sustainability GTM 2012 Leipzig German wine 200 years of Richard Wagner Sponsors Trends Nature Success 50 years of the Élysée Treaty Barrier-free Growth 150 years of Henry van de Velde GTM 2013 Stuttgart UNESCO World Heritage GCB www.germany.travel doCuMENTa(13) Luther decade 300 years of Frederick the Great activities Social media Partners HotSpots 200 years of the Brothers Grimm fairytales Partnerships Regional managements Forecast outlook German National Tourist Board

www.germany.travel

2012 Annual Report

CoNTENTS

2 www.germany.travel

2012 Annual Report

Frankfurt, Sachsenhausen

Foreword 4

a MESSaGE from Ernst Burgbacher 6

a MESSaGE from Klaus Laepple 8

INTERVIEW with Petra Hedorfer 10

1 The German National Tourist Board 14

RouNDTaBLE: politicians 18

2 Tourism in Germany Facts, figures, image 22

RouNDTaBLE: transport providers 32

3 The network of GNTB members, sponsors and partners 36

RouNDTaBLE: the hospitality industry 46

4 Theme-based marketing and campaigns 50

4.1 Marketing themes for 2012 52

4.2 Press and PR activities 60

4.3 Social media 64

4.4 Trade fairs and events 68

4.5 www.germany.travel 76

RouNDTaBLE: regional marketing organisations 80

5 a look ahead to themes and campaigns for 2013 / 2014 88

6 International marketing 98

7 aims and objectives 126

8 administration 130

9 organisation and structure 138

Production credits 150

3

FoREWoRD

B y the end of the year, international visitors had made a total of 68.8 million overnight stays in Germany – an in-crease of 8.1 per cent and the third year in a row that we

have achieved such a fantastic result. But that’s not all: Germany is now firmly established as the second most popular destination for European travellers. We have made up further ground on Spain, which holds on to the top spot, and the gap between us and our competitors France and Italy, in third and fourth place respec-tively, has increased again. another record: for the first time, Des-tination Germany finished above France to become the number one cultural travel destination for Europeans.

There are various factors behind the success story of tourism in Germany. For one, we are less dependent on individual source markets than our competitors. This is where the diversity of our themes and the broad positioning of the GNTB in the source regions really comes into its own. also, our targeted investment in precisely defined future growth markets in central and eastern Europe and the BRICS countries is paying dividends in the form of strong increases in overnight stays. Examples of this investment include our second Central Europe Workshop in 2012 and the opening in May 2012 of a new regional office for Destination Germany in Belgrade. This joint venture with the Danube Com-petence Center (DCC) covers the markets of Bosnia and Herzego-vina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia.

one particular engine of growth for inbound tourism in 2012 was – in keeping with our theme for the year – business travel. Together with our strategic partner, the German Convention Bureau, we promoted aspects of sustainability to potential visitors to Germany and travel decision-makers.

In 2012, in a high-impact campaign entitled ‘Wine and food – Discover the taste of Germany’, we teamed up with the German Wine Institute to present Germany as a travel destination for con-noisseurs. Key PR themes echoed cultural and historical anniver-saries such as the 800th anniversary of St. Thomas choir, the doCuMENTa 13 art exhibition and the 300th birthday of Frederick the Great. They highlighted other facets of Germany as a cultural destination, rounding off the palette of marketing themes.

Engaging with new and interactive forms of communication is also part of our ongoing work. By continuing to expand and im-prove upon our online presence, we have further consolidated our competitive advantage over other national tourist boards around the world. We had already catered for the boom in the use of mobile devices when relaunching our website in 2011.

our social media initiative covered growth markets in asia as well as specific target demographics in traditionally strong source markets in western Europe. as a result of this, people in all corners of the globe are now posting, tweeting and blogging about Des-tination Germany.

In 2013, for the first time, we are running an entire theme year geared towards social media and the generation of young people who most commonly communicate in this way.

Thanks to our internet activities, young travellers are becoming more aware of Germany as a travel destination: they are planning their trips online, documenting their travels in real time and shar-ing their experiences with friends on social media sites – virtual worlds, real-life viral marketing.

Friends, colleagues and partners of tourism in Germany A volatile environment but another year of record growth – that’s how we would sum up the performance of the German tourism industry in 2012. It was a year in which the economic challenges brought about by the Euro crisis significantly dampened the willingness of Europeans to travel. Popular tourist destinations as well as key source markets in Europe were hit particularly hard by the crisis. In spite of this, Germany saw above-average increases in the volume of inbound travel from European countries and from overseas.


We can be particularly proud that our marketing activities were recognised in 2012 both in Germany and abroad: the new multi-lingual GNTB website, launched in 2011, was awarded the Gold award in 2012 by the Pacific asia Travel association (PaTa). Closer to home, the website www.creative-germany.travel received the 2013 German Design award. The GNTB also collected an award for its work representing the interests of the Hungarian motoring organisation MaK. all employees and partners of the GNTB deserve credit for these accomplishments.

It is particularly important that we thank the employees of the GNTB both at head office and in the foreign representative offices and agencies for their outstanding work. We would also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to our colleague Norbert Tödter, who died suddenly and unexpectedly in November. as the long-standing head of market research, strategic planning and partner and theme management, he was a driving force in the work of the GNTB for a great many years. our thoughts go out to his family.

We would like to extend our gratitude to the members and spon-sors of the GNTB for their ongoing support in our collaborative efforts. For enabling us to continue with our successful work, special thanks also go to the decision-makers in the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, most notably Ernst Burgbacher, Parliamentary State Secretary and Federal Govern-ment Commissioner for SMEs and Tourism, and the members of

the Tourism Committee of the German Bundestag. We would also like to give special mention to all members of the GNTB Board of Directors and its president Klaus Laepple, who is unwavering in his commitment to our cause.

Petra HedorferChief Executive officer

Reinhard WernerCommercial Director

5

a MESSaGE FRoM ERNST BuRGBaCHER

Ernst Burgbacher, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology and Federal Government Commissioner for SMEs and Tourism

Germany’s inbound tourism industry is a key provider of impetus for our thriving economy. Despite a generally weak level of eco-nomic growth across Europe, more people in Germany are work-ing than ever before. In the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the Federal Statistical office, Germany had almost 42 million people in gainful employment. This is the highest level since reunification.

Tourism makes a significant contribution to these figures: the industry employs 2.9 million people mostly in small and medium-sized enterprises. and these are all jobs that cannot be exported. If we also take into account ancillary services such as services at airports and deliveries by bakeries to restaurants, then tourism plays a part in 12 per cent of all jobs in our country.

But it’s not just about the numbers: as an industry that relies heavily on services, tourism offers lots of prospects for people with few qualifications and enables them to forge careers by working their way up. The promotion of tourism therefore doubles as an active form of labour-market policy. and the dedication and commitment of people in service professions is a great advertise-ment for our country for all the many people who travel to Ger-many. It’s clear that those of us working here in Germany are also contributing to the positive change of image that Germany has experienced around the world over the past ten years or so. The

people who have visited us have discovered a cosmopolitan and friendly destination with a strong tourism appeal and are return-ing and recommending us to others.

Evidence of this can be seen in the long-term upward trend for the German travel industry. In 2012 we exceeded, by a clear margin, the forecast volume of 400 million overnight stays from Germany and abroad. and once again, a high increase in the volume of international overnight stays in particular gave a significant boost to this growth. In 2012 the Federal Statistical office recorded in excess of 68.8 million overnight stays by visitors from abroad in accommodation establishments with ten or more beds, an increase of around 8 per cent on the previous year.

The German National Tourist Board can take much of the credit for this really excellent result. It has worked hard to drive growth from high-potential markets in recent years, focusing attention on eastern Europe in particular. In 2012 the GNTB used additional funds provided by the Federal Ministry of Economics to open a new regional office in Belgrade, which now covers the markets of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia.

Traditionally, Germany’s major cities with their wealth of culture and its historically important towns have held the greatest appeal

A message from the Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology


for visitors from around the world. These places generate the high-est numbers of overnight stays and the highest increases in inbound travel. Going forward, however, we want to ensure that rural regions benefit from the tourism uptrend as well. In these areas, where the infrastructure is often quite poor, we see lots of untapped potential for employment and wealth creation. To help realise this potential, the federal government teamed up with the German Travel asso-ciation for the project ‘Tourism Prospects in Rural Regions’.

The project, which ran from September 2011 to January 2013, pro-duced recommendations for action, practical guidelines and specific checklists as well as case studies of successful tourism products and services, marketing initiatives and networks. Fol-lowing the closing conference at the ‘Green Week’ we can state with confidence that we are well on the way to improving the framework for tourism in rural areas. Key aspects here include training for the tourism providers, improvements in tourism in-frastructure and in how quality and innovation are managed, and networking of key industry players.

Whether in major cities or rural regions, investment in the tour-ism infrastructure and in the ongoing marketing of Destination Germany has a considerable leverage effect. It’s why the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology is committed to support-ing the work of the GNTB on a long-term basis.

The German National Tourist Board, in turn, plays a major role in positioning our country on the international stage – both through its employees at the headquarters in Frankfurt and through those working at the foreign representative offices and sales & market-ing agencies. on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology I would like to take this opportunity to thank the GNTB for its outstanding achievements in 2012.

Ernst Burgbacher

7

a MESSaGE FRoM KLauS LaEPPLE

Klaus Laepple, President of the GNTB Board of Directors

Destination Germany is more popular than ever. This is reflected in the numbers of overnight stays that are increasing year after year and are, whichever way you look at it, a cause for great optimism.

overnight stays by visitors from abroad once again proved to be a driver of growth in 2012. This, in turn, is a testament to the suc-cessful work of the GNTB, both in markets that are delivering rapid growth and in our traditional source markets.

a consistently high volume of travel from our neighbouring coun-tries as well as from the uK, Spain and Italy provide a secure basis for inbound tourism to Germany. The effect of the Euro crisis on these key source markets, however, has been significant. and periods of tough economic times in these countries have a direct impact on consumer confidence and, as a result, how willing people are to travel. any problems in Europe that restrict tourism to Germany will also make their presence felt in our wider economy.

over the past year eurosceptics have increasingly posed the ques-tion of whether economically weak countries should remain in ‘our’ Europe, or whether they should be expelled.

Let us be clear at this point: our economy, and particularly the tourism industry, has benefited greatly from the European Economic area and the cross-border currency.

according to the statistics for 2012, Germany has built on its al-ready strong position in the ranking of top travel destinations for Europeans. With 45.8 million trips, second-placed Germany has made up further ground on current leader Spain (49.3 million trips). and the gap to France in third position (36 million trips) has increased again. The volume of all outbound travel by Europeans rose by 1.8 per cent; the number of trips to Germany, however, grew by an impressive 7.3 per cent. To put it another way, trips to Germany accounted for more than 40 per cent of the growth in outbound travel by Europeans.

There are many good reasons for this outstanding performance: the generally positive image that Germany enjoys, its outstanding infrastructure and its high quality of service. and let’s not forget how much more affordable Germany is for tourists compared with other international destinations, for example when it comes to hotels in major cities. These factors do, of course, provide a big boost for the business travel segment in particular, which has experienced very strong growth. The volume of promotable busi-ness trips to Germany, including for trade fairs, incentive activities, conventions and events, rose by a hugely impressive 16.7 per cent in 2012 to reach more than six million.

It does not do justice to the complexity of the situation, however, if we only understand and promote Germany as an attractive place to visit. as with any other destination we are equally de-pendent on the prosperity of our source markets. only a sustained increase in the volume of travel by our European neighbours will

A message from the president of our Board of Directors


enable our SMEs to continue to thrive, whether they’re in the hotel and restaurant industry, the transport sector or the inbound travel agency or tour operator business.

Realistically, we have to be aware that this continuous upward growth in inbound travel to Germany could one day slow down. on the other hand, however, we have a responsibility to plan for additional capacities in the tourism market. at the moment, we offer a very good balance between premium and affordable tourism. Young people travelling on a budget are able to explore our country right from the Danish border in the north to Lake Constance in the south. Meanwhile, visitors with discerning tastes have the opportunity to holiday in the lap of luxury in major cities or out in the countryside.

at this point I would like to appeal both to businesses and to policy-makers: large-scale interventions in this established structure, in the form, say, of major investments in luxury hotels, run the risk of causing a slump in prices and, as a result, a drop in service standards. The same applies to administrative interven-tions in the workings of the market economy, such as additional taxes and levies. on the other hand, we could surely do with some sensible measures to further improve the infrastructure, particu-larly in transportation. and we need to find the right balance when dealing with the conflicting interests of different parties, for example in discussions on the operating hours of airports.

our forecast of achieving 80 million international overnight stays a year by 2020 is based on a solid foundation, of that I have no doubt. We have the tourism products to attract to our country the numbers of holidaymakers and business travellers required to reach this target. and we have the expertise to meet the expectations that come with this.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the GNTB. Without their expertise and commitment, this level of success would surely not be possible.

My thanks also go to the Federal Ministry of Economics and Tech-nology, which funds the work of the GNTB, and those responsible for tourism and budgetary policy in the German parliament, whose unwavering support plays a key part in the success of Destination Germany.

Klaus Laepple

9

INTERVIEW WITH PETRa HEDoRFER

Inbound tourism to Germany is registering year after year of record results. The balance sheet for 2012 shows more than 68.8 million overnight stays. Can this upward trend continue?

at the beginning of the decade, we set ourselves a realistic target of generating around 80 million overnight stays a year by 2020. With encouraging results such as in 2012 we are taking huge steps towards achieving this goal.

However, a responsible approach involves not focusing solely on Germany as a travel destination. Some of our biggest source mar-kets continue to be heavily affected by the financial crisis in Europe. We have to maintain a sense of proportion and look beyond the horizon of a single year. The uNWTo growth forecast for Europe as a whole for 2013 lies between 3 and 4 per cent. This is the mar-ket in which we are operating as well, and from which we are unable to detach ourselves completely.

Germany has built up an excellent image. What effect is this having on the tourism industry?

Germany is indeed doing increasingly well in various inter national rankings of image. a prime example of this is the latest anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index, which measures six key loca-tional factors for the ‘brand image’ of countries and therefore the level of demand. Germany was ranked in the top ten in all indi-vidual categories and came in second place overall for the third year in succession. We are excellently positioned on the supply side as well. In the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index, Germany boasts top ratings in the catego-ries of health & hygiene, ground transport infrastructure, tourism infrastructure, cultural resources and safety & security. In the overall comparison of the 140 countries, Germany occupies second place behind Switzerland and ahead of austria and Spain – a fantastic result!

all these studies demonstrate that Germany now has two core brand identities. Building on its position as the number one busi-ness travel destination for Europeans, and boosted by our country’s strong economic growth over the past decade, Destination


Petra Hedorfer, An interview with the Chief Executive Officer of the GNTB

Germany is now also one of the world’s most popular holiday destinations for around half its visitors. Here, by the way, I think it is vital that the national tourism organisations bring into focus the brand image – the brand identity – and highlight this through market-specific campaigns adapted to the different target groups.

Where, from today’s perspective, are the main target markets for inbound travel to Germany?

We look very carefully at which markets offer potential and – this is crucial – with which market-specific products we can best ap-peal to the target groups across the various sales channels. There are many reasons to travel to Germany – shopping, for example, is becoming increasingly important. Revenue from tax-free shop-ping in Germany rose by 46 per cent last year to reach €1.5 billion.

Is premium tourism becoming more important for the German travel industry?

Germany appeals across the board, not only in terms of the dif-ferent price segments but also in terms of motivations for travel and socio-demographic factors. In the wake of the financial crisis of 2008 / 09 we ran a concerted campaign highlighting the affordability of Germany, successfully positioning ourselves as a low-cost destination. Price aspects obviously have a role to play in our current theme as well, in which we are specifically targeting young travellers.

‘Destination Germany for young people’ is the GNTB theme for 2013. What role do younger travellers play and how will you reach out to them?

according to IPK, Germany is already attracting 9.6 million Euro-pean travellers a year who are aged between 15 and 29 – and it’s an upward trend. Visiting cities is particularly popular with this target demographic. The youth travel market, however, differs from traditional forms of travel in several respects. It’s hugely important, for example, to communicate with young people through appropriate means. Which is why we are active on social media.

Before, during and after a trip, young people like to share their expectations and experiences in a variety of social networks. To cater to this, we developed the ‘Youth HotSpots in Germany – Share the moment’ campaign. For the first time, the content of one of our campaigns is based on recommendations by young people. We are thereby capitalising on the trend for social travel and making use of the interactive means of communication favoured by our target audience.

The three core elements of the campaign are a new microsite at www.germany.travel/youth, a mobile app and blogs. For people planning a trip, the microsite provides information and orien tation in the form of HotSpots in the categories of must-sees, nightlife, shopping, bars & cafés and festivals & events. once the trip is

11

2013 International Fair of Tourism in Belgrade

INTERVIEW WITH PETRa HEDoRFER


under way, the travellers can then add their own HotSpots based on authentic experiences and share these with their friends on Facebook, say. In this interactive way, we are combining our own expertise as the GNTB with the tech-savviness of our visitors and the dynamics of word-of-mouth marketing. our free Wi-Fi app helps young travellers throughout Germany to find around 1,300 open-access Wi-Fi networks. Finally, the GNTB is organising themed trips for international travel bloggers who report on these travels in their blogs and on social media, inspiring other young people around the world to visit Germany.

In 2013 the focus is on young people; in 2014 the spotlight shifts to UNESCO.

Germany is become increasingly established as a multifaceted destination for cultural travel. In 2012, according to the European Travel Monitor, we accounted for 12 per cent of the market for culture-related trips by Europeans, putting us in first place. IPK International confirmed that our European neighbours in par-ticular think very highly of Germany as a land of culture. For 80 per cent of austrians and 72 per cent of Swiss, for example, historical places of interest are a key motivation for planning a trip to Germany. With our upcoming focus on ‘uNESCo World Heritage – sustainable cultural and natural tourism in Europe’ we are combining our basic theme of culture with the future themes of Europe and sustainability. Just under half of all uNESCo World Heritage sites are in Europe; Germany occupies an impressive fourth place within Europe, with 37 World Heritage sites.

In preparation for the year of uNESCo in 2014, we have secured the German Commission for uNESCo and the German uNESCo World Heritage Sites association as strategic partners, and, with the support of the former, we will promote the theme using a joint logo. a dedicated, twelve-language microsite is being added to our website, and we are planning to publish a modern culture maga-zine and a special map of Germany. The theme will be rolled out across all 30 international source markets; we are planning one-off campaigns in our high-volume source markets in Europe and in the overseas markets of the uSa, Japan, China and Hong Kong.

Which other themes does the GNTB want to focus on, and what other objectives do you have for the coming years?

Geographically we will be keeping a very close eye on develop-ments in the BRICS countries and in eastern Europe. We will continue to strengthen the international positioning of the Des-tination Germany brand in the 30 markets in which we have foreign representative offices. In terms of our image profile, we aim to maintain our position in the GfK Roper Nation Brands Index.

Marketing-wise we are expanding our portfolio with selected themes: for example, we have put together a dedicated innova-tions management team, which is currently developing a sustain-ability strategy for the GNTB. Germany is already very highly regarded around the world when it comes to sustainability. We are increasingly focusing on this exceptionally multi-layered sub-ject from a tourism perspective. organising the Germany Travel Mart as a ‘green event’ is one of many approaches here.

Socio-demographic trends require that we continually work on the theme of barrier-free tourism. We were able to showcase our newly obtained expertise in this area for the first time at the Barrier-free Tourism Day during the 2013 ITB travel fair. Going forward we will position ourselves with further products for older travellers and for people who are temporarily or perma-nently restricted in their mobility or in the activities that they can do. and we will step up our efforts to market the rural regions, which up to now have benefited far less than the cities from the growth in inbound travel.

We expect incoming travel to Germany to remain on an upward trend in 2013, with overnight stays by visitors from abroad rising by between 2 and 3 per cent.

13

1 THE GERMaN NaTIoNaL TouRIST BoaRD


The German National Tourist Board When it comes to marketing Germany as a travel destination, the GNTB has many strings to its bow. From classical compositions to modern interpretations. From minimalism to the most lavish of arrangements. The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) orchestrates its global activities to find the right medium for all markets.

Munich, State opera House

15

1 THE GERMaN NaTIoNaL TouRIST BoaRD

The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) is Germany’s national tourism organisation. It works on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology from which it receives its funding under a resolution passed by the German parliament. The GNTB’s remit includes image building and the development of products and strategies, as well as sales, market research, advertising and PR activities.

The GNTB markets Germany as a destination for both holiday tourism and business travel. Extensive marketing has enabled the GNTB and its partners to position

Destination Germany as an attractive brand around the world.

In all campaigns and activities, the GNTB pursues two main objec-tives – to enhance the positive image of German towns, cities and regions abroad and to promote travel to Germany. The yardstick for its success is the volume of overnight stays: in 2012 a new re-cord was set for inbound tourism, with visitors from other coun-tries making 68.8 million overnight stays in Germany. The Fed-eral Ministry of Economics and Technology sets specific annual objectives and responsibilities for the GNTB’s international mar-keting in conjunction with the business plan. By working together with the private sector, tourism organisations and the media, the GNTB is able to generate synergies and consolidate activities. Because the GNTB is a public service organisation, it has an obli-gation to use the resources provided to it economically and effi-ciently and to minimise administrative costs. The total budget made available to the GNTB in 2012 came to €34.6 million. This comprised government grants, contributions from members and funds generated by commercial activities. Most of the GNTB’s spending is on marketing.

Successful marketing abroad boosts the economy at home

Success abroad pays dividends at home. The GNTB actively helps to secure and create new jobs in the travel industry, which is dominated by small and medium-sized companies. a study on tourism as an economic factor, published at the beginning of 2012 by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), bears out

this positive impact on employment: 7 per cent of workers in Germany – some 2.9 million people – are employed either di-rectly or indirectly in the tourism sector. of these, 1,714,000 are employed in the hotel and restaurant industry, 256,000 provide services in the sports, recreation, leisure and entertainment sec-tors, 159,000 work in road transport, 103,000 in clinics providing healthcare and physiotherapy, 47,000 in travel agencies and tour operators, and 42,000 in air travel and at airports.

Global awareness of the Germany brand

The GNTB coordinates its international activities through six regional management teams: North West Europe, South West Europe, North East Europe, South East Europe, americas / Israel and asia / australasia. There are 30 permanent foreign repre-sentative offices operating within these territories, of which elev-en are the GNTB’s own offices and 19 are sales agencies run in collaboration with local partners. of the 144.6 positions at the GNTB, 72 are based outside Germany. The GNTB’s international activities focus on business development in the travel industry and direct targeting of end consumers and the media. In Turkey and South Korea the GNTB works with two PR agencies that posi-tion Germany as a travel destination.

In 2012 the GNTB opened a new regional office in Belgrade in partnership with the Danube Competence Center. It is responsible for marketing Destination Germany in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia.


Strategy for the professional marketing of Destination Germany

Professional, strategic planning provides the foundation for a broad-based strategy in the international marketing of Desti-nation Germany. The pooling of different sales and marketing activities enables the tourism potential of Germany to be effi-ciently communicated. Rigorous analysis of the source markets provides the basis for this. The results of these evaluations are used to develop a range of sales and marketing activities for efficiently communicating the tourism potential of Germany. The GNTB brand strategy encompasses:

■ authoritative market research and market analysis■ intensive press and PR activities abroad■ www.germany.travel website with links to partner

organisations■ social media activities targeted at B2B and B2C markets■ advertising in international media to secure partners for

tourism service providers■ providing advice to service providers and tourism

organisations on market-specific product development and business development

■ continuous development and production of new, theme-related advertising material such as sales brochures, image brochures, product flyers and catalogues

■ media cooperations■ support and marketing of packages for specific target

groups and regions

Improving use of public funds through public-private partnerships

The global marketing of Destination Germany is underpinned by the cooperation between the GNTB and its 67 members and twelve sponsors, which include companies in the tourism indus-try, associations and all the marketing organisations of the fed-eral states. These public-private partnerships bring together the interests of the public and private sector. Expertise and budgets can be strategically combined to deliver better results. The GNTB works with its partners to develop sustainable tourism products. annual themes as key campaigns for their international market-ing are the result of this cooperation.

The GNTB, as a service provider, assists tourism providers in Ger-many in the development of products. The GNTB is the key contact for all partners in the German travel industry and coordinates

joint promotions marketing Destination Germany around the world. This public-private partnership concept provides an opportunity for all those involved to have a global presence in the relevant markets.

Global sales activities at a glance

The German National Tourist Board uses numerous sales channels to target people abroad who exert a ‘multiplier’ effect:

■ It promotes Destination Germany at selected international tourism trade fairs and at regional exhibitions (trade and public).

■ It canvasses the international travel trade at workshops and roadshows.

■ It organises the GTM Germany Travel Mart™, the biggest sales event for Germany’s inbound tourism industry.

■ It recruits international tour operators to act as sales partners.

■ It runs fact-finding tours on Destination Germany for international travel professionals and media representatives.

■ It offers the Sales Guide Germany at www.germany.travel as a central sales tool for the travel industry.

The foreign representative offices and sales & marketing agencies target end customers directly and in 29 languages through the GNTB website www.germany.travel.

The GNTB will continue to meet the challenges presented by the global markets with strategic initiatives both in promotional work and in sales.

17

RouNDTaBLE: PoLITICIaNS

In spite of a tough economic climate Germany set another new record for inbound tourism in 2012. From a political perspective, what can and must be done to maintain the competitiveness of Destination Germany by international comparison, thereby keeping it on track for continued success?

Klaus Brähmig, Christian Democratic Union: I am very pleased with the results, and I thank all those who helped to achieve them.

In order to hold our own against the international competition, we have to promote the uSPs of our holiday regions to an even greater extent. Holiday tourism in Germany is of a high quality, and it meets the main principles of sustainability. We have fan-tastic and richly varied landscapes and buzzing cities – and we have to do even more to communicate all this to the outside world.

The tourism industry must do more to tailor its products to specific target groups. active seniors are becoming increasingly important for us because the proportion of the total population that fall under this category will grow enormously in the coming years. The demographic changes represent a huge opportunity for the German tourism sector, provided the focus is put on qual-ity. Tourism providers should be continuously expanding their offerings in core themes such as cycling, walking, culture and food & drink.

Tourism in Germany and Europe is still dominated by European travellers. But in times of fast-growing emerging markets, tour

operators should be developing specific products to attract non-Europeans to Germany as tourists. Why not offer a guided city tour in Chinese?

For those of us working in tourism policy, priority number one is to bolster the framework that enables tourism to thrive. one particular focus of mine is the expansion of barrier-free tourism.

Marlene Mortler, Christian Social Union: a wide choice of modern products and excellent value for money – this was and is the key to success that has led to recent headlines for our travel destina-tion such as “Germany posts third successive year of record results”. upholding quality, identifying trends and skilfully marketing tourism products around the world remain ongoing tasks. Those of us at government level must continue to support the sterling efforts of the industry by providing funding for training and CPD programmes, infrastructure (both municipal and tourism-related) and marketing. In terms of the important work done by the GNTB, this means we have to maintain or increase the €28.3 million al-located to the GNTB in our budget. We also need to continue to raise awareness of the importance of this cross-sectoral industry, something that was highlighted by robust figures in our study on the economic impact of tourism in Germany. That is a political task that costs little but can have a big impact. Despite the fact that much has been done already, we also cannot afford to ease up on our political commitment to barrier-free tourism, a subject that is particularly close to my heart.

Roundtable: the representatives of the Tourism Committee of the German Bundestag


Hans-Joachim Hacker, Social Democratic Party: The tourism in-dustry in Germany stands apart from international competitors thanks to its high quality standards. Excellent service, modern communication, reliability and good value for money are the crucial factors that led inbound tourism in Germany in 2012 to grow at such an exceptionally positive rate. Going forward the industry has to continue to work on these areas in order to hold its own against international competitors, i.e. to maintain and improve on its placements in rankings. In times of stiff competi-tion for the best brains and as a result of demographic change, the German tourism economy has to focus attention on deliver-ing excellent training and providing fair pay for a fair day’s work.

Working together with schools and parents on preparatory train-ing measures can help to reduce the number of people who drop out of vocational courses. The Social Democratic Party believes there should be a statutory minimum wage in the tourism indus-try that rewards people for their hard work.

Horst Meierhofer, Free Democratic Party: I am delighted that the tourism industry in Germany once again achieved record results last year. 68.8 million overnight stays by visitors from abroad is a figure that we can rightly be proud of and is around 8 per cent higher than in 2011. The GNTB is clearly doing excellent work. The current focus on city breaks and business travel should, in my opinion, be complemented by increased efforts to market our national parks. We have lots of fantastic destinations offering

outstanding natural beauty, including the Bavarian Forest National Park, the Saxon Switzerland region and the Wadden Sea.

Dr Ilja Seifert, Die Linke (The Left): The GNTB has the necessary financial backing from the government and has, in my opinion, been doing fantastic work for a number of years. The critical fac-tor will be how the economies of the individual countries develop. We are seeing falls in the number of travellers mainly in those places where the financial crisis is leading to higher unemploy-ment rates and a decline in income. We are also seeing this in our own country: an increasing number of families are no longer able to afford a holiday. Children and young people are most affected by this. our party is paying particular attention to these issues. of course, achieving quality and tourism appeal is not without its challenges. one of my wishes is for all sides to make even greater efforts to build accessibility into the entire tourism value chain.

Markus Tressel, Bündnis 90 / The Green Party: Policy-makers at all levels have to work together with the industry’s key players to put in place a framework for success. This includes further expand-ing activities in international marketing together with other partners as well as maintaining and improving the tourism infra-structure. The development of new mobility concepts, taking into account the rural regions as well, should undoubtedly be a top priority. For me, it is paramount that we rectify the investment deficit apparent in many destinations.

Members of the German Bundestag’s Tourism Committee at the Destination Germany stand during the 2013 ITB travel fair

19

RouNDTaBLE: PoLITICIaNS

We want to put the financial framework in place through intensive programmes of regeneration that lead to savings in resources and that boost the tourism economy, encouraging additional invest-ment at the same time. a transparent product structure also has to be created. Part of this involves national banks, regional banks and development banks building on their tourism expertise in the regions and offering products tailored specifically to the needs of the tourism economy.

The expansion of barrier-free tourism is another key element in maintaining the appeal of Destination Germany. Experts estimate that this could generate up to €5 billion in additional revenue in the tourism industry as well an extra 90,000 jobs. The potential is huge.

Inbound tourism delivers a whole host of economic benefits, whether it’s boosting SMEs, securing jobs or improving the balance of trade. Which of these benefits do you think is the most important and should be pursued further?

Klaus Brähmig, Christian Democratic Union: The work of the GNTB is essential for a strong inbound tourism sector. The federal gov-ernment will continue to provide the GNTB with a high level of financial backing in order to facilitate the aforementioned benefits.

Tourism is hugely important for SMEs because small and medium-sized companies dominate the industry. at the same time, tourism is a very labour-intensive industry and a key engine of job creation. Faced with an ageing society, however, the tourism industry has to put measures in place to counteract an impending shortage in skilled labour. a positive image of the tourism job market is es-sential for this and requires an improvement in working conditions in the shape of higher wages and higher-status jobs. Work with training providers should also be more heavily focused on using innovative ideas to attract the best young talent.

Marlene Mortler, Christian Social Union: Tourism delivers local benefits. It generates non-exportable jobs and a better quality of life for local people. This is the objective that we have been trying to achieve with initiatives such as our rural tourism project. We mustn’t let our focus slip. after all, the industry’s impact on employment is substantial. It contributes nearly €100 billion in gross value added and employs 2.9 million people – the bulk of them in medium-sized businesses, though with a considerable number in smaller companies as well. up until May 2014, a government-backed project analysing the tourism job market will be helping to address the key strategic issue of how to recruit skilled workers.

Hans-Joachim Hacker, Social Democratic Party: Inbound tourism in Germany is categorised into different segments. In recent years these have grown at different rates. Whereas demand for city breaks and cruises has increased dramatically, the potential for growth in other areas is still a long way from being fully ex-ploited. There is clearly pent-up demand for holidays in the low-lying mountains. Water-bound tourism is another area with obvious potential for growth. Improvements in marketing and infrastructure are needed to provide the right framework for this. The Social Democratic Party also sees potential for growth in the expansion of barrier-free / accessible tourism and in pro-

Marlene Mortler, tourism policy spokeswoman for the CDu / CSu party in the German Bundestag

Klaus Brähmig, CDu, Chairman of the Tourism Committee of the German Bundestag

Hans-Joachim Hacker, tourism policy spokesman for the SPD party in the German Bundestag


moting youth travel and family holidays in Germany. Federal policy-makers should embrace this ideal of ‘tourism for all’ out of a sense of social responsibility. Rural tourism / farm holidays offer further potential for family-friendly tourism, and can help to secure jobs and create new ones, as well as expanding the range of options for low-income travellers.

Horst Meierhofer, Free Democratic Party: None of these aspects should be viewed in isolation because they are all interrelated. Creating jobs, for example, has a positive impact on the econo-my at a number of levels. Particularly in underdeveloped rural regions with little industry, tourism provides an excellent means of generating jobs that remain in the local area. I also think it’s important to do as much as we can to help SMEs. This is where a sense of responsibility for one’s employees is at its most pronounced and where a long-term strategy, which isn’t just focused on the next quarter, is a matter of course.

Dr Ilja Seifert, Die Linke (The Left): Tourism plays a key role in the German economy and creates lots of jobs. It is vital that the people employed in the industry are able to make a good living from their work. High on our agenda are subjects such as im-proved training and development, better working conditions,

and collective pay agreements and a minimum wage across the board in place of insecure employment.

If no one is excluded from sharing in the growth in tourism, i.e. if everyone is able to do something for their leisure, health and education, it is the tourism economy that will benefit. We should be working together to break down the existing barriers in terms of financing, infrastructure and administration.

Markus Tressel, Bündnis 90 / The Greens: as the green party, we take a holistic view of tourism. In addition to economic aspects, we attach great importance to the socio-cultural and ecological benefits. Mention should be made here of sustainable regional development, consumer-friendly transport policies, issues re-lated to energy policy and supporting SMEs, consumer protec-tion and, of course, environmental concerns. There is also a focus on the impact of tourism on regional economies, i.e. what ben-efit does it have for the development of our regions.

Markus Tressel, tourism policy spokesman for the BÜNDNIS 90 / Green party in the German Bundestag

Dr Ilja Seifert, tourism policy spokesman for the LINKE (Left) party in the German Bundestag

Horst Meierhofer, tourism policy spokesman for the FDP party in the German Bundestag

21

2 TouRISM IN GERMaNY FaCTS, FIGuRES, IMaGE


Tourism in Germany in 2012Facts, figures, image Cosmopolitan, modern and reliable: that is how Germany is perceived around the world today. This change in image, facilitated by targeted marketing activities, is increasing Germany’s appeal as a travel destination: since 1992, when surveys of the newly reunified Germany first began, the number of overnight stays by foreign guests has grown by a staggering 80 per cent to reach its current level of nearly 69 million a year. The economy benefits from this in the form of increased revenues and job creation.

Frankfurt, skyline

23


million overnight stays by foreign visitors68.8

Growth in inbound tourism to Germany

an increase of 8.1%

0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 70,000

Since 1992 the number of overnight stays in Germany made annually by international visitors has increased by 80 per cent, growth in real terms of 30.6 million

Thousand overnight stays

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

1994

1993

1992

68,827.7

63,677.2

60,305.0

54,819.6

56,539.7

54,778.8

52,953.5

48,243.2

45,363.4

41,698.6

40,642.8

40,786.3

42,642.0

38,664.3

37,250.0

36,354.3

35,454.3

35,481.2

34,784.8

34,708.0

38,200.7

Source: Federal Statistical office 2013


0 2 4 6 8 10

Top 10 source markets for Germany in 2012, measured by overnight stays.The Netherlands is the no. 1 source market for Germany; Switzerland remains in second place

millionPercentage change 2012 / 2011

Netherlands

Switzerland

uSa

uK

Italy

austria

France

Belgium

Denmark

Russia

10.9

5.2

4.9

4.5

3.5

3.2

3.1

2.9

2.9

2.2

+ 2.9 %

+ 9.4 %

+ 4.2 %

+ 5.7 %

+ 6.4 %

+ 6.3 %

+ 4.6 %

+ 4.4 %

+ 10.6 %

+ 25.9 %

Source: Federal Statistical office 2013 (4)

In 2012 tourism in Germany achieved record results for the third year in succession. The Federal Statistical office registered a total of 407.3 million overnight stays at hotels

and guesthouses with ten or more beds and at campsites, an increase of 3.6 per cent on 2011. Domestic tourism accounted for 338.4 million of these overnight stays (up 2.7 per cent). The num-ber of overnight stays by visitors from abroad rose by 8.1 per cent to reach 68.8 million, once again proving to be an engine of growth for the German tourism industry. International arrivals reached 30.4 million (up 7.3 per cent), and there was a modest increase in the average length of stay from 2.2 to 2.3 nights.

Growth from all continents, dynamic growth from the BRICS countries

In the ranking of the highest-volume source countries the Neth-erlands remains the undisputed number one, its 10.9 million overnight stays representing a year-on-year increase of 2.9 per cent. Switzerland consolidated its second place with an impressive performance, growing by 9.4 per cent to reach 5.2 million overnight stays. In third place is the uSa, our biggest overseas source market with 4.9 million overnight stays (up 4.2 per cent). In an unchanged order in positions four to nine are the uK, Italy, austria, France, Belgium and Denmark, all of which recorded increases in overnight stays in 2012. Russia broke into the top ten for the first time, gen-erating 2.2 million overnight stays. (See chart above.)

Europe remains the biggest source region for tourism in Germany by some margin: intracontinental travel accounted for more than three quarters of all overnight stays by visitors from abroad. In terms of the wider European regions, north-west Europe and south-west Europe dominate with a market share of around 50 per cent, followed by north-east Europe / Russia (approx. 16 per cent) and southern Europe (approx. 10 per cent). In 2012 an additional 5.1 million overnight stays were generated worldwide. around one million of these originated from Russia and Switzerland.

The overseas markets in asia, the arab Gulf States and the BRICS countries are also making a considerable contribution to the increase in inbound tourism to Germany. Growth in the asian markets is particularly dynamic: thanks to an increase of 17.9 per cent they set a new record in 2012 with a market share of 10.5 per cent, relegating the americas (up 6.5 per cent, 9.9 per cent market share) to third place. Even now China is already Germany’s biggest source market in asia with 1.6 million overnight stays (up 18.2 per cent), followed by Japan (1.33 million), the arab Gulf States (1.28 million) and India (584,000).

25

Germany performing well by international comparison

In 2012 the united Nations World Tourism organization (uNWTo) registered more than a billion arrivals worldwide for the first time, an increase of 3.8 per cent on the previous year. Europe, as the biggest travel market, grew by 3.3 per cent (534.8 million arrivals), following the global trend. Growth was considerably stronger – though from a lower starting point – in the asia-Pacific region (up 6.8 per cent to 232.9 million arrivals) and in africa (up 6.3 per cent to 52.3 million arrivals).

Germany, with 30.4 million international arrivals, outperformed the European and global average with growth of 7.3 per cent. But that’s not all: whereas European and global growth slowed in 2012, tourism in Germany gained even more momentum.

In 2012, in terms of volume and revenue, outbound travel by Europeans returned to the level that had been reached prior to the financial crisis of 2008 / 09. However, the individual source markets grew at very different rates: in a number of western European countries that are traditionally very important for in-

bound travel to Germany, the volume of travel overall increased only slightly (Netherlands, up by 2 per cent, uK up by 1 per cent) or experienced a decline (e.g. Italy, Spain). In this difficult climate, Germany proved to be exceptionally robust as a travel destination: whereas outbound travel by Europeans rose by 1.8 per cent over-all, the number of trips to Germany went up by 7.3 per cent. This means that around 42 per cent of all growth from European countries can be attributed to Germany. and it wasn’t just the business travel segment that performed strongly; the number of holiday trips to Germany by Europeans also did well, going up by an impressive 5.5 per cent.

The list of top destinations for European travellers remains unchanged for the third year in succession, with Spain leading the way ahead of Germany and France. Germany did, however, significantly close the gap on the leader Spain and further extended its lead on France in third. (See chart above.)


SPaIN2011: 47.7 million trips 2012: 49.3 million trips +3.4%

FRaNCe2011: 36.0 million trips 2012: 36.0 million trips +/- 0.0%

GeRMaNy 2011: 42.7 million trips 2012: 45.8 million trips +7.3%

Destination Germany is the second most popular destination for Europeans for the third year running, behind Spain and ahead of France


13

2All outbound travel by Europeans420 million trips +1.8%


6.2 million

Promotable business trips to Germany by europeans

16.7 %Market share 50 %

Growth of

Source: GNTB/WTM 2013 (5)

(2012 / 11)

Germany still top for business travel and now no. 1 cultural destination for europeans for the first time

In 2012, across all European countries, a total of 45.8 million trips were made to Germany, 7.3 per cent more than in the previous year. Holiday travel was the biggest individual segment, represent-ing 53 per cent of the market. This segment was split approxi-mately half and half between short breaks and long holidays, although growth in the volume of short breaks (up to three over-night stays) was significantly higher. Visits to friends and relatives accounted for almost one in five trips to Germany that originated in Europe.

The market for business travel to Germany picked up further momentum in 2012 despite the generally weak economic situa-tion in Europe: 12.5 million trips were registered in this segment, an increase of 9.4 per cent. Traditional business travel was up by 3.0 per cent, but it was promotable business travel that proved to be the main engine of growth in 2012, going up by 16.7 per cent to reach a total of 6.2 million trips, nearly half the market as a whole. Trade fairs and exhibitions as well as visits to conferences and conventions are helping this MICE market to expand. In the international rankings, Germany has once again consolidated its position as the market leader for trade fairs and conferences and it remains the no. 1 destination for business travel within Europe.

Germany is improving on its positioning in terms of cultural travel as well: in 2012, for the first time, Germany was the most popular worldwide cultural travel destination for Europeans. Its 12 per cent market share puts it ahead of France and Italy in second and third place respectively. (See chart above.)

Strong growth in city tourism

Bavaria was once again the most popular non-city state for foreign visitors to Germany in 2012, its tally of overnight stays going up by almost 9 per cent to reach more than 15 million. Baden-Württemberg retained second place in the non-city state rankings for international overnight stays, closely followed by North Rhine-Westphalia.

The appeal of Berlin for visitors from abroad remains as strong as ever: Germany’s capital and its most popular city destination generated a total of 10.6 million international overnight stays last year – an increase of 14.5 per cent. Major cities and conurbations are generally retaining a high level of appeal for travellers from abroad: more than half of all international overnight stays (54 per cent) were made in cities with over 100,000 residents. The Magic Cities, Germany’s top eleven cities for tourism, accounted for nearly 42 per cent of these overnight stays (up 11 per cent). Hamburg can be delighted with an increase of 17.1 per cent to 2.4 million overnight stays. Munich and Frankfurt also posted strong increases. The list of cities recording in excess of one mil-lion overnight stays is completed by Cologne and Düsseldorf, the two top performers in the North Rhine-Westphalia region.

12%

10%

9%

9%

8%

5%

4%

4%

3%

3%

Source: GNTB/WTM, IPK 2013 (5), preliminary figures

Germany was the number one worldwide cultural travel destination for Europeans for the first time in 2012

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Germany

France

Italy

UK

Spain

USa

austria

Turkey

Czech Republic

NetherlandsMarket share (%)

27

The Historic Highlights of Germany, an alliance of 13 historically and culturally significant German cities, contributed 2.5 million international overnight stays to the healthy balance sheet of city-break tourism. Shopping and cultural experiences proved par-ticularly popular with international guests. Smaller cities with fewer than 100,000 residents, which account for 46 per cent of international overnight stays, are also benefiting from the upswing. In 2012 this segment saw an increase of 5.9 per cent. Meanwhile, the federal states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Hessen, Saxony and Saxony-anhalt recorded double-digit growth.

Infrastructure

The German tourism economy has sufficient capacity to cater to the growing demand in inbound travel. 75 per cent of all overnight stays by visitors from abroad are made in hotels and bed & break-fast hotels, of which there are more than 21,000 to choose from.

Road and air travel dominate in the breakdown of modes of trans-port. Most travellers to Germany from the overseas markets enter via Frankfurt or Munich, Germany’s two main air travel hubs, or via the airports in Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Berlin and Stuttgart.

These major airports reported modest growth in 2012, while smaller regional airports registered falls in the numbers of pas-sengers. In 2012 half of all Europeans visiting Germany travelled by car (up 8.6 per cent); the proportion who flew remained un-changed at 30 per cent. Coach travel and train travel were less commonly used for inbound travel to Germany, with each making up only 8 per cent of the market. For travel within Germany, how-ever, they provide straightforward, convenient connections between the major cities and into less densely populated areas.

Tourism growing in importance for the economy

The inbound travel market is making an increasingly vital contri-bution to the balance of tourism payments in Germany. according to figures from Commerzbank, the amount spent on travel by Germans around the world rose by 3.5 per cent in 2012 to reach €63.8 billion; revenues from inbound tourism, meanwhile, rose by 5.5 per cent to €29.4 billion. This reduced the deficit in the tour-ism balance of payments by 1.8 per cent to €34.4 billion.

at the beginning of 2012, the German Institute for Economic Research DIW econ presented a study examining the economic


Breakdown of overnight stays by foreign visitors to Germany in 2012 by federal state


Mecklenburg- Western Pomerania

Schleswig-Holstein

1,540,402

917,525Hamburg2,390,809

Bremen 401,385 Brandenburg

Berlin10,589,924

801,678

Bavaria

Baden-Württemberg

Rhineland-Palatinate

Saarland257,009

Hessen

Thuringia

Saxony-anhalt

Saxony

Lower Saxony

North Rhine-Westphalia

15,299,135

3,508,991

9,210,105 6,226,058

5,315,950

9,427,609

1,815,935

531,699

593,444

68.8 million

Total

Overnight stays


benefits of tourism, which was funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and carried out on behalf of the Federal association of the German Tourism Industry. The results of the analysis, which included the years up to and including 2010, clearly demonstrated how much tourism contributes to the German economy as a whole. around 4.4 per cent of gross value added is directly attributable to consumer spending by tourists, a figure that rises to 9.7 per cent if the indirect and induced effects of tourism are included. around 2.9 million people are directly employed by companies within the tourism industry. If indirect and induced jobs are included, this rises to an impressive 4.9 mil-lion paid positions across all sectors, meaning that tourism gen-erates more jobs than traditional industries such as automotive manufacturing and construction.

Economic stability and certainty are also factors in the appeal of a destination. In 2012 Germany once again proved itself to be an affordable destination with largely stable prices. The trend towards higher quality and shorter stays is reflected by a slight increase in daily expenditure but an overall decline in expenditure per trip. European travellers spent a total of €24.0 billion in Ger-many in 2012, 4 per cent more than in the previous year. Travel expenditure by Europeans as a whole rose by 3 per cent in 2012.

Outstanding image for Destination Germany around the world

In 2012, as in previous years, the GNTB drew on a wide range of sources to research the positioning of Germany around the world and to derive recommended courses of action for its marketing. These sources included the German Federal Statistical office and EuRoSTaT as well as studies carried out by the World Tourism organization (uNWTo), the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the World Travel Monitor (WTM).

To gain a clearer picture of how Germany is perceived around the world, the GNTB once again drew on the results of the latest anholt GfK Roper Nation Brands Index (NBI) (see chart above) and the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index, published by the World Economic Forum.

a medium-term analysis of the NBI confirms that the brand im-age of Germany in this comparison of 50 countries is firmly es-tablished in the leading pack. For three years in a row Germany has finished in second place behind the uSa in the NBI rankings. This annual survey is based on interviews with 20,000 people from 20 countries. Respondents are asked to evaluate six loca-tional factors relevant to a country’s brand image. In all these individual categories, Germany is in the top ten.

Tourism, 9th place

People, 6th place

Culture, 5th place

Exports, 3rd place

Governance, 3rd place

Immigration/Investment, 3rd place

* Points on a scale of 1 – 100 Source: anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index 2012 report, october 2012

69.61 *

71.89 *

66.10 *

64.41 *

68.11 *

66.22 *

On the demand side, Germany is in second place of 50 countries worldwideTourism is one of six key locational factors for a country’s image

29

another key source useful for evaluating the image of Germany as a tourist destination is the 2013 Travel & Tourism Competitive-ness Index, published by the World Economic Forum in Geneva. Germany is among the leading performers in this nation ranking as well, and, as with the Nation Brands Index, has occupied second place for the past three years. In this comparison of the tourism potential of 140 countries, Germany achieved top rankings in ground transport infrastructure and environmental sustaina-bility and was rated particularly highly for its wealth of cultural resources.

Since 2007 the GNTB has published its quality monitor of the German tourism industry in conjunction with the Europäische Reiseversicherung (ERV) travel insurance company, polling holiday-makers and business travellers to establish their reasons for travel and their satisfaction levels. The results for 2011 / 2012 show once again that most foreign visitors to Destination Germany were very satisfied with their trip. The overall score given by holiday makers remains unchanged at an excellent 1.8 (on a scale of 1 to 6). Business travellers from abroad gave Germany an aver-age score of 2.0 this time round. The most commonly cited reasons for choosing Germany as a holiday destination were ‘local attrac-tions’, ‘landscape / scenery’, ‘townscape / architecture’ and ‘arts and culture’.


Examples of GNTB market information booklets, which are available for all source markets for inbound travel to Germany

Europe

asia

South america

North america

WoRLDWIDE

2%

7%

3%

0%

3%

Source: GNTB/WTM, IPK 2013, February 2013

World Travel Monitor forecast for 2013: Despite the widespread economic crisis, global outbound travel will rise by around 3% outlook for tourism in 2013: changes in volume of outbound travel from individual source regions

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8


GNTB publication: ‘Business Travel Germany 2011 / 2012’ GNTB publication: ‘Quality Monitor of German Tourism 2011 / 2012’

Outlook

In its long-term growth forecast, the uNWTo predicts a continu-ation of the prevailing megatrends: it believes global tourism will grow by an average of 3.3 per cent a year to reach 1.8 billion arriv-als by 2030; Europe and the americas, meanwhile, will grow below this worldwide average, by 2.3 per cent and 2.6 per cent respec-tively. Growth will be significantly stronger in asia / Pacific (up 4.9 per cent), the Middle East (up 4.6 per cent) and africa (up 5.0 per cent). This will, of course, cause a shift in market shares: although Europe, with over 40 per cent of the market, will still be the continent with the most arrivals, it will no longer play the dominant role that it does today.

In its forecast for 2013, the World Travel Monitor predicts that the volume of outbound travel will increase by around 3 per cent worldwide and by around 2 per cent in Europe. The GNTB expects Germany to defy a challenging economic climate to record further growth in inbound overnight stays of between 2 and 3 per cent. This estimate takes into account the anticipated travel volumes in the major source markets and the stable market position of Germany as a travel destination for Europeans.

From a current perspective the long-term objective of attracting 80 million international overnight stays a year by 2020 remains realistic. For this to be achieved, marketing activities must con-tinue in the traditional source markets and be intensified in the high-growth markets.

GNTB publication: ‘Inbound tourism in Germany, 2013 edition – facts and figures for 2012’

31

RouNDTaBLE: TRaNSPoRT PRoVIDERS

Roundtable: transport providers

How would you sum up 2012 for your company with respect to inbound tourism? Which were / are the key international source markets for your organisation?

Jens Bischof: In 2012 the volume of tourism-related trips handled by Lufthansa went up by nearly 11 per cent in comparison with the previous year. and we stepped up our sales activities in the international source markets to increase sales of flights to German destinations in particular.

The most important source markets for passengers travelling with Lufthansa to Germany are once again China, the uK, Italy, Japan, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and the uSa. Lufthansa recorded its biggest increases in inbound tourism from the markets in Brazil and Sweden.

Dr Michael Kerkloh: For Munich airport the top five source markets by passenger volume are France, the uK, Italy, Spain and the uSa. The airport’s inbound marketing, however, is not primar-ily focused on the high-volume markets but on the key strategic markets of North america, asia, the Middle East and eastern Europe. These are the markets with the highest potential for growth.

Birgit Bohle: 2012 was a very successful year for passenger trans-port at Deutsche Bahn, particularly in terms of our international business. our own sales channels performed especially strongly, most notably our international website bahn.com, which is avail-able in 15 country sites and eleven languages. The revenue it gen-erated rose by 27 per cent in 2012. The top-performing online markets for the website remain Switzerland, the uSa, France, the

Netherlands and the uK, although growth in many other markets such as Denmark, australia, Russia and the BRICS countries has also been strong over the past year.

Can you sum up 2012 for your organisation?

Richard eberhardt: Coach tourism makes a vital contribution to the volume of inbound travel to Germany. Coaches offer flexible transport solutions and every year open up countries and regions for around 100 million people from all sections of society.

In addition to established locations such as Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Dresden, smaller cities and towns, as well as regions, are particularly popular as travel destinations. Bavaria is ahead of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Baden-Württemberg, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein.

Birgit Bohle, Chief Executive officer of DB Vertrieb GmbH


Further increases for cars and aircraft, the main modes of transport, in 2012. Train travel is catching up fast.

50 %Car

30 %Plane2012/11

+ 8.6 %

2012/11 + 7.2 %

8 %

8 %

4 %

TrainCoach

2012/11 + 2.6 %

2012/11 + 20.7 %other

2012/11 – 20.2 %

Source: GNTB/WTM, IPK 2013

In 2012 the German government finally put firm plans in place to liberalise the market for long-distance coach services. What impact do you expect this to have? Can a comprehensive long-distance coach network significantly increase the attractiveness of Germany as a travel destination?

Richard eberhardt: Since 1 January a succession of scheduled long-distance coach connections within Germany have entered into service. This deregulation is opening up new transport alter-natives for millions of travellers. The positive for tour coaches is that consumers outside the traditional target demographic for coach travel will be switching to these long-distance services. Whole new groups of customers will begin to see the coach as a viable means of transport. Previously, coach tourism for tourism organisations, hotels and attractions was all about groups. Now, independent travellers are joining the list of those who want to get around the country by coach. I predict that this will have a positive impact on tourism in Germany and will increase demand for conventional coach-tour packages.

Passenger numbers at German airports lagged behind expectations last year. What are the biggest challenges both from a financial and an operational perspective?

Dr Michael Kerkloh: It is true that many German airports – and in particular the smaller and medium-sized airports – reported a decline in passenger volume last year. Munich airport, however, once again posted a record set of results, handling a total of 38.4 million passengers in 2012. In the coming year we are facing considerable challenges. added to the tough economic climate in large parts of Europe are external factors that are hampering our ability to compete – for example the introduction of a national air travel surcharge or the extension of the Eu emissions

trading system to include the airline industry. Because of these factors, air travel is currently very limited in its ability to act as an engine for job creation and economic growth.

air safety, too, has been causing enormous difficulties for a number of years now. New technologies and procedures should therefore only be introduced if they offer an actual gain in safety and are realistic in terms of cost. The German airports association will press for practicable solutions, in the interest of passengers as well, that can be implemented at its sites.

There is growing competition for holidaymakers and business travellers wanting to fly to Germany. How is Lufthansa responding to this in terms of products and developments?

Jens Bischof: We are investing in our in-flight products and fleet like never before. More than €3 billion is currently flowing into the Lufthansa product. The feedback is exceptionally positive. our first class experience was given a five-star rating by Skytrax; customers are raving about the new business class, and our econ-omy class features video on demand at every seat. Lufthansa is not shying away from the competition; instead it is raising the bar in the market with its innovation, reliability and precision. a key asset, of course, are our employees, whose ready smiles and excellent service standards are what make the flight an excep-tional experience for our passengers in the first place. These values enhance our world-famous Lufthansa brand and make it a success.

What do you see as the main challenges for inbound tourism in 2013, and how will you address these?

Jens Bischof: We aim to familiarise even more private travellers with our attractive product. a perfect example of this focus on private travel is our premium economy, a new travel class between

Jens Bischof, Board Member Responsible for Sales & Revenue Management, Passenger Business, at Lufthansa

33

RouNDTaBLE: TRaNSPoRT PRoVIDERS

economy and business that we want to introduce in the coming year. and with our new airline Germanwings, we will be offering an innovative and highly attractive product starting this summer for all intra-European flights outside the main hubs of Frankfurt and Munich. We expect these non-stop connections to have a positive impact on inbound travel. However, we are only an airline and cannot increase visitor numbers in Germany on our own. From our perspective, it is vital that our partners are able to efficiently promote inbound tourism. Particularly at our inter-national departure points, targeted, collaborative sales initiatives and promotional campaigns focused on Destination Germany are required to further increase the volume of inbound passenger travel.

Birgit Bohle: The challenge in the year after a particularly good one is always to go on and do even better. This will certainly not be easy in 2013 because the economic crisis has not yet been weathered, as is increasingly being shown in several of our key source markets. However we will, of course, try to continue where we left off and further develop our sales channels around the world.

Richard eberhardt: Based on current bookings, the tourism econ-omy can feel positive about the travel season in 2013. In spite of stable demand, however, coach operators are predicting poorer results and further falls in profits in 2013, caused by rising costs and ongoing investment in green technology, modernisation and the procurement of replacement vehicles.

Fuel and energy in particular are putting strain on the industry. Within two years we have seen diesel prices increase by 30 per cent. This is putting our very existence in danger. We will carry on lobbying policy-makers to ensure that the necessary framework is put in place so that coach tourism and all companies involved in the industry can continue to grow.

Dr Michael Kerkloh: our main challenges for inbound tourism in 2013 are to consolidate existing markets, to intensively engage with future markets and to make further inroads into new source markets by adding new flight connections. There should also be a focus on working closely with strategic partners in the tourism industry – such as tourist information offices, hotel operators, inbound travel agencies and tourist attractions – with whom we can consolidate activities.

What products and services can you as a train operator offer inbound travellers to Germany?

Birgit Bohle: With the Europa-Spezial ticket, which starts at just 39 euros, we offer international rail passengers the chance to travel to Germany from neighbouring countries such as France, austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark. The offer can even be booked from Italy and southern Sweden. a large proportion of our international customers travel by plane to Ger-many and then take a train to their onward destination. With our saver prices people are able to travel right across the country from just 29 euros.

Particularly attractive for non-Europeans are our rail-pass offers, for example the German Rail Pass for travel within Germany. With prices starting at just 188 euros, this enables people to travel by train anywhere in Germany and as often as they like for between three and ten days in a one-month period. Those on a tour of Europe can book an extension in selected markets, giving them the chance to visit Brussels and Prague, for example, or selected cities in austria and Italy. Eurail passes for non-Europeans and InterRail passes for Europeans offer convenient, hassle-free train travel for tours of Europe.

Richard eberhardt, President of the RDa International Coach Tourism Federation

Dr Michael Kerkloh, Chief Executive officer of Munich airport and President of the German airports association


Are you anticipating additional momentum from the year of ‘youth travel’ in Germany?

Birgit Bohle: To begin with I am delighted that we at Deutsche Bahn are a GNTB partner for their year of ‘youth travel’. Together we have come up with a range of initiatives that will make it easier for young international visitors to travel by train in Ger-many and that will encourage them to do so. There is the GNTB app, for example, which not only provides information on travel-ling by train to and from the most important stations, but through-out the year is updating users about Deutsche Bahn extras and special offers.

Yes, we anticipate that the GNTB’s theme year will lead young travellers from around the world to ‘get onboard’ our trains. our rail-pass products, in particular the German Rail Pass and the InterRail offers, will undoubtedly benefit from this as well. unlike in other countries where seat reservations are compulsory for long-distance rail travel, people travelling with rail passes in Ger-many can just get on and go. a reservation – if required – costs no more than the usual four euros for rail-pass holders. But, with only a few exceptions such as the ultra-high-speed ICE Sprinters and overnight trains, both of which apply surcharges anyway, it is not necessary. The portfolio of travel packages has also been extended for our ameropa business line, in the form of addi-tional offers targeted at young travellers.

Your company offers a broad spectrum of vehicles in a wide range of classes. How important are alternative-drive vehicles in the ongoing debate about sustainability?

Regine Sixt: The subject of sustainability is very important, par-ticularly in view of potential cost savings. More and more busi-nesses and private individuals are trying to make motoring as affordable as possible by switching to fuel-efficient vehicles, which, of course, also offer benefits from an eco-friendly perspective. For a number of years now, we at Sixt have been offering our custom-ers vehicles with fuel-efficient drives such as BMW’s EfficientDy-namics or Mercedes-Benz Blue Efficiency. at the same time we are keeping a close eye on the development of alternative drives and are giving these our backing. and that applies to our leasing business as well. Here we are working with E.oN and smart to offer both private and commercial clients a complete package for making an affordable switch to electromobility.

Germany is rated particularly highly as a travel destination because of its outstanding infrastructure. Development projects,

however, are currently experiencing high levels of resistance. at the same time, increasing numbers of carriers are withdrawing from less-densely populated areas. How many airports does Germany need and at which locations?

Dr Michael Kerkloh: In its Coalition Pact, the German government set out the objective of increasing capacity at airports and ensur-ing internationally competitive operating hours in order to secure the long-term future of air travel to Germany. of particular importance here, is, of course, the demand-driven increase in capacities at the two main hubs of Frankfurt and Munich, which together handle 90 per cent of intercontinental flights to and from Germany. Bottlenecks at these ultimately weaken the air travel infrastructure as a whole in our country and will lead to more people switching to other hubs within Europe and overseas.

Sixt already offers a huge range of motoring options – from hire cars and long-term rentals to car-sharing. In which segments – particularly in terms of tourism – do you see the most potential for the future?

Regine Sixt: Mobility solutions such as the premium car-sharing scheme DriveNow, Sixt vehicle hire and Sixt leasing will become increasingly important, particularly in terms of tourism. The rea-sons for this are obvious: it is getting more and more expensive to maintain and run your own vehicle. The importance of car ownership is in permanent decline among the younger genera-tions.

Sixt is the only international car hire company that is in a position to offer combined solutions for car-sharing, vehicle hire and leas-ing from a single source. We see evidence of this huge potential in the success of our ‘Sixt unlimited’ product, which offers unlim-ited access to hire cars in nine European countries.

Regine Sixt, Senior Executive Vice President of SIXT International, Sixt aG

35

3 THE NETWoRK oF GNTB MEMBERS, SPoNSoRS aND PaRTNERS


GNTB members, sponsors and partners The successful international marketing of Germany is built on solid relationships with strong business partners. The productive working relationship between the GNTB and its 67 members, twelve sponsors and other partners from the German travel industry continued to grow in 2012.

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T his interaction of stakeholders allows the GNTB to target key market players and end customers together and individually, which guarantees effective marketing of

Germany as required by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. It is a stated aim of the GNTB to develop these part-nerships and attract new members. The interplay with special-interest marketing organisations and tourism enterprises results in a network of many different layers.

The GNTB members

There are currently 67 active members of the GNTB. The public-private partnership structure gives players in the German travel industry access to the GNTB’s global marketing network, which opens up many opportunities for practical support in a wide range of projects. Whether it’s attending the industry’s biggest trade fairs or joining collaborative marketing campaigns – the GNTB is on hand with contacts, experience and extensive industry exper-tise to ensure German tourism products and services receive maximum publicity.

In its advisory role the GNTB also supports members in develop-ing new products and services, and acts as a central coordinator.

all nationally important companies or organisations are eligible for GNTB membership provided that their activities support the aims and objectives of the GNTB.

at the end of 2012, GNTB members stem from the following cross-section of industry sectors: more than half the members are

companies. From the hotel industry, establishments offering low-cost facilities for young travellers are as well represented as luxury hotels. The transport industry also has a strong presence. The GNTB has members from every branch – air, road and rail. Companies offering unique travel experiences in Germany ben-efit from the added value of GNTB membership just as much as those operating in shopping tourism. Travel insurance providers and other tourism-related companies complete the portfolio of members.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG

Lufthansa is one of the world’s leading airlines and offers its products and services globally. The premium air

carrier has worked successfully with the GNTB for many years. alongside a core level of international cooperation, the partner-ship incorporates mutual marketing ventures in key source mar-kets and emerging markets.

as part of a major campaign in 2012, Lufthansa reintroduced itself as a partner at the industry’s main event, the 2012 GTM Germany Travel Mart™ in Leipzig. at the international press forum Christian Tillmans, Vice President of Global Leisure and online Sales for Deutsche Lufthansa aG, presented the company’s latest develop-ments and gave an overview of products and services for inter-national travellers as well as the new fleet. The flight operator used the product seminars to introduce Lufthansa Partnerships – Growing Together, its worldwide flight network and its new prod-ucts for business-class and first-class customers. Destination Germany also featured prominently in all Lufthansa flights world-

The network of GNTB members, sponsors and partners Pooling together private sector and public sector interests is a tried-and-tested model and an underlying principle of the work the GNTB does. The concept of public-private partnerships creates valuable synergies for marketing Destination Germany.


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wide, with illustrated full-page advertisements for GNTB- specific themes appearing in the airline’s in-flight magazine and its equivalent publication for first-class passengers, exclusive.

Deutsche Bahn AG

as one of the world’s leading passenger and logistics compa-nies, Deutsche Bahn aG (DB) is

working in partnership with the GNTB to promote tourism in Germany. Diverse marketing campaigns have been implemented overseas for a number of years and the intensive and successful

joint activity has continued throughout the reporting period. For example, DB held a seminar at the 2012 GTM entitled ‘Deutsche Bahn. Europe the smart way. at high speed.’ The presentation focused on the company’s European route network and the different types of Eurail passes. at the international press forum Kalle Greven, Head of Business Partner Sales at DB Vertrieb GmbH, presented DB’s low-cost ticket promotions within Germany and its expanding range of European rail services, including the ever-improving rail connections between major cities.

The GNTB’s fact-finding tours, operated once again in collabo-ration with Deutsche Bahn, enjoyed high levels of demand in 2012. Travel experts and journalists were able to discover Destination Germany by train, with particular emphasis on the GNTB’s annual and basic themes.

The partnership between the GNTB and Deutsche Bahn is taking the logical move forwards into new media, including the joint development of a Christmas app together with 32 partner towns and cities in 2012.

Strategic partners play a very important role in the collaborative success of the GNTB network. They are more than just members – they help to shape and promote Destination Germany. They make lots of different contributions in kind, for example by transporting and accommodating travel industry professionals and media representatives, by collaborating in marketing campaigns and by continually sharing their expertise.

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Growth in membership The number of GNTB members has more than trebled since 1998

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GNTB ‘green meetings’ advert in Lufthansa’s in-flight magazine

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Strategic partners play a very important role in the collaborative success of the GNTB network. They are more than just members – they help to shape and promote Destination Germany. They make lots of different contributions in kind, for example by transporting and accommodating travel industry professionals and media representatives, by collaborating in marketing campaigns and by continually sharing their expertise.

41

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Berlin. See it. Be it. Berlin is one of Europe’s most creative capitals – and the youngest. Here trends from all over the world gather speed, and innovation is visible on every street corner. Fashions are created but the price tag is not important – it’s the idea that counts. Berlin has style, but it also has substance. Music is not made to please everybody and design is not just an eye-catcher. From art to fashion, the city’s events are inspiring – a warm welcome to the world!


Welcome to the Destination Germany network

In 2012 the GNTB succeeded in attracting more new members: on 1 January 2012 and 1 February 2012 respectively, partnerships were forged with IHB Travel GmbH and visitBerlin – Berlin Tour-ismus & Kongress GmbH.

on 1 July 2012 Relais & Châteaux Hotels joined as a member. In the second half of 2012 the GNTB welcomed the Goethe Institute and McarthurGlen Designer outlets Berlin and Neumünster into the fold. Their membership took effect at the beginning of 2013.

IHB Travel GmbH

IHB Travel GmbH was founded in 2001 and has since established itself as market leader in the core segment of booking and re- letting hotel rooms during international

trade fairs. To date, roughly one million people around the world have arranged their stay in Germany through IHB Travel. The company is a point of contact for arranging transfers and seat allocations on flights and can even take on every aspect of organ-ising a conference. The Düsseldorf-based company provides extensive multifaceted services through its Business Travel, Wedding Tours and Vanity Tours divisions.

IHB Travel GmbH has seen a steady rise in bookings across all sectors since its foundation. With its service-oriented business model of integrated tour operator and travel agent, IHB Travel can meet the requirements of companies of any size, as well as dis-cerning holidaymakers.

visitBerlin - Berlin Tourismus & Kongress GmbH

visitBerlin has been promoting tourism opportunities in the Berlin region on an international scale since 1993.

The company provides services for conference organisers and tourism partners, acting on their behalf in the markets and pro-actively supplying information to the travel industry. visitBerlin is also responsible for Berlin Tourist Info points, providing visitors to the capital with the full spectrum of tourist services.

visitBerlin has made it its mission to promote tourism products and services in the federal state of Berlin to the world. Further company objectives include the promotion of tourism, business travel, events, trade fairs, conferences and meetings, and provid-

ing information to tourists in the Berlin region. The company engages in all related service and trading activities. It is also part of visitBerlin’s remit to market the destination as Germany’s capital city, ensuring that Berlin’s appeal continues to grow in the long-term.

Relais & Châteaux

Relais & Châteaux is an exclusive collection of 520 leading hotels and gourmet restau-rants, each with its own individual charm, located across more than 60 countries around the world. The association was estab-

lished in France in 1954 and made it its mission to spread its unique art de vivre across the globe by selecting outstanding hotels of distinction.

Relais & Châteaux is also a family of hoteliers and top chefs. 160 men and women on five continents hold the title of Grand Chef Relais & Châteaux. They all share the same commitment to excel-lence, the same passion for the very best products, and the same respect for their region and its culinary heritage, which in many cases has been passed down several generations.

There are currently 27 properties in Germany adorned with the Relais & Châteaux stamp of distinction: ‘all around the world,

one of a series of GNTB adverts promoting Berlin as a young capital


unique in the world.’ These include some of the most distin-guished gourmet destinations in the Black Forest, on the island of Sylt, in the Saarland and on the Baltic coast.

McArthur Glen

Berlin • Neumünster

The McarthurGlen Group is Europe’s lead-ing developer, proprietor and operator of designer outlet centres. Its portfolio cur-rently features 21 designer outlet centres boasting more than 750 brands across 2,000 stores in eight countries.

The company has two locations in Germany. The Designer outlet Berlin is modelled on a Brandenburg village and houses more than 100 luxury, designer and lifestyle brands in around 80 shops.

The new designer outlet in Neumünster near Hamburg opened its doors in September 2012. The designer outlet centre will be visited not only by the 5.9 million people living within a 90-minute radius, but also by many of the eleven million tourists visiting Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein every year.

Given the significant appeal shopping holds for international visitors, this membership presents many collaborative opportuni-ties for the McarthurGlen Group and the GNTB. Throughout Germany, tax-free sales rose by 46 per cent between 2011 and 2012 to €1.5 billion, according to Global Blue. The highest market share was generated by guests from China at 32 per cent, followed by tourists from Russia (23 per cent) and Switzerland (6 per cent).

Goethe Institute

The Goethe Institute operates around the world as a cultural institute on behalf of the Federal Republic of Ger-many. It promotes knowledge of the

German language and nurtures cultural cooperation at an inter-national level. The organisation provides information on cultural, social and political life in Germany to convey an all-embracing image of Germany. The Goethe Institute has 60 years’ experience in teaching German as a foreign language, teacher training and developing lesson plans, exams and educational resources.

There are 136 Goethe Institutes and ten liaison offices in 92 coun-tries around the world, as well as 13 Goethe Institutes in Germany and more than 750 associated partners worldwide.

Cooperations

a variety of collaborative partnerships with tourism-related national initiatives and associations also add to the value of the GNTB network. associated partners provide valuable support in our international marketing activities. The organisation works closely with its partners to achieve strategic aims and implement the annual themes.

German UNESCO World Heritage Sites Association

The uNESCo-Welterbestätten Deutschland e. V. (German uNESCo World Heritage Sites association) is a collaboration between all the World Herit-

age sites in Germany. The key aims of the association are to de-velop specialised, low-impact tourism that preserves Germany’s uNESCo World Heritage sites, while also raising awareness of them. The association has been a GNTB member since 2010.

Signatories of the uNESCo World Heritage Convention are com-mitted to protecting the registered cultural and natural monu-ments, which are of exceptional universal value. Germany is one of the most recognised nations in terms of World Heritage status, with the fourth most World Heritage sites of any country in Europe.

Germany’s World Heritage includes important churches, abbeys, palaces, parks, historic town ensembles, industrial monuments and entire natural landscapes. Together they form an important element of cultural tourism in Germany, which attracts interest among consumers and the travel industry.

The GNTB promotes Germany’s World Heritage sites internation-ally and is integrating the vast potential of the uNESCo World Heritage brand into its marketing strategy with the aim of strengthening Germany’s already excellent image as a destination for cultural travel. The German World Heritage sites are con-stantly at the forefront of this image, representing an important element of the ‘Towns, Cities and Culture’ and ‘Health & Fitness Travel’ marketing lines.

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Stuttgart. City of cars

Nuremberg. City of history

Munich. City of lifestyle

Frankfurt. City of art

Berlin. City of cool

Düsseldorf. City of fashion

Dresden. City of culture

Leipzig. City of music

Hannover. City of innovation

Hamburg. Maritime City

Cologne. City of exuberance


The successful communication and marketing campaigns of 2011 were continued in 2012 in Italy, France, the united Kingdom and the uSa within the scope of a cooperation agreement with the German uNESCo World Heritage Sites association. Central to these campaigns were the internet, press / PR activities and work-shops for the travel industry.

In 2014 the GNTB will be emphasising Germany’s value as a place of cultural interest through the worldwide theme year of ‘uNESCo World Heritage in Germany – sustainable cultural and natural tourism’.

Magic Cities Germany

The joint marketing activities of Germany’s key city destinations reflect the cultural variety found in Destination Germany, which is espe-cially valued by visitors from Europe. These cities also have that distinctive vibrancy that

visitors from overseas in particular hope for and have come to expect, combined with attractive shopping opportunities, an exceptional array of restaurants, cafés and hotels, as well as out-standing infrastructure for business travel.

In 2012, 41 per cent of all overnight stays in Germany were made in the eleven Magic Cities of Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dresden, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Leipzig, Munich, Nuremberg and Stuttgart.

This is why the GNTB is working together with the Magic Cities association, using it as a major brand for publicising Germany’s urban centres internationally. By coming together to form the Magic Cities group, these destinations benefit from the outstand-ing synergy of mutual marketing of German cities in stark contrast to the monocentric competitors elsewhere in Europe.

Magic Cities’ marketing activities in the selected international markets of the uSa, China, India and australia benefit from the expert market knowledge and collaborative coordination of the GNTB. as of 2012 Brazil has also established its position in the market portfolio as a fast-growing future market.

In 2012, distinctive slogans and icons were developed for each of the eleven Magic Cities, which come together to form a complete picture (see figure to left).

The Magic Cities’ marketing strategy is centred on art and culture, lifestyle and entertainment, as well as conferences, congresses and incentive travel.

Historic Highlights of Germany

The cooperative marketing venture Historic Highlights of Germany (HHoG) comprises 13 member cities, all of which are university cities with at least 700 years of history. Every one is of great historical significance or interest and has an above-average impact on Germany’s inbound tourism industry.

The collective of cities has been working together with the GNTB since 1993. Through this partnership, the GNTB provides the marketing association with extensive support for its activities in selected overseas source markets in order to strengthen the important ‘Towns, Cities and Culture’ sector as well as the Historic Highlights of Germany brand.

HHoG has established another connection in the shape of Dream Routes, which link the associate cities throughout Germany via shared themes that tie in with GNTB marketing campaigns to create an appealing package to international visitors.

HHoG considers the key markets for its joint marketing activities with the GNTB to be the uSa, Japan and China overseas, and the uK and Italy in Europe. The group focuses its attention on leading media organisations and contacts within the travel industry, organising workshops, fact-finding tours and press events (see also chapter 4).


The German Coastal Association

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The German Coastal association (Deutsches Küstenland, or DKL) is a collective of the regional marketing organisations of the five north German federal states (Hamburg,

Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) and the Hanseatic cities of Lübeck and Rostock. Their marketing activities are connected by a common maritime theme. The GNTB works together with the DKL to pre-sent a more multifaceted image of Germany to markets abroad.

Having successfully entered the austrian and Swiss markets, the DKL has been focusing on the source markets of Spain and Italy as of 2012. using a variety of traditional methods, the DKL launched its ‘stars & starlets’ image campaign with events such as joint press conferences in Spain. online campaigns in Italy and Spain were specifically geared towards younger target groups, including the blogger tour with travel blog portal minube.com (see chapter 4.3).

GNTB sponsors

Since 2009, organisations have also been able to affiliate them-selves with the GNTB through sponsorship. This means organi-sations and companies that are interested in the GNTB, but do not fulfil the membership criteria, can still benefit from the GNTB’s worldwide marketing infrastructure. Corporate bodies, associa-tions and foundations from the worlds of research, consultancy, media, the arts and sport are taking advantage of this arrange-ment. all sponsors belong to the GNTB’s advisory Board and can use its sponsor logo in their marketing. The GNTB is currently working with twelve sponsors.

Other cooperation partners

ausstellungs- und Messe-ausschuss der Deutschen Wirtschaft e. V. (auMa)

Deutscher Wanderverband

Deutscher Wanderverband (DWV)

allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club e. V. (aDFC)

Deutscher olympischer Sportbund / Deutsche Sport Marketing GmbH (DoSB/DSM)

Deutsche Welle (DW-TV)

Polish National Tourist office

European Travel Commission (ETC)

Pacific asia Travel association (PaTa)

German Convention Bureau e. V. (GCB)

Deutscher Heilbäderverband (DHV)

Organisations of which the GNTB is a member

45

RouNDTaBLE: THE HoSPITaLITY INDuSTRY

Roundtable: the hospitality industry “2012 has been a good year for the hotel and restaurant business. Hotel and restaurant revenue climbed by 2.1 per cent in 2012. We are delighted to see the sector grow for the third year in succession and feel confident that this healthy development is set to continue. Thus far, Germany’s industry and job market have proven fairly resilient in spite of the difficulties facing the global economy and the situation in Europe. We are feeling the benefit of the stable domestic demand and the strength of Germany’s tourist trade.”

Could you sum up your balance sheet for 2012? What was the proportion of inbound tourism in your company, and how has it developed? Which were / are the key international source markets for your company?

Daniela Schade: at accor Germany the proportion of inbound tourists in 2012 was around one third. at Novotel, for example, 35.1 per cent of guests were visiting Germany from abroad, at Mercure it was 32 per cent, and Pullman welcomed 34 per cent of its guests from outside Germany. Inbound tourism figures were higher within the leisure sector than in business travel. our key source markets are the uSa, the uK, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, China, austria and Russia.

Susanne Weiss: The most important source market for Ringhotels was and still is Germany. approximately 80 per cent of our guests are travelling within their own country, and our most important international source markets are Scandinavia, the Benelux nations and Switzerland.

Through our affiliation with the Pleasant Hotels Europe (PHE) network for hotels with shared quality standards, we have been recording positive growth among our Scandinavian source mar-kets for some years now, especially from Denmark.

alexander Hörner: Inbound tourism has witnessed a very positive development within the Steigenberger Hotel Group. Growing by roughly 32 per cent among our major clients in 2012, inbound tourism is more important now than ever before. The continued positive trend indicates that the markets will become more bal-anced over the coming years. our top source markets are first of all the uSa, then the uK, Benelux and Scandinavia. However the high growth rates are coming from Russia, Japan and the arabian Peninsula nations.

René Halla: Today, nearly one in every three MaRITIM guests comes from Europe or overseas, though this varies hugely from one ho-tel to the next. For instance, the proportion of international guests at our branch at the Frankfurt exhibition centre is consistently in excess of 60 per cent, whereas that figure can sometimes drop below 10 per cent at some of our resort hotels. The united King-dom and the uSa have long since been among our biggest source markets.

ernst Fischer, President of the German Hotel and Restaurant association

Susanne Weiss, Chief Executive officer of Ringhotels e. V.

Ernst Fischer, President of the German Hotel and Restaurant association


In the last few years, the asian markets have increasingly revealed themselves as growth engines. as you might expect, this trend is centred in China and Japan, but Korea and Taiwan are also show-ing signs of continued development. It goes without saying that these far-flung target groups pose a marketing challenge to a mid-sized German company. That is why we take advantage of the support offered by our long-standing partner, the German National Tourist Board, in the form of roadshows, workshops, specialist trade fairs and PPP initiatives such as the ‘India Pool’, which MaRITIM joined in 2011.

Ludwig Ottenbreit: 2012 brought with it a growth rate of nearly 20 per cent for a&o when compared with 2011, as well as revenue of €53.5 million from around two million overnight stays. Company- wide the proportion of international guests remained unchanged at one third, with the number of domestic guests typically higher in our hotels in northern and eastern Germany (excluding Berlin) than in the south and west of the country.

The majority of international guests at a&o hotels came from the uK, the uSa, the Netherlands, Italy and Denmark, with the uSa and Denmark registering three-figure growth rates in 2012 when compared with the previous year. The top spots were occupied by nationalities that register high volumes of travel among young people, school groups and students.

Michael altewischer: The majority of guests at Wellness-Hotels & Resorts (98 per cent) are German holidaymakers. The key inter-national source markets are the Benelux states and Switzerland.

The growth in wellness travel in general remains steady, as our most recent partner survey also attests. More than half of the hoteliers recorded an increase in demand for wellness treatments and products in 2012. Nearly 65 per cent expect growth to con-tinue in 2013. analysis of the travel sector by market research company TravelScope also indicates that wellness travel is grow-ing at an above-average rate of 24 per cent compared with the wider travel market which is growing at a rate of 7 per cent.

Marcus Smola: 2012 was a very good year for Best Western! an 8.39 per cent rise in total revenues to €687.4 million can be at-tributed to a higher room occupancy rate (over 70 per cent) and a higher average price (€86.10).

The proportion of international guests across all bookings is cur-rently over 30 per cent, which represents a small but steady rate of growth. as an international brand we generally have a strong appeal to guests and tourists from abroad. our key source markets are North america and asia on an international level, while the biggest European markets are the Benelux states followed by the Scandinavian countries and then other German-speaking nations.

Nicole Lerrahn: In 2012 the central Europe segment, which includes Germany, registered the best performance across the entire NH Hoteles group. as such, the RevPaR and the average capacity utilisa-tion could be increased. Furthermore, average room prices saw a rise in all German towns and cities – especially in Berlin and Munich.

Sven Doliwa: The Grand City Hotels balance sheet for 2012 looks very healthy indeed! all feeder markets, both at home and abroad, have seen positive developments.

René Halla, Global Sales Director, MaRITIM Hotelgesellschaft mbH

Marcus Smola, Managing Director of Best Western Hotels Deutschland GmbH

Ludwig Ottenbreit, representative of the management board, a&o HoTELS and HoSTELS

47

RouNDTaBLE: THE HoSPITaLITY INDuSTRY

Inbound tourism has firmly established itself and stabilised at just under 35 per cent of the whole market. Important source markets for us are the Netherlands, the uK, the uSa, Israel and Russia as well as the Scandinavian countries.

In traditional markets, consumer behaviour is increasingly af-fected by the demographic shift of an ageing population. On the other hand, travel is on the rise among young people and families from the especially dynamic markets of eastern Europe and the BRICS nations. What impact do these demographic considerations have on product development at your company?

Daniela Schade: In 2012 we launched a campaign called Enjoy Germany, which spans three different areas. ‘Citytrips’ and ‘His-tory & Culture’ are aimed at couples, singles and people travelling alone. The core message of the campaign is that we are a diverse brand with an extensive network. The third service, ‘Families’, includes attractive booking conditions for family groups. The core target markets for the 2012 campaign were the uK, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

accor operates more than 330 hotels in Germany under ten dif-ferent brands. at the economy end of the scale we have the ibis family comprising ibis, ibis styles and ibis budget together with adagio access. accor’s mid-range chains are Novotel and Suite Novotel, Mercure and adagio aparthotel. Pullman and MGallery

fall within our high-end bracket and then we have Sofitel Luxury Hotels in the luxury sector.

Susanne Weiss: our hotels have traditionally been geared towards travellers from two-person households of mid-to-high incomes. However, trends indicate that there are more and more young people out there who value these products too. We are not cur-rently registering very many travellers from BRICS and eastern Europe in our hotels. Given the locations of our hotels, we are often difficult for these travellers to get to. as such, we are not focusing our marketing activities on these target audiences.

over the past few years, our hoteliers have invested a great deal in their hotels and staff to ensure they become or remain market-able. Fortunately the reduction in VaT was a great help in that respect.

alexander Hörner: at Steigenberger we too have noticed chang-es in consumer behaviour and we are constantly working towards new ways of meeting the needs of these guest target groups. This is apparent in our new hotel products, and even more so in the services that we offer. as well as multilingual staff, our hotels also provide a wide range of international television channels, multi-lingual tourist information and a halal menu, to name a few ex-amples. We constantly monitor the trends and base our decisions for the future on our findings.

Sven Doliwa: That is an overall trend and we are responding to the age increase by placing more emphasis on access-for-all rooms and facilities in our hotels. We are also adapting our products and services to meet the needs of holidaymakers travelling with fam-ilies and active seniors. However, these are predominantly guests from the domestic market or western Europe.

Daniela Schade, area Senior Vice President Sales, Distribution & Loyalty Central Europe, accor Hospitality Germany GmbH

Sven Doliwa, Vice President for Commercial operations, Grand City Hotels GmbH

alexander Hörner, Head of Sales, Steigenberger Hotel Group


Nicole Lerrahn: NH Hoteles is a fresh-faced, international and innovative hotel group with a young, highly motivated team of around 19,000 employees worldwide. our strengths lie in having the best locations not only in Germany but around the world, and offering a versatile, dynamic product that can adapt to accom-modate guests’ requirements. We are continually working to adjust our brand, our products and our services to reflect the cur-rent conditions.

Michael altewischer: at our wellness hotels we have recently been noticing a development that defies the overall demo graphic shift: our guests are getting younger. It’s precisely during the ‘rush hour of life,’ between the ages of 30 and 49, that people go look-ing for some time out – or wellness as it’s often called at that stage of life. Today, every other booking for wellness travel comes from people in this age bracket.

There is also an apparent potential for growth within the family category. That’s why an increasing number of hoteliers are offer-ing childcare facilities as well as suites or holiday apartments tailored to families. one area of conflicting interests for families on wellness holidays surrounds the use of swimming pool facili-ties. Couples hoping to enjoy a romantic weekend away tend not to appreciate children splashing around in the pool. It’s therefore important to set out rules and make our position clear.

Ludwig Ottenbreit: In 2012 more than 6,500 school groups from home and abroad stayed in an a&o during a class trip, which equates to approx. 40 per cent of our guests. obviously, the pop-ulation demographics of many countries pose a potential risk for our business model. It’s therefore very important that we diver-sify on an international scale to find new ways to consistently meet and exceed the expectations of our primary target groups. For young people and families, even in the traditional source markets, reliability and affordability are of increasing importance when selecting accommodation. Few families can regularly afford the average two-week all-inclusive package holiday these days. alternatives include short breaks and activity holidays, as well as city breaks, which become even more affordable at hotels like a&o where there’s no extra charge for children of any age to stay in a family room.

René Halla: The demographic changes have a hugely variable impact on the products and services we offer. For example, they will accentuate the shortage in skilled labour that already plagues our industry. In that respect, every enterprise that relies on service delivery will have to consider new solutions and processes in many business areas in order to continue providing guests with reliable and affordable service.

We have not yet seen any signs of growth in new source markets such as the BRICS states, a situation diametrically opposed to that just described in Germany. In our opinion, it is far more important to meet guests’ requirements with a suitable range of products and services, to choose the right distribution channel and to ful-fil the specific expectations of guests from different countries and different cultures.

Marcus Smola: of course, we analyse the demands of different age groups when we are developing products – that goes without saying. However, we have realised that the existing boundaries are becoming blurred. For instance, travelling is no longer a domain for young target groups. That’s why our products and services are designed for a variety of traveller profiles. Their different require-ments must be analysed closely, and suitable services must be provided and continually monitored. Demographic factors alone cannot always give the full picture of what guests really want.

Nicole Lerrahn, Communications Manager, NH Hoteles Deutschland GmbH

Michael altewischer, Managing Director of Wellness-Hotels & Resorts GmbH

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4 THEME-BaSED MaRKETING aND CaMPaIGNS


Theme-based marketing, campaigns and performance monitoring Through its two product lines of City Breaks / Events and Health & Fitness Holidays the GNTB ensures continuity in its global marketing activities. In addition, theme years put the spotlight on selected aspects of tourism in Germany and drive demand for inbound travel in specific segments. Key PR themes emphasise current highlights in order to open up new target groups for Destination Germany.

Radebeul, wine cellar

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4.1 MaRKETING THEMES FoR 2012

In 2012, according to IPK, the number of business trips to Ger-many made by Europeans rose by 9.4 per cent to 12.5 million. This emphatically confirms Germany’s position as the number

one destination for business trips by Europeans ahead of France and the uK (4.6 and 4.5 million). The volume of traditional busi-ness trips rose by 3.0 per cent to 6.3 million, equivalent to a mar-ket share of 50 per cent. The number of promotable business trips, meanwhile, rose by 16.7 per cent to 6.2 million, a much higher increase. This means that almost half the volume of business travel involving an overnight stay is now accounted for by the MICE segment, which includes trade fairs / exhibitions (2.6 million, up 9.2 per cent) and conventions / conferences (3.3 million, up 23.5 per cent ). This is a highly encouraging result at the end of a year in which the GNTB focused its marketing on promotable business trips.

Germany top for business travel

Business travel is one of the most important segments for tourism in Germany and makes a valuable contribution to the economy. International visitors already account for 48 per cent of total revenues in this segment, spending €13.5 billion annually on busi-ness trips in Germany involving an overnight stay. This was the finding of a study financed by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and published by the Federal association of the German Tourism Industry at the beginning of 2012.

outstanding infrastructure, security, highly trained staff, inte-grated transport and sustainability are factors that give Germany an opportunity to become even more popular as a business travel destination. Germany also owes its excellent position and capac-

ity for further growth to its very good value for money and a wide range of high-quality conference hotels, convention centres and event venues. Moreover, German service providers are renowned for their innovative approach and they lead the way when it comes to green meetings and sustainability.

Germany is the world’s number one destination for trade fairs. It hosts some 150 international exhibitions and trade fairs every year that attract around 170,000 exhibitors and between nine and ten million visitors. 2.55 million day visitors and overnight guests travel in from abroad. Three of the five largest exhibition centres in the world are in Hannover, Frankfurt and Cologne. Two thirds of the global flagship trade fairs are held in Germany, including the ITB travel fair in Berlin, Frankfurt International Motor Show and the CeBIT computer fair in Hannover.

Germany is also up there with the best in the world as a venue for conferences and conventions. In 2012, according to the meetings and events barometer, it hosted around 2.72 million events invol-ving 338 million participants. The capacity for this is provided by 6,614 conference and event venues. In the rankings published by the International Congress & Convention association (ICCa), Germany was the number one location for conventions in Europe in 2012 – its eighth year in succession occupying the top spot. Worldwide, Germany is in second place behind the uSa. The main factor driving this success is Germany’s concentration of key indus-tries and specialist fields. Germany is an international centre of excellence in areas such as logistics & transport, energy & environ-mental protection, medicine & healthcare and technology & innovation.

GNTB theme for 2012 – Germany: open for business Germany is the most popular business travel destination in Europe. Extensive market-research analyses by the GNTB indicate that this position can be maintained and improved upon in the coming years. To further these objectives, the GNTB made ‘Germany: open for business – trade fairs and conventions’ a marketing focus for 2012. Its strategic partner for the theme was the German Convention Bureau (GCB).


Germany is the world leader in green meetings

Sustainability and environmental protection form an important segment in Germany that is heavily focused on the future. a recent survey by Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety asked people what they thought politicians most need to take action on: 35 per cent of respondents cited environmental protection, with 36 per cent citing econom-ic and financial policy.

44 per cent of event organisers and 51 per cent of venues believe that ‘green meetings’ will become increasingly important. This was the finding of the 2012 meetings and events barometer. This major annual survey of the events market in Germany is conducted by the European Institute for the Meetings Industry (EITW) on behalf of the European association of Event Centres (EVVC), the GCB and the GNTB. Nearly 38 per cent of respondents said they had already introduced a sustainability management system in their company. almost 31 per cent of the conference and

convention venues have even had the level of sustainability in their company audited by a third party.

The German Green City Index, which examines the level of sus-tainability of Germany’s major cities and compares the results with those of other European cities, found that ten of the 18 cities in Europe with an above-average commitment to sustainability are situated in Germany. The criteria applied in this index are use of resources and the level of commitment to protecting the envi-ronment. German cities performed particularly strongly in the building and transport categories – a plus for the organisers of green meetings.

The ‘green meetings’ theme was also a focus of the ‘Germany: open for business’ campaign in 2012. as part of their joint cam-paign the GNTB and GCB compiled relevant data and facts about eco-friendly conferences in Germany and presented them in an English-language promotional video and in the brochure ‘Sustain-ability for success’.

The 2012 GTM Germany Travel Mart™ in Leipzig also focused on sustainability in business travel and the MICE segment, and was itself organised as a ‘green meeting’. Working with its partner mygreenmeeting.de, the GNTB took extensive measures to ensure that resources were conserved throughout the GTM.

other projects included the establishment of a course enabling people to train to become conference sustainability advisors, the development of a code of sustainable practices and a certification programme with Green Globe in partnership with the association of German Event organisers (VDVo). Practical assistance in making an event ‘green’ is provided by the new GCB website. Pro-motional activities for green meetings as part of the theme year concluded with the greenmeetings & events conference, held in January 2013 in Darmstadt.

aspects of sustainability were also a feature of the Destination Germany stand at the Expo in Yeosu, South Korea, which took place from 12 May to 12 august 2012. To tie in with the theme ‘The Living ocean and Coast’, the GNTB focused its presentation on the Wadden Sea uNESCo World Natural Heritage site in Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg.

GNTB publication: ‘Sustainability for success’

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What were the main objectives and focuses for the GCB with regard to the GNTB theme for 2012 of ‘Germany: open for business – trade fairs and exhibitions’?

The aim of the campaign was to further exploit the huge potential of Germany as a destination for international business travel in key markets, and therefore to strengthen Germany’s competitive-ness in this sector for the future.

our plan of action encompasses measures such as online com-munication, the development of a sales brochure, educational trips, trade fairs, press and PR work and market research.

How was Germany promoted as a destination for business travel?

Content-wise the focus was on ‘green meetings’. For example, the GNTB and GCB teamed up to produce a brochure entitled ‘Sus-tainability for success – conferences, conventions & events in Germany’. The publication and a specially created promotional film called ‘Green Travel’ served as key sources of information for activities related to the theme year.

In spring 2012, at the start of the theme year, the GCB relaunched its website www.gcb.de, a project that involved close collaboration with the GNTB. In addition to German and English, it is now also available in the languages of the main international markets and future markets.

What aspects did you focus on in the key source markets?

Between February and December 2012 events run jointly with the GNTB took place in Belgium, Denmark, France, the uK, austria, Switzerland, Spain and the uSa. There was also a press tour to Germany for international media representatives.

These events, which promoted Germany’s credentials as a desti-nation for conventions and conferences, put the spotlight on Germany’s exemplary commitment to ‘green meetings’ and its concentration of expertise in major branches of business and

research. This expertise is becoming an increasingly important factor in the choice of destination along with infrastructure and affordability, and was reflected in the list of high-calibre speakers at campaign-related events during 2012:

■ Michael Lohscheller, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial officer of Volkswagen’s uS business, spoke at the event in New York.

■ Martin Riecken, Director of Corporate Communications for Europe at Lufthansa aG, talked at an event in London.

■ Phillipe Krasnopolski, Head of Communications at BaSF, gave a keynote speech in Paris about sustainability and social responsibility.

■ In Vienna, Thomas Morawski, Head of the aRD TV studios in the austrian capital, focused on the role of global sporting events for the events market.

■ Philipp Casse, from the automotive company D’Ieteren, gave a talk on ‘Mobility of the future’ at an event themed on future mobility in Brussels.

■ The keynote speech by brand consultant Thomas Sevcik, founder of the company arthesia, on ‘Creative Economy 3.0 – Renaissance, opportunities, Challenges’ set the tone for the MICE event in Zurich.

■ at the EIBTM trade fair in Barcelona, Víctor Noguer, General Manager of the Iberian Business Travel association, talked about the importance of industry expertise as a locational factor for events.

Will the business travel theme have an impact beyond 2012?

The GNTB and GCB can look back with great satisfaction on the theme for 2012 of ‘Germany: open for business – trade fairs and conventions’. However, the end of the year does not mark the end of the campaign; further events will follow in 2013 in China, Russia and Poland. Both partners will continue to benefit from the close level of cooperation, the resulting synergies and the momentum that is generated in the target markets.

Q&a with Matthias Schultze, Managing Director of the German Convention Bureau (GCB)


Sales and marketing activities promoting Germany as a destination for business travel

under the banner of ‘Germany: open for business – trade fairs and conferences’, the GNTB and GCB worked hand in hand to strengthen established industry networks, create new platforms and drive interest in Germany as a location for conferences.

Website for canvassing, planning and organising meetings

The GNTB worked together with the GCB to design a completely new international website at www.germany.travel/geschaefts-reisen that would serve as a central communications platform. The internet is hugely important as a tool for planning – and therefore generating – events: the results of the 2012 meetings and events barometer show that three quarters of organisers go online to search for MICE facilities. 23 per cent of respondents in the survey cited convention bureaus as a key source of online information, only slightly below the figure for hotel websites (24 per cent); 18 per cent of people said they used the websites of MICE specialists.

The content of the website, previously only available in German and English, is now also available in Chinese, Italian, French, Span-ish and Dutch. and event organisers from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Russia, Poland, Portugal, Brazil and Japan will soon be able to read the information in their own languages as well. In-formation about Germany as a location for conferences and conventions will then be available in the languages of the twelve most important primary and future markets. The website is now functioning as a standardised platform for international market-

ing and is closely linked with the GCB website. Regional concen-trations of industry in Germany are at the heart of the GCB’s marketing activities, and gave rise to a new section of its website entitled ‘Key Sectors’. The relaunch also saw the extension of the ‘Green Meetings’ section.

using the new website, the promotional video, image brochures and press releases, the GNTB and GCB marketed Germany as a destination for business travel in all markets worldwide. The campaign themes were also positioned in secondary markets by means of a specific event format, ‘educational trips’ and the ‘imex Hosted Buyer Groups’. These markets included Switzerland, austria, Spain, Italy, Russia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Brazil, France, Denmark and Japan.

The GNTB and GCB focused attention on the defined primary and future markets, i.e. those with high current volumes of growth or high potential for further growth: uSa, China, uK, Belgium. activities in these markets were supplemented by expanded event formats and comprehensive press work.

The measures undertaken by the GNTB were bolstered by an extensive collaboration with the association of the German Trade Fair Industry.

incredible trip wonderful hospitality very convivial and

upbeat group great fun, educational, luxurious and much, much more

hope we meet again thoroughly enjoyable trip

attention to detail very impressive great job making Germany ‘come to life’ for the audience enjoyed our discussions very informative well organised mix of all ingredients good atmosphere variety in programme innovative and interactive approach nice, easy atmosphere impressive in general a lot of fun!

Comments made by key market players about customer events and educational trips that were used to promote ‘Germany: open for business’

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Positive feedback for international customer events

The GNTB organised eight customer events together with the GCB as part of the campaign year in 2013. one of these took place in March in New York, where the GNTB and GCB showcased Germany as a centre of automotive excellence to media repre-sentatives, event organisations and companies. Representatives from incentive travel and marketing agencies, PR firms, the press and company associations attended another customer event in September in Brussels, which was themed on ’Mobility of the Future’. also in September, the GCB and GNTB hosted an interac-tive press event entitled ‘Germany – open for sustainable business events’ in London. In attendance were delegates and exhibitors from travel agencies, companies, marketing organisations and the press. In Vienna, at the end of the october, the GNTB teamed up with the GCB and Cologne Convention Bureau to present sus-tainable trends for the future of business travel to members of the austrian travel industry – including conference organisers, busi-ness travel experts and media representatives.

IMeX, 22 – 24 May in Frankfurt

IMEX – Incorporating Meetings made in Germany has taken place in Frankfurt for the past ten years. This flagship trade fair for the meeting and incentive travel industry in Germany underlines the country’s leading position in the MICE segment. at IMEX 2012, the GNTB and its partners presented the results of the 2012 meetings and events barometer for Germany. This was the sixth time that the GNTB, the GCB and the EVVC had commissioned the European Institute for the Meetings Industry to conduct the comprehensive survey.

MeXCON, 18 – 20 June in Berlin

The inaugural Meeting Experts Conference (MEXCoN), an initia-tive of the GCB and EVVC, brought together nine trade associations representing the conference, incentive and events industry. It took place from 18 to 20 June 2012 in Berlin. More than 700 experts from the fields of business, research and politics discussed the future of the industry from the perspective of the ‘events business in 2030’. The keynote speaker was Petra Hedorfer, who called on the associations to draw up a common roadmap. The GCB took this as an opportunity to commission a study on the future of Germany as a destination for business travel.

Results and outlookk

In the 2012 meetings and events barometer, a survey carried out by the European Institute for the Meetings Industry, 91 per cent of service providers and 92 per cent of event organisers agreed that “Germany’s image as a destination for conferences and events is getting better all the time”. The ‘Germany: open for business’ campaign will also contribute to this image change. as part of their media work in 2012, the GNTB and GCB reached around 15.5 million people in the target markets through print publica-tions on this theme. The combined total of contacts for print and online activities in 2012 came to more than 40.3 million. These results give great cause for optimism: 58 per cent of service pro-viders and 60 per cent of event organisers believe that the GNTB’s business travel campaign will lead to greater demand for confer-ences and conventions in Germany. In 2012 the conferences / con-ventions sector registered more visitors (3.3 million) than the trade fairs and exhibitions segment (2.6 million).

IMEX 2012 in Frankfurt



GNTB theme for 2012: ‘Wine heritage and nature – fine wine and good times’ German wines are highly regarded in the international markets and their quality is matched by the gourmet creations of award-winning German chefs, many of whom practise their craft in regions of great scenic beauty. In order to gain even greater tourism benefit from these culinary aspects, the GNTB put ‘Wine heritage and nature – fine wine and good times’ at the heart of its marketing activities for 2012, working together with its partners to promote the theme around the world.

A ccording to the 2011 / 2012 Quality Monitor survey, visiting restaurants and cafés was a firm intention for 72 per cent of foreign visitors in Germany; 57 per cent said they

planned to enjoy local food and drink while in Germany. The Netherlands, the uK, the uSa, Switzerland and France were defined as the core markets for the campaign. These key source markets for tourism in Germany are also the biggest inter national importers of German wine. In addition to these core markets, the campaign actively focused on markets across Europe, asia, South america and australasia.

Cooperations and global media campaigns

In its broad-ranging international marketing activities the GNTB promoted the full spectrum of tourism themes related to wine and food. Its strategic partner was the German Wine Institute. The two organisations worked hand in hand to posi-tion German wine and German wine regions abroad: in a series of standardised global adverts with the slogan ‘Discover the taste of Germany’, ten different images were used to promote the theme from a modern perspective. For this campaign the GNTB called on the help of Rheinland-Pfalz Tourismus GmbH (RPT), Tourismus Marketing GmbH Baden-Württemberg (TMBW), Stuttgart-Marketing GmbH and other partners in the regions.

Well over 100 adverts were featured in the core markets alone. There were also advertorials. Media advertising, press work and the resulting print articles meant that more than 241.2 mil-lion contacts around the world were reached via print media, in addition to 5.81 million TV viewers and 3.55 million radio

listeners. online features, newsletter articles, banner ads, Fa-cebook posts and tweets resulted in a further 877 million online contacts.

The theme-related events, which reached 8,000 influential people from the industry and the media, were among the most important elements of the marketing activities in the target markets. The GNTB’s consumer events generated more than 129,000 contacts.

Sales and marketing activities

The central information platform for the theme was the GNTB website www.germany.travel. In the ‘Towns, cities & culture’ section of the website, the GNTB substantially expanded the wine-themed content, which is available in twelve languages. an inter-active map guides people around the 13 winegrowing regions and uses photo galleries and videos as part of its engaging, multime-dia concept. Descriptions of wine hotels, wine routes and wine-themed cultural attractions help potential visitors to get their bearings. The special ‘Food & drink’ theme was also successfully incorporated with profiles of 50 top chefs and 150 leading restau-rants. The huge interest in the content related to the theme year is borne out by the 156,000-plus visitors to the website, who dem-onstrated a particularly strong liking for the ‘wine regions’ and ‘wine festivals’ sections.

of the 1,750 posts that appeared in the daily news blog at www.germany.travel in 2012, more than 13 per cent had a focus on wine and featured links to the GNTB’s own content and to external partner websites.

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Riesling, pinot noir & Co.: www.germany.travel

Discover the taste of Germany

Kulinářské umění a víno v Porýní, následované přírodou a nákupy Přejeme dobrou chuť!

To generate further synergy effects, the GNTB linked its website with the microsites of its two partners RPT and TMBW. The RPT microsite was incorporated into all activities in the Netherlands, the uK and Switzerland, and registered 20,000 visitors from these three markets. TMBW was heavily involved in the activities in France and the uSa; by the end of the year its microsite had at-tracted around 8,000 additional visitors from these two markets.

Press activities

Further extensive press work accompanied the campaign year: the GNTB also promoted the German wine theme at press confer-ences, trade fairs and symposia, for example. Image-building fact-finding tours generated a great deal of media interest in the wine regions: between July and october 2012 ten fact-finding tours gave 44 participants an introduction to ‘Top riesling loca-tions in Germany’. a pre-convention tour around the wine regions of Württemberg and Franconia, organised especially for the GTM, reached additional media representatives from around the world.

PR events in the primary markets

uK: on 31 July 2012, during the olympic Summer Games, the kick-off event for the campaign year took place at the German House in London. at this reception attended by the German ambassador to the uK and representatives of the German Wine Institute and Deutsche Sport-Marketing, the GNTB welcomed 125 key players from the travel industry and the press. The GNTB also promoted Destination Germany at an open-air event in Regent’s Park from 21 to 24 June 2012. Selected travel journalists were invited to at-tend an evening function there entitled ‘Discover the taste of Germany’. Through advertising alone, the campaign year in the uK generated 8.71 million contacts.

Netherlands: at the ‘German wine country’ press presentation, part of the Riesling & Co. event on 21 September 2012 at the am-sterdam arena, the GNTB addressed 200 representatives from the press, food service industry and trade. The major advertising campaign in the Netherlands reached a total of 5.75 million con-tacts. In addition to extensive press activities, the theme was promoted at a variety of consumer events and through coopera-tions with private-sector partners and the media.

uSa: the GNTB and German Wine Institute focused heavily on e-marketing to promote the theme in the uSa: online banner ads, trade and consumer newsletters, Facebook posts and tweets reached more than 9 million contacts. advertising in print media brought even more attention to the campaign year. The GNTB also organised numerous events that served as promotional plat-forms for the theme: top media representatives attended a Ries-ling & Co. press event in New York, while further press and trade events were attended by 300 journalists and 2,000 members of the travel industry.

Switzerland: a broad-ranging marketing campaign promoted the theme in neighbouring Switzerland. Print advertising reached 4.8 million contacts, with a further 400,000 contacts attributed to online media advertising. on 28 and 29 September 2012, the GNTB reached key players from the press and trade in Switzerland at an evening seminar entitled ‘Discover the taste of Germany’, part of a family event in Europa-Park. Consumers and trade rep-resentatives found out all about German wine country at the Weinmesse in Basel from 27 october to 4 November 2012. This resulted in a 390 per cent increase in the number of wine-themed tourism packages to Germany available in Switzerland in 2012.


GNTB advertising campaign ‘Discover the taste of Germany’


How important is tourism for the marketing of German wine?

Wine and tourism has been a focus for the German Wine Institute since 2008. This goes back to several market research surveys carried out by the institute, which indicated that wine drinkers forge deep and long-lasting connections to particular wines and regions if they have visited those regions themselves and met the winemakers. For us, as the central marketing organisation for the German wine business, it was an obvious move to become in-volved with the promotion of wine tourism. Furthermore, wine tourism in all regions is playing an increasingly important role in the economy.

Every year, we work with the wine marketing organisations of the 13 German wine regions to initiate projects promoting wine- related tourism. These include a nationwide wine-themed walk-ing weekend and awards for ‘landmarks of wine culture’ and the ‘most beautiful vineyard views’. The idea behind all these projects is to offer additional incentive for people to visit Germany’s wine regions.

What expectations did the German Wine Institute have of the campaign year, and were these fulfilled?

our goal was to work with the GNTB to make even more people around the world aware of the merits of our wine regions and wines. We also wanted to further improve Germany’s image as an attractive destination for fine wines and fine food, thereby generating additional tourism to the winegrowing regions. By intensively communicating the theme through the global GNTB network, we were able to reach new opinion formers in the trav-el and tourism industry. awareness of German wine country has been brought into sharper focus, particularly in markets in which we do not have our own representative offices. This was clearly demonstrated by the high level of interest from around the world in the information we supply.

What initiatives were carried out as part of the cooperation with the GNTB? Were there any particularly successful or memorable campaigns?

The central information platform for the theme was the GNTB website www.germany.travel. In addition to this, the GNTB made extensive use of social media to promote the theme around the world.

We also worked in partnership with the GNTB to develop a cross-market media campaign with the slogan ‘Discover the taste of Germany’. English and Dutch editions of the Merian travel guide to Germany’s wine regions were also published as part of the campaign concept.

another key element in the marketing strategy were the many fact-finding tours for tour operators, travel journalists and other key market players from the tourism industry. They gave the par-ticipants the chance to gain a first-hand impression of German wines, winemaking in Germany and the people behind the wines.

To tie in with the theme year, we used a modified version of the campaign slogan for our presentation at the international Pro-Wein trade fair in Düsseldorf: ‘Discover the taste of our regions’ gave travel industry professionals from around the world the chance to sample representative wines from all 13 of Germany’s winegrowing areas.

Do you expect the campaign year to have a long-term impact?

We firmly believe that the theme year helped to raise awareness of Germany as a land of wine. But our partnership with the GNTB does not end there. Going forward into 2013 and beyond, we hope to maintain and strengthen these newly forged ties, and to con-tinue to work together to spread the word about wine tourism in Germany. only then will the campaign will have a lasting positive impact on international visitor numbers in our wine regions.

Q&a with Monika Reule,Managing Director of the German Wine Institute

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4.2 PRESS aND PR aCTIVITIES

Key PR themes for 2012

The GNTB uses major events and tourism-related anniversaries as an opportunity to generate additional story ideas for the inter-national media. In 2012 its worldwide press and PR work focused on three themes: 800 years of Thomana in Leipzig, doCuMENTa (13) in Kassel and the 300th anniversary of the birth of Frederick the Great. In 2012 a total of around 870 press releases were pub-lished by the GNTB Press office in Frankfurt and in the local mar-kets, while around 231 press briefings, 41 press conferences and 64 PR events reached more than 3,300 key market players and generated over 8.3 billion contacts around the world.

dOCUMENTA (13)

The doCuMENTa in Kassel is regarded as the most important exhibition of contemporary art worldwide. It has taken place every five years since 1955, showcasing current trends in modern art and providing a forum for new exhibition concepts. From 9 June to 16 September 2012, around 100 artists from a wide range of fields presented their work under the banner ‘Collapse and Recovery’.

By promoting doCuMENTa around the world, the GNTB aimed to raise the international profile both of the event itself and of Destination Germany. This proved to be very successful: the 13th doCuMENTa attracted 860,000 visitors, an increase of 14 per cent

on the previous event. The number of season tickets sold rose by 112 per cent to 12,500; a total of 12,500 media representatives were accredited to cover the event.

In spring 2012 the GNTB used the doCuMENTa as an opportu-nity to run a special press tour in and around Kassel to raise aware-ness of this important event. a dedicated doCuMENTa section and information about Kassel and its world-famous art exhibition were featured on the GNTB website www.germany.travel. The GNTB also promoted the theme at press conferences, press brief-ings and PR events, via social media activities and on fact-finding tours.

The doCuMENTa attracted a particularly high level of media in-terest in austria, Switzerland and Netherlands, all of which neigh-bour Germany. around 150 features in print and online media generated 75 million contacts.

Press and PR activities The GNTB uses targeted press and PR activities to inform the media about Destination Germany and to generate articles in online and offline media. This work focuses on the latest developments in Germany’s inbound tourism industry and on the wealth of themes and attractions in its towns, cities and regions. The GNTB also introduces new key PR themes every year to generate additional media coverage for Destination Germany and to further enhance its positive image.

The Fridericianum, one of the museums that exhibited for doCuMENTa(13)


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www.germany.travel

Experience Leipzig in all its glory800 years of Thomana

In 2012, Germany celebrated 800 years of the Thomana (‘St. Thom-as’) choir, church and school. Through this key PR theme, the GNTB put the focus on ‘Luther and music’ as part of the Luther decade and in anticipation of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017. Leipzig, the home of St. Thomas choir, host-ed a packed programme of Thomana-related music and culture that attracted culturally minded visitors in their droves.

The GNTB used the key PR theme to reach new target groups via culture and lifestyle magazines, special interest media and spe-cialised online portals. a one-off press tour to Eisenach, Leipzig and Dresden in october 2011 served as an introduction to the campaign. The media representatives invited on the tour were chosen from markets with a particular affinity for the theme such as the Netherlands, austria, the uK, Spain, China, Japan, South Korea and the uSa. around 5.2 million reader contacts were gen-erated by the resulting articles in leading magazines such as the BBC Music Magazine (uK), the Festspiele arts magazine (austria) and high-circulation daily newspapers including El Mundo (Spain) and The Epoch Times (uSa). Further press highlight tours and numerous individual tours took place throughout the anniver-sary year. The GNTB also featured the theme in its online press centre at www.germany.travel/presse in the form of specially compiled press kits. other activities that promoted the theme around the world included press conferences, press briefings and presentations as part of sales drives and PR events.

The Thomana anniversary generated the most amount of interest in the uK and Japan. around the world, the GNTB was able to reach 82 million contacts mainly through articles in print media and TV reports. GNTB display on the theme ‘800 years of Thomana’

Online press centre at www.germany.travel/presse

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gFrederick the Great. A legacy of greatness. 300 years of the great Prussian king. Born in 1712, Frederick the Great is still fondly remembered three centuries later. This year, anniversary celebrations pay tribute to the monarch and revive the glorious era in which he lived. In Potsdam, the pomp and ceremony of Prussia have never been more compelling, as Sanssouci Palace and Park and the New Palace play host to the grand anniversary exhibition FRIEDERISIKO. The life and times of “Old Fritz” are even being brought to the stage as a musical. With so much history to discover, there’s no better time to visit Germany.

Holidays in Germany: www.germany.travel

Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg

300 years of Frederick the Great

another key PR theme for the GNTB in 2012 was the 300th birth-day of Frederick the Great. a major tourism highlight on the theme was the Friederisiko anniversary exhibition, which explored the life, passions and reign of Frederick the Great. The exhibition ran from 28 april to 28 october 2012 in the New Palace and Sans-souci Park in Potsdam and was organised by the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation, Berlin-Brandenburg. a musical based on Frederick the Great’s life premiered on 1 June in Potsdam’s Metropolis Hall and ran until 12 august – another highlight for visitors to Germany. other events commemorating the anniver-sary of Frederick the Great’s birth included concerts and perfor-mances at Rheinsberg Palace in northern Brandenburg.

The GNTB heavily promoted the theme at international press conferences and workshops as well as in social media activities and on fact-finding tours. Information about Frederick the Great and about events marking the 300th anniversary of his birth was available on the GNTB website at www.germany.travel.

The birthday of the Prussian king received the most amount of attention in the media of the various European markets: around 80 features in newspapers and magazines, on online platforms, and on TV and radio reached 27 million contacts around the world.

GNTB advertising campaign promoting 300 years of Frederick the Great in Lufthansa’s in-flight magazine for the uK market

New concept for GNTB press tours

The GNTB organises fact-finding tours for media representatives that give them a first-hand impression of Destination Germany and its tourism infrastructure. The idea of these tours is to provide the media with information about specific aspects of Destination Germany and to initiate articles in online and print media as well as reports on TV and radio.

In 2012 the GNTB developed a new concept to make press tours even more efficient as a marketing tool. For groups of journalists, there will now only be press highlight tours on selected themes. These will tie in with the GNTB’s current PR and annual themes and with selected high-profile events. Each year the GNTB also offers one tour for each of the basic themes of culture and health. These press highlight tours are organised on a cross-market basis, meaning that representatives of relevant media from various different countries are invited to join the tours. a maximum of

ten journalists take part in the tours, which usually last for between three and four days. The tours will take place multiple times over the course of a year if there is sufficient demand from the GNTB’s 30 international source markets.

The Press office in Frankfurt puts together itineraries that reflect the interests of specific target groups. To offer additional value for the international journalists, it also features high-calibre interview partners who have a particular relevance to the theme. Individu-al tours and individual press tours will still be carried out on an ad-hoc basis. The aim is to proactively endorse market-relevant themes by organising tours tailored to selected media partners.

4.2 PRESS aND PR aCTIVITIES


From top left to bottom right: press conference with Ernst Burgbacher (left), Petra Hedorfer and Klaus Laepple at the 2013 ITB in Berlin; bloggers in the youth lab at the 2013 ITB in Berlin; programme of events for journalists for the 2012 GTM in Leipzig; interview with Petra Hedorfer at the 2013 IFT in Belgrade

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4.3 SoCIaL MEDIa

Social media activities 2012 / 2013 In the Web 2.0 era, the ‘conversation’ is going on all the time and in all directions and it is shaping our relationships and how we see the world. And this all happens in real time and in all places. Social networks connect people, and do so across borders and continents. For the GNTB, offering high-quality content related to Destination Germany is an integral part of a forward-looking, professional and innovative marketing strategy.

On trend: market-specific social media activities

In 2011, in an initial phase, the GNTB launched Facebook pages with a standardised look for the markets in austria / Switzerland, Spain, Hungary, the Netherlands, the uK and the uSa. In 2012 the GNTB launched Facebook pages along the same lines for France, Italy and the Czech Republic.

Equivalent sites were also launched on the leading Web 2.0 plat-forms in China and other high-growth markets. Countries were selected according to an analysis of the importance of social media in specific markets and with the aim of having as wide a geographical coverage as possible.

GNTB microblogs on Weibo in China

The GNTB first began to step up its social media activities in China, the world’s biggest online market, back in 2011. This initia-tive was preceded by extensive studies into social media platforms in China. These studies revealed that the microblogging platform Sina Weibo – the equivalent of the established Twitter service in Europe and the americas – offered the most potential for penetrat-ing the Chinese market. By the beginning of 2012, the GNTB had more than 100,000 followers, making this an attractive and actively used platform for promoting Destination Germany. Reg-ular posts about events, offers, culture and shopping strengthen interaction with consumers and send out a positive message about Germany as a travel destination.

By the end of 2012 Weibo had more than 500 million registered users, making it a mass phenomenon and a hugely influential communication tool.

GNTB social media campaign in the UK

at the end of 2011 the German National Tourist Board called on students at 126 universities in the uK to enter a competition on Facebook. The aim was get people ages 18 to 29 from the uK and Ireland interested in Destination Germany and to encourage them to take a trip there. offline activities in the form of flyers and post-ers accompanied online banners on the websites of the student unions, advertisements on Facebook and posts on the pages of student societies and associations. The campaign reached up to 2.4 million students in the uK. The prize on offer was an eight-day trip to Germany with a friend.

Facebook page of the German National Tourist Board


The winner travelled around Germany from 22 to 29 March 2012, stopping in Düsseldorf, Münster, Bremen, Hamburg, Potsdam and Berlin. He posted daily live reports about his experiences in Ger-many, uploaded photos and shared information about new plac-es that he discovered. People were able to follow the travels of the student and his companion at www.facebook.com/visitgermany.

International consumer communication via Facebook: Dream Tour of Germany 2012

The GNTB’s ‘Dream Tour of Germany’ social media campaign ran for three months in the main holiday season, during which time the app was accessed 58,116 times via the seven international GNTB Facebook pages and 10,300 times via the microsite, and was ‘liked’ by 25,229 Facebook users.

around 12,000 people entered the competition by creating their very own dream tour of Germany within the GNTB app. The win-ners from each of the seven participating markets were able go on the seven-day tour of Germany that they had customised – together with a travelling companion. The campaign focused on the high quality at affordable prices offered by Destination Ger-many. Worldwide, the GNTB recruited a total of around 22,400 fans for its Facebook pages through the ‘Dream Tour of Germany’ social media campaign. Nearly 8,600 fans were added in France alone, around 5,000 in the uSa and almost 4,600 in Hungary.

New interactive app featured on all GNTB Facebook pages

as a counterpart to the GNTB’s new Top 100 app, which is avail-able in German and English, it is possible to follow the rankings of Germany’s tourist sights in real time within a separate applica-tion on all GNTB Facebook pages. The sights are listed in descend-ing order and are continuously updated as people check in to them on Facebook Places. users can also post comments or recommen-dations, and Facebook makes it quick and easy to share the app content with friends.

The GNTB currently has dedicated Facebook pages for the markets of austria, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, the uK, the uSa and Brazil.

Facebook:UK: www.facebook.com/visitgermanyUS: www.facebook.com/GermanyTravelDestinationHU: www.facebook.com/nemetorszag.travelDE: www.facebook.com/ReiselandDeutschlandFR: www.facebook.com/Allemagne.TourismeES: www.facebook.com/destinoalemaniaCZ: www.facebook.com/NemeckoTuristickaZeme

(new in 2012)

PL: www.facebook.com/NiemcyCelPodrozy (new in 2013)NL: www.facebook.com/VakantielandDuitslandIT: www.facebook.com/GermaniaVacanze (new in 2013)BR: www.facebook.com/AlemanhaPaisTuristico

(new in 2013)

Twitter:US: twitter.com/GermanyTourismNL: twitter.com/germanytravelNL (new in 2012)ES: twitter.com/alemaniaturismo (new in 2012)BR: twitter.com/visitealemanha

Global presence in social media

The GNTB app ‘Dream Tour of Germany 2012’ on Facebook

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4.3 SoCIaL MEDIa

Creative Germany Facebook app

The GNTB teamed up with the Hostelworld.com website to launch a Facebook app promoting its Creative Germany theme, which is aimed at young people. as well as youth travel features in several languages at www.hostelworld.com and in its newsletters, the app is also being promoted on the GNTB’s market-specific Face-book pages.

The Creative Germany Facebook app enables users to access a wealth of information about ‘Creative HotSpots’ in Destination Germany. With the invitation ‘Join in … become part of Germany’s creative network’, the GNTB also gives users the opportunity to upload their own pictures, allowing them to co-create the content. The best of the uploaded photos are selected by the GNTB and published at www.creative-germany.travel at regular intervals. People can also use the app to track down suitable accommoda-tion. Creative Germany is playing a key role as part of the GNTB’s theme for 2013 which is entitled ‘Germany for young people – vibrant, fashionable, innovative’.

Social media in B2B communication

Streaming, storify and social media at the GTM in LeipzigThe 38th GTM Germany Travel Mart™ was the first to be sup-ported by various social media activities throughout the event, a continuation of the GNTB’s concerted Web 2.0 strategy. The content generated by individual social media channels painted a

vibrant picture of the goings-on in Leipzig and remained acces-sible online once the event had finished.

For journalists who were unable to travel to Leipzig, the inter-national press forum at the Porsche plant in Leipzig was streamed live from www.germany.travel/gtmlive within the press section of the website. This multimedia ‘newsroom’ featuring photos, videos and audio podcasts provided an overview of everything that was going on at the event. using the Storify platform these were consolidated into a single stream together with accompany-ing texts, posts and links. all the content could be accessed cen-trally from www.germany.travel/gtmlive. Information about the GTM was tweeted from the @gntb2012 account.

The location-based social network Foursquare enabled people to check in to the Messe Leipzig exhibition centre and to the Porsche Centre, venue of the international press forum. Delegates who logged in received handy tips and information about the GNTB and the GTM.

Bloggers as key opinion formers in social media

as part of its cooperation with Deutsches Küstenland (DKL), the marketing association for Germany’s coastline, the GNTB came up with a campaign involving Spanish social travel portal Minube.com. The website www.minube.com featured a special microsite, a ‘Destination of the week’ and information about upcoming events along Germany’s coast. The highlight was the blogger tour:

The GNTB app ‘Creative Germany’ on Facebook


Bloggers in the youth lab at the 2013 ITB for the launch of the campaign ‘Youth HotSpots in Germany – Share the moment.’

three bloggers and a cameraman travelled to Germany’s coastal regions to do some first-hand research and shoot a video, to tweet about their experiences and to write blog posts.

In February 2013 the GNTB launched a blog award at the 35th International Fair of Tourism (IFT) in Belgrade. Bloggers were asked to submit posts, photos and short videos expressing what they think makes Germany a travel destination for young people. a panel reviewed the entries, with the winner receiving a week-long trip to Germany for two. The content generated by the blog award and by the winner’s trip is being used to expand the blogger con-tent on the GNTB’s microsite.

at the start of the ‘Youth HotSpots in Germany – Share the mo-ment’ campaign, the GNTB worked with the travel bloggers of Germany’s Reiseblogger Kollektiv to host two blogger events –

BlogSpots – at the 2013 ITB in Berlin. at the GNTB’s stand at the ITB, the ‘Youth Lab’ doubled as a blogger lounge. The idea for this mock-up of what a young person’s room might look like in the future emerged from a project by the Munich university of applied Sciences. The information and funding required for the concept were provided by, among others, the Bavarian branch of the German Youth Hostel association. Selected bloggers were able to use the laptops provided in the Youth Lab to go online and post their HotSpots directly on the microsite. During the ITB, it was also possible to check into the GNTB stand on Foursquare. users received information on the app and microsite when they checked in. another activity relating to the youth campaign at the ITB was the launch of a GNTB competition for bloggers on the Instagram photo-sharing platform: people are being invited to post their best HotSpot photos using the hashtags #YouthHot-SpotsGermany and #GNTB. Winning photos are awarded a prize.

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GNTB stand at the 2012 ITB, area for the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology

4.4 TRaDE FaIRS aND EVENTS

Global presence at trade fairs and workshops In 2012 the GNTB promoted Destination Germany in conjunction with its partners at a total of 18 trade fairs. It also hosted 18 workshops and roadshows around the world. At the heart of its activities were the main source markets and the high-potential growth regions. By allowing for the integration of German partners, the GNTB trade fair concept supports small and medium-sized organisations in the international marketing of their tourism products.

ITB Berlin – international flagship trade fair for tourism

The ITB in Berlin attracted around 113,000 travel industry profes-sionals and almost 60,000 members of the general public in 2012. at this flagship tourism trade fair, the GNTB presented its themes for 2012 together with the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. The information counters of the GNTB’s partner or-ganisations were positioned around the main exhibition and meeting area in hall 12. The GNTB designed the look of its stand, which had a barrier-free concept, to reflect the two major themes for 2012: ‘Germany: open for business – trade fairs and confer-ences’ and ‘Wine heritage and nature – fine wine and good times’.

Press conference

at the traditional international press conference held on the first day of the ITB, the GNTB, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and the Federal association of the German Tourism Industry reported an impressive set of figures for the previous twelve months: 63.8 million overnight stays by visitors from abroad, an increase of 6 per cent, meant that 2011 was another record year for Germany’s inbound tourism industry. Germany also remained the most popular destination for German travellers in 2011, with 330.3 million overnight stays by domestic visitors.

Parliamentary breakfast

at the traditional parliamentary breakfast, representatives of the Tourism Committee of the German Bundestag were told about current developments and international marketing activities for Destination Germany.

Parliamentary evening

The parliamentary evening, organised by the GNTB and the Messe Berlin exhibition centre, is the traditional platform for represent-atives of the tourism industry and politicians to meet and talk. around 200 delegates discussed current challenges. The evening also saw Klaus Brähmig, Chairman of the Tourism Committee of the German Bundestag, present his organisation’s honorary prize to Klaus-Michael Machens, President of the association of Ger-man Theme Parks and Leisure attractions. Since 2002 the Tourism Committee has awarded its honorary prize to individuals who have performed outstanding services to tourism.


GNTB stand at the 2013 ITB

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38th GTM Germany Travel Mart™: 1,000 travel industry professionals meet in Leipzig

The 38th GTM Germany Travel Mart™, Germany’s most important sales event for inbound tourism, took place from 13 to 15 May 2012 in Leipzig. The GTM hosts for the year, Leipzig Tourismus und Marketing GmbH and Tourismus Marketing Gesellschaft Sachsen mbH, presented their cultural highlights and tourist attractions to international key accounts and major industry players. Luf-thansa and Deutsche Bahn also served as key partners for the event.

The 2012 GTM put the focus firmly on sustainability and show-cased Germany’s market leadership in this sector. an example of the GNTB’s commitment to green principles during the workshop was the conference ticket, which entitled all GTM delegates to use local public transport free of charge.

During the three-day event, more than 600 international key accounts and journalists from 45 countries found out about Destination Germany, talking to around 360 German exhibitors and to local and regional tourism organisations about the latest products and services in the hotel industry, in transport and in Germany’s inbound tourism sector. asia provided the largest contingent, with 128 participants. North-west Europe and north-east Europe each accounted for 98 delegates; 89 delegates trav-elled to Leipzig from south-east Europe, 88 came from south-west Europe and 85 from the americas / Israel.

The centrepiece of every GTM is the two-day workshop. using the GNTB’s online networking tool, German tourism providers and international buyers had already arranged nearly 19,400 meetings with each other prior to the start of the 38th GTM – equivalent to 18 meetings per supplier over the two days. These meetings pro-vided an opportunity to showcase current tourism products as well as to gauge the level of demand in specific markets.

Feedback for the 38th GTM Germany Travel Mart™ in Leipzig was very positive. Nearly 90 per cent of respondents said that their expectations in terms of meetings and business deals had been met. They were also very satisfied with the calibre of exhibitors. The vast majority (94 per cent) of companies surveyed said they intended to take part in the next GTM Germany Travel Mart™ from 5 to 7 May 2013 in Stuttgart.

International press forum

at the press forum at the Porsche plant in Leipzig, more than 100 media representatives were supplied with information about Destination Germany. The GNTB streamed the press conference live over the internet for the first time, at www.germany.travel/gtmlive. a Storify stream with multimedia features, photos, videos and audio podcasts was also made available. The Twitter account @gtm2012 updated delegates with information related to the GTM. also presenting at the media forum were the GNTB’s two strategic partners, Lufthansa and Deutsche Bahn, plus the organisations representing Leipzig and the Saxony region.

Events for journalists

The international journalists were able to deepen their knowledge of the host city of Leipzig on four different themed tours: ‘Leipzig, World-Class City of Music’, ‘Leipzig, Creative City: art and archi-tecture’ and ‘Historical Highlights – Reformation, Battle of the Nations, Peaceful Revolution’ showcased the musical and creative aspects of the city, both past and present, while the tour ‘Green Leipzig – active Leisure’ put the spotlight on Leipzig’s green side.

Pre-convention tours

Before the GTM got under way, the international buyers and press representatives had the chance to discover seven different aspects of Destination Germany:

■ Berlin, Brandenburg: cultural capital and its surrounding region

■ Hamburg, Bremen, Lower Saxony: cultural cities and ‘Gateway to the New World’

■ Thuringia, Saxony: Land of music and Luther

■ Hessen, Baden-Württemberg: Culture / Tradition and modernity

■ North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony: Culinary Germany

■ Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg: Wine country / Culture and nature

■ Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia: Barrier-free travel


International Press Forum at the Porsche Factory in Leipzig during the 2012 GTM in Leipzig

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Other trade fairs and workshops In order to make efficient use of its funds, the GNTB concentrates its trade fair activities on a select number of flagship international events and workshops. Other events and presentations are organised in selected growth markets.

Central / eastern europe Workshop in Wolfsburg Targeted marketing for high-growth markets

The GNTB held its second Central Europe Workshop in 2012. This newly established format was premiered in 2011 in Bad Schandau. The focus of the workshop is on the particular interests of the growth markets of central and eastern Europe. on 14 and 15 oc-tober 2012 in Wolfsburg, a total of 60 buyers and 22 journalists found out all about the latest offerings in inbound tourism to Germany. The various products were presented to buyers from eleven source markets at VW’s autostadt exhibition centre and at the Volkswagen arena.

The biggest contingent, consisting of 17 delegates, was from aus-tria, followed by Poland (15), Hungary (12) and the Czech Republic (10). There were also representatives from the markets of Bul-garia, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and ukraine.

The 38 German tourism providers included companies in the hotel and restaurant business, the transport industry and consult-ing as well as the tourism and marketing organisations for the federal states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, Thuringia and Saxony, and for the cities of Berlin, Celle, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Hannover, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Regensburg, Rüdesheim, Weimar and Wolfsburg.

34th International Fair of Tourism in Belgrade (IFT), Serbia Debut exhibiting in the growth markets in south-east europe

The GNTB exhibited at the International Fair of Tourism (IFT) in Belgrade for the first time last year. From 23 to 26 February 2012, visitors to its prominently positioned stand were given informa-tion about city breaks, culture and events. By taking part in the event, the GNTB underlined its aim of raising the profile of Destination Germany in south-east Europe and spreading the word about the diverse appeal of tourism in Germany.

“By taking part in the Central Europe Workshop, I have been able to make several valuable contacts. These are enabling me to expand our product portfolio for Germany.”

Marcin Milczarek of RaINBoW TouRS S.a., Poland

“As city break specialists, it is very important to us that we meet our suppliers face to face. The GNTB workshop provided the ideal platform for this.”

Michael Nachbaur of High Life Reisen GmbH, austria

2012 Central and Eastern Europe Workshop in Wolfsburg


This presence at the leading travel fair in the region set down a clear marker prior to the opening of a new regional office for Destination Germany in May 2012. The office in Belgrade, run in partnership with the Danube Competence Center (DCC), covers the markets of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Monte-negro, Romania and Serbia.

after a successful debut appearance in 2012, and as part of its ongoing activities in this market, the GNTB returned to exhibit at the 2013 International Fair of Tourism (IFT) from 21 to 24 February, this year as the official partner country. at a stand measuring over 100 square metres, the GNTB, its main partner Bayern Tourismus Marketing GmbH and other tourism organisations showcased Germany as a high-calibre destination for culture-based trips and for travellers from the key south-east Europe region. During the four days of the event, buyers and media representatives discov-ered the latest that German providers have to offer in hotel and catering, inbound tourism and transport. The GNTB put the focus firmly on its theme for 2013 of ‘Germany for young people – vibrant, fashionable, innovative’. Part of this was a blog award, in which bloggers were asked to submit posts, photos and short videos expressing what they think makes Germany a travel des-tination for young people. The winner, whose prize was a trip to Germany, was announced at the ITB.

ITB asia – key platform for a key source market

From 17 to 19 october 2012 the GNTB promoted Destination Germany for the fifth time at the ITB in asia. The GNTB’s partner organisations at the 2012 event in Singapore were the Magic Cit-ies of Germany, Dresden Marketing GmbH, the Maritim hotel chain, Tourismus und Congress GmbH Frankfurt am Main, Frank-furt airport and Tourismus Marketing Gesellschaft Sachsen mbh.

ITB asia has taken place in Singapore every year since 2008 and has established itself as the leading tourism trade fair and B2B platform in the asia-Pacific region.

World Travel Market London expansion to Latin america – with Germany as the partner country

In November 2012, at a press conference hosted by Reed Travel Exhibitions, organiser of the World Travel Market (WTM), the GNTB announced to the international media that Destination Germany would be the official partner country for the inaugural WTM in Latin america, being held in april 2013 in Brazil. “Presenting Destination Germany as the official partner country for the WTM is a key milestone for the ‘Germany Year’ that is taking place in Brazil in 2013/2014. This partnership will further consolidate the excellent and long-standing relations between our two countries and increase inbound tourism from Brazil”, said Ernst Burgbacher, Member of the German Parliament, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economics and Technol-ogy and Federal Government Commissioner for SMEs and Tourism. The Germany Year in Brazil runs from May 2013 to May 2014.

Marlene Mortler, tourism policy spokeswoman of the CDu / CSu party in the German Bundestag, at the 2013 IFT in Belgrade

ITB asia 2012

From left to right: Norbert Tödter, head of strategic planning, partner/theme management and market research at the GNTB, who died on 9 November 2012; Georg Boomgarden, German ambassador to the uK; Klaus Lohmann, head of the GNTB’s uK office, at the German House during the 2012 Paralympic Games

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Trade fairs and workshops 2013 / 2014 In the form of sales-focused trade fairs and its own workshops and roadshows, the GNTB offers its partners in the German tourism industry an ideal platform for targeting key accounts in the international source markets. The focus of these events is on bringing together supply and demand as part of a professional B2B marketplace.


Country Location Type* Name Date

CRoSS-MaRKET TRaDE FaIRS

asia Singapore T ITB Asia 23 – 25 oct 2013

uK London T World Travel Market (WTM) 4 – 7 Nov 2013

International Berlin T ITB Berlin 5 – 9 Mar 2014

GERMaNY WoRKSHoPS

International Bremen W GTM Germany Travel MartTM 11 – 13 May 2014

International Frankfurt am Main T IMEX Frankfurt 20 – 22 May 2014

International Weimar W Central Europe Workshop 13 & 14 oct 2013

REGIoNaL MaNaGEMENT NoRTH EaST EuRoPE

Denmark Herning T Ferie for Alle 21 – 23 Feb 2014

Sweden Gothenburg T TUR 2014 20 – 23 Mar 2014

Finland Helsinki T MATKA 16 – 19 Jan 2014

Norway Lillestrøm T Reiseliv 28 Feb – 2 Mar 2014

Poland Warsaw T ITM (International Travel Market) Warsaw January 2014

Poland Warsaw W Germany Workshop 27 Nov 2013

RussiaSt. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev

R Germany Roadshow 8 – 11 oct 2013

Russia Sochi W Russia Pool Workshop 7 oct 2013

Northern EuropeDFDS - Ferries between Copenhagen and oslo

W North Europe Workshop 8 – 10 Sep 2013

REGIoNaL MaNaGEMENT NoRTH WEST EuRoPE

Netherlands utrecht T Vakantiebeurs 15 – 19 Jan 2014

Netherlands utrecht T 50 plus beurs 17 – 21 Sep 2013

Netherlands amsterdam T Fiets en Wandelbeurs 1 & 2 Mar 2014

Belgium Brussels T Vakantie Salon 30 Jan – 3 Feb 2014

Belgium Brussels W Germany Workshop 14 Nov 2013

uK London W Germany Workshop (Germany Travel Show) 12 Sep 2013


Country Location Type* Name Date

REGIoNaL MaNaGEMENT SouTH EaST EuRoPE

austria Vienna T FERIEN 16 – 19 Jan 2014

austria Graz, Salzburg W Germany Workshop 2 & 3 Jul 2014

South-east Europe markets

Belgrade T IFT (International Fair of Tourism) Belgrade 27 Feb – 2 Mar 2014

REGIoNaL MaNaGEMENT SouTH WEST EuRoPE

France Paris W Germany Workshop 15 oct 2013

Italy Rimini T TTG Incontri 17 – 19 oct 2013

Switzerland Zurich W Germany Workshop august 2014

Switzerland Zurich T FESPO 30 Jan – 2 Feb 2014

Spain Barcelona T EIBTM 19 – 21 Nov 2013

SpainPalma de Mallorca, Madrid, Barcelona

W ‘Meet Germany’ Workshop 21 – 24 oct 2013

Spain Madrid T FITUR 2014 29 Jan – 2 Feb 2014

REGIoNaL MaNaGEMENT aMERICaS / ISRaEL

Brazil São Paulo T WTM in Latin America 2014, TBa

BrazilBelo Horizonte São Paulo

R Germany Roadshow 17 – 19 Sep 2013

Canada TBa R Destination Germany Canada Roadshow 2014, TBa

uSa Las Vegas T IMEX America 15 – 17 oct 2013

uSa TBa R Destination Germany East Coast Roadshow 31 Mar – 3 apr 2014

uSaDenver, San Diego, orange County, Thousand oaks

R Destination Germany West Coast Roadshow 9 – 12 Sep 2013

REGIoNaL MaNaGEMENT aSIa / auSTRaLaSIa

arab Gulf States TBa R Germany Roadshow Spring 2014

australasiaSydney, Melbourne, Brisbane

R Magic Cities Roadshow 15 – 19 Jul 2013

China Hong Kong T CITM 2014 November 2014

China Hong Kong R China Roadshow 18 – 22 Nov 2013

IndiaBangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi

R India Roadshow 25 – 29 Nov 2013

India Chennai, New Delhi W India Pool activity week 27 – 31 May 2013

* T = Trade fair/exhibition W = Workshops R = Roadshows

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4.5 WWW.GERMaNY.TRaVEL

New highlights at www.germany.travel Back in 2011 the entire www.germany.travel website – the GNTB’s main marketing instrument – was relaunched with a brand-new design. It was a resounding success and in 2012 the focus was on continually expanding the content and incorporating additional tools.

T he internet continues to dominate growth rates among the booking channels. 59 per cent of Europeans who travelled abroad in 2012 booked their trip online, up

10 per cent on 2011 (source: IPK). a further 15 per cent used the internet to search for travel information. all in all, 73 per cent of people surveyed had gone online to prepare or book their trip. Five million people made their bookings using smartphones and other mobile devices.

The website www.germany.travel is the core marketing instru-ment within the GNTB’s multi-channelling strategy and is avail-able in 29 languages. The content is accessed either by theme using the navigation system or by a combination of geographical location / theme via the interactive map. Lots of multimedia con-tent makes visiting the website entertaining, and the full-text search function provides fast access to the required information.

The continuously growing multimedia section currently contains more than 560 videos, over 12,000 images and 265 interactive 360-degree panoramas. In accordance with its remit, the GNTB also offers the website as an attractive promotional platform for partners in the travel industry: a transparent and affordable pricing structure enables organisations and their products and services to be featured in everything from banner ads to co-branded microsites. Sections on national parks and music were added in 2012, in addition to a camping database. The GNTB also made preparations for the inclusion of additional content on the subject of museums and the 2013 theme of ‘youth travel’, and it expanded the in-depth content for various target groups. The sections ‘Towns & cities’ and ‘Great holidays on a small budget’ were updated.

The website’s new feature ‘My travel planner’ gives travellers the option of customising an itinerary for their trip to Germany using the informative content on towns & cities, sights and other tourism highlights. It’s easy to use and takes into account people’s different interests when it comes to holidays. The selected destinations can be put together into a personalised travel route that is tailored to the length of stay. This means that nearly all of the website’s content can now be used interactively, giving users the added value of being able to plan complete tours of Germany that can be accessed offline as well, and shared with friends on social media.

Microsites

The GNTB has significantly expanded the breadth of content on its website by adding microsites to its user-friendly navigation system. More than 40 new microsites were implemented in 2012.

GNTB partners such as Lufthansa, Deutsche Bahn and regional marketing organisations are among those to have microsites on the website. other microsites were developed to promote special themes or for selected source markets. Examples include microsites on the House of orange Route, walking and cycling for the Dutch market, air Berlin for the uS market and the autostadt in Wolfsburg on the Polish-language website. The microsite www.germany. travel/wagner, which is promoting the GNTB’s key PR theme of the Richard Wagner bicentenary year, has been online since February 2013.


GNTB microsite with LufthansaGNTB microsite with Deutsche Bahn

www.germany.travel launch page

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4.5 WWW.GERMaNY.TRaVEL

Mobile applications

The proportion of people using mobile devices to visit the GNTB website is increasing all the time and currently stands at almost 10 per cent. 76 per cent use ioS devices (apple) to access the themed content, which is provided in 29 languages, and around 20 per cent use android devices. In 2012, to cater to these target groups, the GNTB made even more of its online content accessible for the mobile market. The website content can now be accessed in full using all standard mobile devices.

Interactive ranking: the GNTB’s Top 100 app

The GNTB launched its first mobile app in order to generate inter-active dialogue with its visitors. at the beginning of 2012, the GNTB conducted a survey among travellers in Destination Germany to find out what they considered to be their personal highlights. The list of the 100 most popular sights included entries from all 16 federal states and encompassed a broad spectrum of cultural and scenic attractions. The Top 100 was launched in the apple app Store in mid-august. Within a few days it had been downloaded nearly 3,000 times, mostly in China, followed by the uSa and Japan.

The app provides extensive information on the different attrac-tions and enables quick and easy sharing with friends via Facebook. a new page for this list of Germany’s most popular sights has been added to the official GNTB website www.germany.travel. The app can be downloaded free of charge at www.germany.travel/top100. users can also access the new survey here, which will determine the Top 100 for 2013.

GNTB Christmas app: combining the traditional and the modern

In time for the start of the festive season, the GNTB teamed up with its long-standing partner Deutsche Bahn (DB) as well as 32 towns and cities to launch a Christmas app onto the market. Travellers were able to use the app to discover Germany’s Christ-mas markets and to find out about opening hours, admission prices and special features of the individual markets. There were also tips on Christmas shopping, typical customs and gifts, and on New Year’s Eve celebrations in Germany. The app was available in German, English and Dutch as well as French and Italian, and incorporated information about Deutsche Bahn train services.

www.germany.travel on mobile devices


International recognition for the GNTB’s online marketing

The high level of innovation demonstrated by the GNTB’s online marketing was recognised both in Germany and abroad in 2012. The Pacific asia Travel association (PaTa), for example, presented the new multilingual GNTB website, launched in 2011, with its 2012 Gold award.

This was in recognition of the consistent high standard of the interactive site, which is available in 29 languages – including Chinese, Japanese and Korean. The PaTa also praised the com-pletely new navigation system and architecture, which allows the website to be accessed from all modern end devices.

German Design Awards

appreciation for the GNTB’s marketing activities is growing at home as well: the website www.creative-germany.travel received the 2013 German Design award, the internationally regarded prize presented by the German Design Council. The organisation’s 30-strong panel of experts selected the GNTB website as the win-ner in its audiovisual, digital and interactive media category.

This is the second major accolade for the GNTB’s Creative Germany site, which had previously been awarded the 2011

reddot design award. The German Design Council’s panel of judges explained their decision as follows: “The battery as a sym-bol for the energy and creative drive of an entire country – the basic idea for a great website can be that simple and yet that powerful – then there’s the vibrant design featuring fantastic images, sensational graphics and engaging content.” The concept is a dynamic example of tourism marketing in which different projects and events are presented in the categories of architecture, art, design, fashion and music.

Feature on the website www.creative-germany.travel in the publication for the 2011 reddot design award

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RouNDTaBLE: REGIoNaL MaRKETING oRGaNISaTIoNS

Roundtable: the managing directors of the regional marketing organisations

Can you briefly summarise the inbound tourism results for your federal state in 2012?

andreas Braun: They’re superb. Visitors from abroad have once again been the driving force in our tourism industry. We are thrilled about increases that are above the average for Germany.

Jens Huwald / Dr Martin Spantig: From the perspective of inbound tourism, 2012 yielded an extremely positive set of results for Bavaria. This was another year in which the top five international source markets – the Netherlands, the uSa, austria, Switzerland and Italy – all generated more than a million overnight stays. The Netherlands even passed the 1.5 million threshold for the first time in 2012, and never before has the uK been so close to the million mark.

Burkhard Kieker: To put it simply: Berlin is booming. Tourism in Berlin is continuing to grow at a very high level and is by far the strongest performer across all the German cities. It’s very encour-

aging that Berlin, with around 25 million overnight stays, is man-aging to hold onto third place in the European benchmark behind London and Paris, and that we are welcoming more and more international guests. Berlin has arrived in the top tier of city break destinations worldwide.

Dieter Hütte: The first half of the year was relatively weak, but very positive growth in the second half of the year meant that the overall result was satisfactory.

Peter Siemering: The outstanding growth rates of recent years could not be replicated in the Bremen region in 2012, with 1,916,281 overnight stays (down 0.7 per cent). In the city of Bremen, the previous record result for overnight stays was improved upon by a small margin. accommodation providers registered 1,556,658 overnight stays, a rise of 0.1 per cent; that’s around 2,000 more overnight stays than in the record year of 2011.

Dietrich von albedyll: Hamburg broke through into the top ten European city destinations in 2012, recording more than 10 million overnight stays. Growth rates from almost all international mar-kets were in the double-digit range. International guests made 2.4 million overnight stays in Hamburg in 2012, an increase of 17 per cent. Top performers here were the rapidly expanding mar-kets of Russia and the Gulf States, which grew by 27 per cent and 51 per cent respectively.

Folke Mühlhölzer / Stefan Zindler: 2012 was another year of record results for travel destinations in Hessen. The number of overnight stays rose again, by 3.5 per cent, and has now reached a new all-time high of almost 30 million. The increase in the number of

Dr Martin Spantig and Jens Huwald, managing directors of Bayern Tourismus Marketing GmbH


arrivals – to more than 13 million – was higher still, at 4.9 per cent. The foreign source markets were a key driver of this growth. Now at 6.2 million, the number of international overnight stays in-creased by 10.4 per cent on 2011.

Bernd Fischer: In 2012 Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania achieved its best result for inbound tourism since the federal state was formed. The number of arrivals rose by 12.4 per cent to 335,000, while the number of overnight stays went up to around 920,000, an increase of 15.5 per cent. In absolute terms, our north-eastern region is ranked second among the non-city states in eastern Germany. This positive growth is founded on improved accessi-bility and strong cooperations with event organisers and compa-nies in the key source markets.

Carolin Ruh: Inbound tourism to Lower Saxony continued on its upward trend in 2012, with the number of overnight stays by in-ternational visitors going up by 4.4 per cent on the previous year. This means that it’s growing at a faster rate than the domestic market (up 1.5 per cent). In terms of the absolute number of over-night stays, however, inbound tourism still plays a relatively minor role (inbound 3.5 million / domestic: 36.5 million). almost half of all international overnight stays originated from the Dutch, Danish and Polish markets.

Dr Heike Döll-König: We recorded more than 45 million overnight stays for the first time in 2012, our third record year in a row. Inbound tourism made a huge contribution to this. For the second time, more than four million visitors from abroad travelled to North Rhine-Westphalia. a total of around 4.3 million arrivals represented a 4.2 per cent increase on the fantastic result of the previous year. The volume of overnight stays by foreign guests also reached an all-time high: for the first time ever, North Rhine-Westphalia registered more than nine million overnight stays from the international inbound market. overnight stays rose by 4.5 per cent to 9.2 million.

Dr achim Schloemer: Following the record year in 2011 with the Federal Horticultural Show in Koblenz, the number of visitors and overnight stays fell slightly (down 1.5 per cent). Nevertheless, 2012 was the second most successful year in the history of tourism in Rhineland-Palatinate. around 22 per cent of the number of visits and overnight stays in Rhineland-Palatinate were made by travel-lers from abroad. only in Berlin does inbound tourism account for a higher proportion of visitor numbers.

Birgit Grauvogel: our slogan for 2012 was ‘Discover the Saarland’, and it gave us one of the best years in our development so far. after achieving a record number of overnight stays in 2011, we registered higher levels of interest than ever before from the press and from visitors in 2012, winning accolades such as the German Tourism award and the Destination Nature award, and receiving a nomination for the eVelo project.

Hans-Jürgen Goller: In 2012 we recorded a total of 1.82 million overnight stays by visitors from abroad. Saxony recorded some of the highest inbound-tourism growth rates of any of Germany’s federal states in 2012: the number of arrivals went up by 8.6 per cent and the number of international overnight stays in-creased by 11.2 per cent.

Bettina Quäschning: overall, visitors from abroad are becoming increasingly important for Saxony-anhalt. For 2012 the Saxony-anhalt Statistical office recorded a 16.6 per cent increase in over-night stays and a 9.3 per cent rise in arrivals, both of which were above the average for Germany.

The main source markets were the Netherlands, with an 18.8 per cent market share, followed by Poland (11.1 per cent) and Denmark (8.4 per cent), whereby growth from the Polish source market was extremely high at more than 60 per cent.

Bernd Fischer, Managing Director of Tourismusverband Mecklenburg-Vorpommern e. V.

Dr Heike Döll-König, Managing Director of Tourismus North Rhine-Westphalia

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Christian Schmidt: We are noticing that the number of arrivals and overnight stays from abroad are growing at a much faster rate than those from the domestic market. In the inbound market for 2012 we achieved a 5.8 per cent increase in arrivals and a 5.3 per cent increase in overnight stays. Domestically, we remained at the same level as the previous year.

Bärbel Grönegres: We ended 2012 with a slight increase both in overnight stays and arrivals. The percentage increase in the num-ber of international overnight stays (up 4.9 per cent) was higher than the domestic equivalent (up 2.2 per cent). although Thur-ingia’s performance is below the average for Germany, this is now the sixth year in a row that growth has been recorded.

What were the most important international source markets for your federal state in 2012 and what in particular did you market to them?

andreas Braun: The main source markets for us are Switzerland, the Netherlands and France. our areas of natural beauty, for ex-ample the Black Forest, are very popular with the Dutch. The French come to enjoy the finer things in life, and they also come to shop. The Swiss are open to everything – with our excellent value for

money of particular appeal here. It is very exciting to see how the automotive theme and shopping are attracting more visitors from China, and how health tourism is doing the same for the Gulf States.

Jens Huwald / Dr Martin Spantig: From 2012, with the launch of our special winter campaign, promotional activities for all the German-speaking source markets will be combined with those for the domestic market. This means that the marketing themes advertising Bavaria in austria and Switzerland will be the same as those that are currently being used in Germany. In 2012 a video clip themed on camping in Bavaria was produced specially for the Netherlands.

Burkhard Kieker: The biggest international source market for Berlin in terms of numbers is the uK, followed by Italy and the uSa. We are particularly pleased about the increase in inbound travel from the BRICS countries, as this shows us that our con-tinuous work in these territories is paying dividends. We focused on themes such as luxury tourism and lifestyle very early on here. The growth rates from the BRICS countries are well above the average, coming in at around 30 per cent. Growth is also strong from markets such as australasia, the Gulf States and Turkey.

Dieter Hütte: For our neighbours Poland, the tourism spectrum ranges from cycling, shopping, youth travel and MICE to Branden-burg’s many thermal spas. our various marketing instruments have developed strongly here; for example, we have close media cooperations with two daily newspapers and the broadcaster TV Polska. In 2012 the Dutch market generated the highest number of overnight stays of all international source markets. and in aus-tria we were very successful in promoting the festivities for the 300th birthday of Frederick the Great.

Christian Schmidt, Managing Director of Tourismus-agentur Schleswig-Holstein GmbH

Bärbel Grönegres, Managing Director of Thüringer Tourismus GmbH

Dieter Hütte, Managing Director of Tourismus Marketing Brandenburg GmbH


Peter Siemering: The biggest international source market for the city of Bremen was the uK, with 38,537 overnight stays. In second place came the Netherlands (37,285 overnight stays). In third place was the uSa (25,156 overnight stays). although the volume of overnight stays from abroad fell by 1.4 per cent overall, some in-dividual markets grew at a high rate, including the uSa, which increased by 13 per cent. Depending on the target market, the city of Bremen focuses its marketing on aspects of history (uNESCo World Heritage, Bremen Town Musicians), innovation (worlds of discovery, EaDS astrium), maritime tradition (Weser promenade, Überseestadt) and fun and entertainment (events such as the Freimarkt fair and Christmas market).

Dietrich von albedyll: In the top markets of Switzerland and aus-tria the main themes are musicals and maritime Hamburg. In the uK we put the focus on music and the Hamburg scene. For Den-mark the most important themes are events of all type and shop-ping. Hamburg past and present and the maritime side to the city are examples of the themes marketed to the uSa. In the high-growth markets of Russia and the arab Gulf States we focus main-ly on luxury (shopping) and health tourism. Key marketing themes for China were shopping, cruises and Hamburg as a city of music.

Folke Mühlhölzer / Stefan Zindler: The most important interna-tional source markets are the uSa (up 7.2 per cent), the Nether-lands (up 5.7 per cent) and the uK (up 5.3 per cent). The Brothers Grimm anniversary in 2013, which began back in December 2012 with ‘200 Years of Folklore and Fairytales’, presented us with nu-merous opportunities to promote travel destinations in Hessen. Back in mid-2012 we initiated a travel guide entitled ‘Fairytale Hessen – on the trail of the Brothers Grimm in Hessen’, which was available in German and Dutch and as an e-book in English. Hessen’s cultural heritage of castles and palaces, and its pristine forests and natural scenery provide a host of other opportunities for theme-based marketing.

Bernd Fischer: The list of international guests continues to be led by the Dutch, who made nearly 150,000 overnight stays in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in 2012. only just behind them are the Swiss, with a total of more than 145,000 overnight stays and huge growth rates over the past five years. This is the result of intensified and now continuous marketing activities in these areas. The Scandinavian source markets of Sweden and Denmark, which occupy fourth and fifth place in the inbound tourism rankings, have recovered somewhat compared with the previous years.

Carolin Ruh: The most important international source market for Lower Saxony is still the Netherlands, where we are focusing on family tourism and active holidays (and cycling in particular). In Denmark, as well as family tourism and active holidays, we are mainly promoting stopovers in our theme parks. Theme parks and holiday parks are also our focus in the Polish source market. City breaks (in particular for the Christmas markets) round off our tourism portfolio in all aforementioned source markets. In the uK, parks and gardens are important, too. Growth is particularly rapid in China (up 26 per cent) and Russia (up 16 per cent).

Dr Heike Döll-König: The Netherlands is the biggest source market by some distance, with a market share of just over 25 per cent. our neighbours to the west chalked up almost one million arrivals and more than 2.3 million overnight stays in 2012. North Rhine-Westphalia is also popular among the British: their 700,000 overnight stays made the uK the second-largest source market last year.

active pursuits are particularly popular among visitors from the primary markets, along with shopping and short breaks in our major cities. We are also promoting North Rhine-Westphalia in Switzerland and in austria, using our German-language website,

Carolin Ruh, Managing Director of Tourismus Marketing Niedersachsen GmbH

Peter Siemering, Managing Director of Bremer Touristik Zentrale GmbH

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for example, and brochures for consumers. In the high-potential markets of Russia and the arab Gulf States, we are marketing medical tourism.

Dr achim Schloemer: The Netherlands and the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium are the most important international source markets for Rhineland-Palatinate. The focus here is on the four themes of Wonderful Walks, Cycling Heroes, WineLand and MeTime – plus culture as a unifying incentive for travel.

Promotional activities are also carried out for the markets of France / Wallonia / Luxembourg, the uK / Ireland, Sweden / Denmark, uSa, Switzerland, Spain and Italy. Key marketing themes here are the river landscapes and Romantic Germany, sometimes in combination – depending on the source market – with the four aforementioned themes.

Birgit Grauvogel: The most important source markets internation-ally are the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Switzer-land and austria. We are promoting our region in these markets using the themes of cycling, walking and gourmet food and drink, including in combination with culture (e.g. Völklingen Ironworks World Heritage site).

Hans-Jürgen Goller: The biggest international source market in 2012 was, for the first time, the Netherlands. It was followed in close succession by Switzerland, austria and the previous top performer uSa, which, due to one-off effects (decline in overnight stays by airline crews), was the only major source market to fall slightly. all the other top 15 source markets grew, in some cases significantly. The biggest increases were generated by Russia, with a 31 per cent rise in the number of overnight stays – helped by two non-stop scheduled flights from Moscow to Dresden – and by China, which was up 54 per cent.

The main marketing themes used to market Saxony are culture, culture and culture again. ‘Saxony – Germany’s no.1 cultural des-tination’ – we don’t use anything else abroad. The main cultural focuses for us last year were the 800th anniversary of St. Thomas choir and the bicentenary of the birth of Richard Wagner.

Bettina Quäschning: Particularly important international source markets in view of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 are the uSa, Sweden and South Korea. as part of the ongoing marketing cooperation with the neighbouring federal states of Saxony and Thuringia, we are using our experiences in the uK market – in terms of the ‘Cultural Heart of Germany’ project and the Luther decade – to help us develop the uS market. PR activities promoting the Luther decade in Sweden will be greatly expanded.

Promotional English-language brochures such as ‘Heartland of German History’ and ‘Culture Treasure Chest’ are advertising Saxony-anhalt as a travel destination for the themes most likely to garner international appeal such as Luther 2017, uNESCo World Heritage sites, Sky Paths, Romanesque Route, Garden Dreams, musical festivals and events.

Hans-Jürgen Goller, Managing Director of Tourismus Marketing Gesellschaft Sachsen mbH

Dr achim Schloemer, Managing Director of Rheinland-Pfalz Tourismus GmbH

Bettina Quäschning, Senior Manager, Investitions- und Marketinggesellschaft Sachsen-anhalt mbH


Christian Schmidt: an analysis of market potential from 2012 shows that Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and austria are the most relevant source markets for us. We promote Schleswig-Holstein to these countries using very specific themes that are based on the main travel motivations of each nation. While our visitors from across the alps are mainly interested in the unique natural beauty of Schleswig-Holstein, golf and shopping are ex-tremely popular with travellers from Denmark and Sweden.

Bärbel Grönegres: The Netherlands is still the most important source market by some distance, and we mainly promote our close-to-nature holidays and active pursuits there. after it come Switzerland and austria, where the focus is on theatre and music-related travel.

What challenges and opportunities do you see for the development of inbound travel in your federal state for 2013 and beyond?

andreas Braun: We have to direct even more funds towards the development of international source markets and at the same time bring our marketing instruments into sharper focus. It’s es-sential that we analyse the specific and often very different char-acteristics of each target group and address them in a more nu-anced way. We are keeping a particularly watchful eye on the fast-growing source markets. I include China and the arab Gulf States as well as Russia among these.

Jens Huwald / Dr Martin Spantig: over the coming years, the markets of Poland and France will play a more important role in the inbound work of Bayern Tourismus Marketing. In asia, we are already working to develop the markets of Japan, China and India. In the other asian markets, we will continue to monitor growth for now. one of the major challenges of the next few years will be in the field of intercultural skills. accommodating guests from high-growth overseas markets such as the united arab Emirates,

China and India requires people to have specific knowledge about the culture of the country in question.

Burkhard Kieker: as a city of culture offering a high quality of life and very good value for money, Berlin is set to remain one of the top destinations in Europe over the long term. We see great po-tential for Berlin in the asian markets, which are becoming more and more important for tourism in Europe. Here we will begin to tap into new markets for Berlin: Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, for instance, as well as comparatively smaller markets such as Mongolia and Taiwan. all in all, the onus is on visitBerlin to build a higher international profile and to become less reliant on the previously dominant domestic source market. and there is an economic background to this as well: the opening of the new BER airport will – albeit later than planned – give an additional boost to the positioning of Berlin as the new major gateway in central Europe.

Dieter Hütte: The postponement to the opening of the new Berlin-Brandenburg airport remains a major challenge. We have to bridge the time until BER goes into operation. Nevertheless, the success of the ILa air show at the airport’s new expo centre showed that Brandenburg holds a great deal of potential for MICE travel and inbound tourism, potential that can be harnessed at this present time. There will be small changes in the spread of our market activities following a review in 2012: going forward, we will have a slightly smaller presence in the uK and in Sweden, but from 2013 will be adding the Czech Republic as a new market.

Peter Siemering: The low-emission zone and city tax are still the major issues for the Bremen region. The overhaul of the existing worlds of discovery to make them more attractive will remain a key project. In Bremen the development of Überseestadt with its many different tourist attractions (new in 2013: GoP Variety Theatre) will play an important role. The focus in Bremerhaven

andreas Braun, Managing Director of Tourismus Marketing GmbH Baden-Württemberg

Burkhard Kieker, Managing Director of visitBerlin

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continues to be on the Harbour Worlds complex. For both cities, the opening of new hotels and other hospitality establishments has a key part to play as well.

Dietrich von albedyll: The main goal remains to increase the proportion of overnight stays accounted for by international visitors. Hotel capacities have to be increased accordingly so that we are able to cater to the group travel segment from the inter-national markets. Twenty new hotels will have opened by 2014, offering more than 6,000 additional beds. To build on the direct transport links already on offer, Hamburg Tourismus is continuing to work with the airport and airlines on various projects. Transna-tional cooperation projects are helping to put Hamburg’s market position on a par with northern European cities such as Helsinki, Riga, Warsaw and St. Petersburg through involvement in the Eu interregional project one Baltic Region that promotes the region as a whole to the uS market. another transnational cooperation project is being run in conjunction with Copenhagen and its sur-rounding region in preparation for the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link opening in 2021.

Folke Mühlhölzer / Stefan Zindler: The international source markets hold further potential for us as well. a market analysis that we commissioned in autumn 2012 backed up our choice of key source markets and added Switzerland to the list. From 2013 we will be working together with selected partner organisations representing destinations and cities in Hessen to conduct addi-tional marketing activities in Switzerland.

The Grimm anniversary offers a host of marketing opportunities for 2013. one highlight is sure to be the ‘Expedition Grimm’ exhi-bition in the Documenta Hall in Kassel. The Brothers Grimm are also a key PR theme for the GNTB in 2013. We are talking to each other to coordinate the PR activities – it’s working well.

Bernd Fischer: accessibility and transport connections are the be-all and end-all for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania when it comes to growth in the inbound market. We need more reliable and more frequent flight and train connections, particularly from austria. We are working on a strategy paper for the development of key international source markets that is based on our new brand concept. For example, we are making increased efforts to forge cooperations with tour operators in the Netherlands and in Lux-embourg as well as in Poland and the Czech Republic. our short-term goal: one million overnight stays by international visitors in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

Carolin Ruh: We see lots of potential in using the anniversary year of the partnerships between Lower Saxony, Wielkopolska and Lower Silesia as a starting point for new cross-border contacts and projects. and we want to harness the international appeal of the IGS in Hamburg to spread the word about the wide range of palaces and gardens in Lower Saxony. This includes drawing at-tention to the 2014 Regional Garden Show in Papenburg.

We also have to increase the involvement of tourism partners in the region, however. Because of the high importance of domestic tourism, it’s sometimes hard to get our partner organisations to invest money in international marketing. Then there are the pre-conceptions, for example when marketing in Poland. Specific projects include the major exhibition entitled ‘The Hanoverians on Britain’s Throne 1714-1837’, which runs from 17 May to 5 october 2014 in Hannover and Celle, and the GNTB theme for 2014 of uNESCo World Heritage.

Dr Heike Döll-König: In order to entice even more people, par-ticularly those from abroad, to visit North Rhine-Westphalia, we are continuing to focus the marketing of our destination on our brand family and on targeted activities in the source markets. We see medical tourism as having a particularly high level of potential

Folke Mühlhölzer, Managing Director of Ha Hessen agentur GmbH Stefan Zindler, Head of Tourismus- und Kongressmarketing Ha Hessen agentur GmbH

Dietrich von albedyll, Managing Director of Hamburg Tourismus GmbH


for international inbound travel. Together with experts from our region, we are promoting the excellent medical tourism infra-structure in North Rhine-Westphalia to an even greater degree. Business travel is an engine of growth for the inbound market. In this segment, too, we expect to attract an international audience over the coming years thanks to major trade fairs such as boot, drupa and anuga.

Dr achim Schloemer: The ongoing economic crisis in a number of source markets is the major challenge at the moment. How-ever, we believe that the persistent marketing carried out by Rheinland-Pfalz Tourismus will pay dividends soon.

Birgit Grauvogel: We are working first and foremost on compen-sating for the decline in the conference and business travel sector. another challenge for the coming years will be the level of com-petitiveness in the hotel and restaurant industry.

Hans-Jürgen Goller: We are anticipating strong growth in inbound travel for 2013 and beyond, despite the fact that the competition among the federal states and destinations within Germany has become much more intense. Five to ten years ago, the only serious contenders were Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Saxony, Berlin and a handful of major cities. Now, almost all regions of Germany conduct some form of professional international marketing – that is the biggest challenge.

Bettina Quäschning: It is becoming increasingly important to focus on high-potential themes and defined international source markets. In 2014 the GNTB will be promoting Germany’s uNESCo World Heritage in a standalone international campaign for the first time. This presents Saxony-anhalt with the opportunity of putting its uNESCo World Heritage sites at the heart of its mar-keting in further selected source markets. ‘Luther 2017 – 500 years since the Reformation’ will be the main cultural-political theme

in Saxony-anhalt leading up to 2017 and will have an impact on tourism to the ‘homeland’ of the Reformation – with its fantastic uNESCo World Heritage sites – beyond 2017 as well. The Bauhaus anniversary year in 2019 offers further opportunities to establish the international appeal of Saxony-anhalt in the markets.

Christian Schmidt: The below-average marketing support and the strong competition from city destinations throughout Germany will continue to occupy us this year. Because of this, we will be working closely with local and regional tourism partners to further develop joint marketing activities. In addition to the successful target group approach, we aim to attract visitors by marketing ‘discovery areas’ that encompass tourism themes and products.

Bärbel Grönegres: Thuringia looks set to score highly with cultural visitors in particular in 2013, because of the events cele-brating the 150th anniversary of Henry van de Velde’s birth and the Richard Wagner bicentenary. In 2014 Thuringia is joining in with the uNESCo World Heritage theme – its wealth of cultural and natural world heritage sites should hold great potential for tourism.

The closer the Reformation decade gets to its conclusion, the more attention it will receive at home and abroad – primarily in the uSa, South Korea and the Scandinavian countries. Together with other federal states and the GNTB, we aim to step up our efforts to promote this.

The preparations for the 2015 Germany Travel Mart in Thuringia are a further focus.

Birgit Grauvogel, Managing Director of Tourismus Zentrale Saarland GmbH

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5 a LooK aHEaD To THEMES aND CaMPaIGNS FoR 2013 / 2014


A look ahead to themes and campaigns for 2013 / 2014 Long-term planning for themed marketing activities is one of the secrets to the GNTB’s success: developments in global travel patterns must be analysed in advance to assess the potential for Germany’s inbound tourism industry. Specific campaigns are developed in cooperation with associated partners and the wider travel industry. Current trends in marketing communication also have a bearing on how the campaign is executed.

Berlin, alexanderplatz

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Theme for 2013: ‘Germany for young people – vibrant, fashionable, innovative’

For 2013 the GNTB will be shifting the focus of its international marketing activities onto the youth travel sector. Germany is a popular destination among young travellers. From Europe alone, the source region that generates the most overnight stays for Destination Germany, almost ten million trips were made by young people aged between 15 and 29 in 2011.

Young visitors to Germany are particularly interested in city breaks and cultural travel, taking in the major sights, as well as shopping, entertainment and exploring on foot. They are also drawn to Creative Germany which is setting international trends in the areas of art, fashion, architecture, design and events. outstanding value for money, a cosmopolitan outlook and excellent infrastruc-ture make Germany ideal for group tours and other organised travel, such as school trips, as well as for independent young travellers.

Social media campaign: ‘Youth HotSpots in Germany – Share the moment’

With primarily young travellers in mind, the GNTB has contin-ued developing its online activities. Central to the theme year is the ‘Youth HotSpots in Germany – Share the moment’ ini-tiative aimed at younger target groups. This broad-ranging social media campaign was launched at the 2013 ITB in Berlin and will continue until March 2014. It is based on GNTB surveys conducted via the youth travel tour operator ‘ruf’, a&o Hotels and Hostels and through the ‘Destination Germany’ Facebook

page, which asked German young people for their very own HotSpots from the Baltic coast all the way to the Bavarian alps. The survey results shaped the GNTB’s youth travel campaign.

Besides the theme year’s online presence, social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are integral communication channels. The core features are a newly designed microsite and a mobile app. The microsite www. germany.travel/youth will give young visitors the opportunity to find out what young Germans most like to do, and where they go, and to explore these HotSpots on a virtual tour before they even leave home. an interactive map uses flashing mark-ers to pinpoint where there is most going on in Germany in the HotSpot categories: must-sees, nightlife, shopping, bars & cafés and festivals & events. once the campaign went live at the ITB in Berlin, visitors from abroad could then update the map with their own HotSpots and share them with their friends on Facebook, for instance. That way, young travellers in Germany will generate additional dynamic content that spreads virally and that marks Germany out as a travel destination for young people.

The Youth HotSpot app currently maps around 1,300 free Wi-Fi zones throughout Germany and is available as a German or English language app for iPhones and android smartphones.

In this respect, the campaign is tuned to the target group’s travel and communication tendencies: young people prefer travelling with friends and like to share their experiences and discoveries with different social networks in real time. Not only does this give young people abroad a sense of Destination

A look ahead The basic tourism themes of ‘Towns, cities and culture’, ‘Business travel’ and ‘Health & wellness’ ensure consistency is maintained in the GNTB’s international marketing. Annual themes and sideline PR campaigns marking special occasions help to establish a multifaceted and diverse image.


Must Sees

Nightlife

Shopping

Bars & Cafés

Festivals & Eventswww.germany.travel

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Imag

es

Share the moment.Share the moment.Youth HotSpots in Germany

GNTB campaign ‘Share the moment – Youth HotSpots in Germany’ for the theme year ‘Germany for young people – vibrant, fashionable, innovative’

Germany, but it also enables them to find useful information for planning their holiday in Germany.

To ensure the campaign spans a wide radius, the GNTB is joining forces with a&o Hotels & Hostels, the German Youth Hostel association and Deutsche Bahn to represent service providers. Strategic partners abroad include group tour opera-tors in the youth travel sector and the Goethe Institute.

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Basic theme: barrier-free travel

In line with its newly established innovations management, the GNTB will in future be placing even greater emphasis on the topic of accessibility. In Europe alone, there are now some 80 million people with disabilities or restricted mobility; that equates to 16 per cent of all Europeans. In light of demographic developments, this figure will continue to rise over the coming years. Whether travelling on business or for leisure, people with physical or mental disabilities, people with temporarily restricted mobility such as patients in rehabilitation, older tourists, and families with children, have very specific requirements of a travel destination. The GNTB website provides information for these target groups including links to partner associations, German states, towns, cities and regions as well as associations and organisations that can help mobility-restricted travellers with planning and arrangements for their holiday or business trip to Germany.

Cooperations

The GNTB is working together with its partners and sponsors to promote reliable, quality-assured products and services throughout the travel and hospitality industry. This already includes a collaboration with the Barrier-free Destinations in Germany association, which has been a GNTB sponsor and a member of the GNTB’s advisory Board since January 2010. The National Tourism for all Coordination agency (NatKo) also became a GNTB sponsor in 2010.

The ‘GoLD – u CaN Do MoRE THaN u THINK’ film project was screened during a GNTB press conference on 7 September in London to introduce Destination Germany in terms of accessible travel. against the backdrop of the Paralympic Games in London, Germany

marketed itself as a barrier-free, liberal-minded and inviting travel destination. Project GoLD was initiated by the German Social accident Insurance association (DGuV). The GoLD docu-mentary, made by Parapictures Film Production, put the spotlight on three different athletes – paraplegic German swimmer Kirsten Bruhn, blind Kenyan runner Henry Wanyoike and australian wheel-chair racer Kurt Fearnley – and accompanied them on their jour-ney as they prepared for the 2012 Paralympics. The GNTB also posted behind-the-scenes footage online at www.creative- germany.travel/art/gold/ and www.germany.travel/gold.

a product of the close cooperation between NatKo and the GNTB, the second Barrier-free Tourism Day was held during the 2013 ITB travel industry conference. Experts described the opportunities

GNTB microsite for the GoLD campaign during the 2012 Paralympics, a collaboration with Lufthansa

GNTB advertorial promoting barrier-free travel in Germany


and challenges involved in accessible travel before an audience of more than 200 representatives from the tourism sector and political spheres. They presented best practice examples from various European countries as well as the latest findings of a project funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics, which aims to develop a standardised labelling system for accessible tourism products and services in Germany.

Sales and marketing activities

a GNTB microsite on barrier-free travel will be going live in June 2013. The site will be marketed through online advertising campaigns, editorials and adverts in leading British specialist magazines and banners on related websites. The theme will also be promoted to customers, press representatives and industry contacts via an exclusive newsletter special.

Basic theme: Health travel

The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) and the German Spa association renewed their cooperation agreement in early 2013. The focus is now on intensifying the partners’ strategic alliance and pooling their international marketing activities in the illness prevention and health-related tourism sector.

In line with the trend for health-related holidays in Germany, the GNTB continually incorporates the theme of ‘Health and wellness travel’ within its international marketing and sales activities. a cross-media campaign for health-related travel is under way, which will reissue the print product in six languages and update the website content at www.germany.travel/health. The GNTB will also run an annual health travel fact-finding tour for key players in the international market.

The German Spa association is a member of the GNTB and rep-resents the interests of more than 250 quality-certified spa resorts in Germany and their federal organisations at regional and state levels. The association’s objectives lie in the quality assurance, product development and representation of spa and health resorts both in terms of therapy treatments and tourism services. all print products were reissued.

GNTB publication on medical tourism in Germany

GNTB banner promoting health & wellness travel

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200th anniversary of Richard Wagner’s birth

22 May 2013 marks the bicentenary of Richard Wagner’s birth. The GNTB is using this anniversary as an opportunity to put the spot-light on attractions and events in towns and cities where Wagner lived and worked. The main focus of the events is on Leipzig (Wagner’s birthplace), as well as Dresden, Eisenach, Munich, Nuremberg and the Wagner city of Bayreuth. In 2013 both Dresden and Leipzig will be hosting special exhibitions on one of the most influential German composers and music dramatists. To honour the occasion, a new Wagner museum was opened at the hunting lodge in Graupa, which focuses on Wagner’s time in Saxony. another museum is being set up in the alte Nikolaischule (old St Nicholas School) under the auspices of the Leipzig Cultural Foun-dation, which will feature a permanent exhibition entitled ‘The Young Wagner’.

Core markets in the active promotion of key PR themes are France, the uK and austria as well as the overseas markets of uSa, Japan and China. The GNTB ran a special press tour in 2012 to market the forthcoming anniversary as a musical and cultural highlight with an emphasis on the associated sights and attractions, uNESCo World Heritage sites, and events calendar (theatre fes-tivals, concerts, exhibitions). Participants came from the markets of Italy, France, Canada, China, Switzerland, the Baltic states, the uSa, austria, Spain, the Netherlands, Turkey, the uK and Ireland.

In 2013 the GNTB is running a two-part press highlight tour to present the year’s Richard Wagner theme. These tours take in sites associated with the life and legacy of Richard Wagner as well as event highlights of the anniversary year. The Wagner North route

departs from Eisenach, passing through Leipzig and Dresden en route to Bayreuth. The target markets for this tour are Finland, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia. The Wagner South route starts in Munich and Nuremberg and also guides participants to Bayreuth. Target markets for this route are Denmark, Poland, Sweden and Turkey. Since october 2012 the press centre at www.germany.travel has been offering ‘press kits’ for the anniversary, which are available in 29 languages. Detailed information is also provided via the custom-built microsite www.germany.travel/wagner.

200 years of Brothers Grimm folklore and fairytales

The fairytales of brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are among the best known works of German literature. on 20 December 1812 their collection of popular stories was published for the first time. In conjunction with the Hessen agentur regional PR agency, the GNTB is using this bicentenary as a key PR theme and opportu-nity not only to promote German literature and language as a cultural treasure but also to highlight the romanticism that makes Germany such an appealing travel destination. Particular empha-sis will be placed on the German Fairytale Route, which links significant sites associated with the Brothers Grimm along a stretch of 600 kilometres.

The main calendar event during the Brothers Grimm year is the regional exhibition EXPEDITIoN GRIMM taking place in the Doc-umenta Hall in Kassel from april to September 2013. This and many other celebratory events will be supported by the GNTB through extensive press activities including press conferences,

PR themes for 2013 Key PR themes are designed to accentuate particular aspects of Destination Germany during special occasions. In 2013 Germany is celebrating a number of cultural anniversaries that also hold a great deal of potential for tourism.



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In the footsteps of a genius Destination Germany is celebrating 200 years of Richard Wagner – so join the celebrations! Discover the legacy of a musical genius at operas, concerts, exhibitions and events. Retrace the steps of Richard Wagner through the towns and cities of Germany: www.germany.travel/wagner

press briefings and PR events. The GNTB is also planning Facebook campaigns to promote the Brothers Grimm year, and is posting details of all the biggest events on the news feed and events da-tabase of the GNTB website.

In the Netherlands, De Efteling theme park held a Grimm sympo-sium on 14 March featuring notable German and Dutch speakers from the worlds of academia and art. The subject was picked up by the media and numerous articles covering the Grimm anni-versary appeared in the press following the Efteling symposium. Further to this, the event was broadcast on TV channel Een-Vandaag, reaching more than one million viewers.

150th anniversary of Henry van de Velde’s birth

Belgian designer Henry van de Velde is widely regarded as a pioneer of the Bauhaus tradition and a representative of classic modernism. His repertoire ranged from the architectural design of buildings and interiors to the design of jewellery and everyday objects. Numerous commissions brought van de Velde to Ger-many in 1900, where he left behind an impressive legacy. The GNTB is using the 150th anniversary of Henry van de Velde’s birth – 3 april 2013 – as an opportunity to highlight his work and to promote the theme of architecture and design in Germany. In 2013 the architect will be central to major exhibitions in Weimar, Jena and Gera. The Henry van de Velde Route, which runs all the

way from Paris to Poland, offers a comprehensive overview of the work of this multi-talented artist. From May to September Germany’s first Museum of Henry van de Velde in Chemnitz is hosting the exhibition ‘Henry van de Velde’s buildings and their uses then and now’.

In terms of marketing the anniversary of the famous designer’s birth, the GNTB is concentrating its efforts on countries where a value is placed on culture and architecture such as the uSa, the united Kingdom, Belgium, Switzerland and Spain as well as emerg-ing markets in south-east Europe. The 150th anniversary of van de Velde’s birth will feature prominently in a variety of online and offline activities at the GNTB press centre found at www.germany.travel.

50 years of the Élysée Treaty

on 22 January 2013 Germany celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Élysée Treaty. The agreement was signed in 1963 by the then German Chancellor Konrad adenauer and France’s head of gov-ernment Charles de Gaulle, and has since become the cornerstone of Franco-German relations. The anniversary presents the GNTB with an ideal opportunity to intensify Destination Germany marketing in its neighbouring country, promoting Germany as a pleasant and inviting place to visit.

Numerous events involving both countries are taking place up to July 2013. The GNTB will be working more closely with the Goethe Institute in France to promote this key theme, including such ini-tiatives as the German-French photo project ‘Histoires croisées – Franco-German couples.’ This has already been introduced during a joint press conference in January 2013.

as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations, the GNTB is planning several themed events in France (including press conferences, press briefings and PR events) for the media and key players in the travel industry. The GNTB is also inviting French media repre-sentatives across the border in order to give the French media Germany’s perspective on the treaty, as part of their theme-relat-ed research.

GNTB advert promoting the bicentenary of Richard Wagner, a key PR theme for 2013

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UNeSCO World Heritage

Germany became the world’s number one cultural travel destina-tion for Europeans for the first time in 2012 – according to market researchers IPK. This status is partly down to the 37 uNESCo World Heritage sites in the country. In terms of World Heritage distribu-tion in Europe, Germany ranks fourth with 37 architectural monuments, historical town quarters, significant industrial sites and distinctive natural landscapes in Germany deemed of inter-national historical importance by uNESCo. They contribute to the success of Destination Germany. In the Travel & Tourism Com-petitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum in 2013, Destination Germany scored 6.3 out of a possible seven points for its cultural resources in an international comparison of 140 countries. The current Quality Monitor survey of the German tourism industry shows that 50 per cent of visitors from abroad chose Germany for its sightseeing opportunities. The ‘uNESCo World Heritage site’ designation is a travel incentive for 34 per cent, which means that having World Heritage status is like having an international seal of quality.

The German National Tourist Board will be celebrating the uNESCo World Heritage sites in 2014 under the banner ‘uNESCo World Heritage – sustainable cultural and natural tourism’, harnessing the interest shown by international visitors in these accredited cultural and natural monuments. In conjunction with its strategic partner, the German Commission for uNESCo, the GNTB has developed a combined logo, placing Germany’s World Heritage sites at the heart of its global marketing activities.

Theme year for 2014 To more and more tourists, Destination Germany symbolises a land of culture. Long-standing traditions and a rich heritage form the foundations of a vibrant and exciting contemporary culture – one well worth visiting.


Part of the GNTB trade fair stand promoting the theme for 2014 ‘uNESCo World Heritage – Sustainable cultural and natural tourism’


Organisationder Vereinten Nationen

für Bildung, Wissenschaftund Kultur

Deutsche Zentrale für Tourismus e.V.Themenjahr 2014Welterbe in Deutschlandmit Unterstützung derDeutschen UNESCO-Kommission e.V.

The theme year will be supported by online activities, a joint pub-lication and intensive media work. Multimedia content on the uNESCo World Heritage sites is available in twelve languages at www.germany.travel/unesco. 360-degree panoramas, photos and videos give visitors to the website a virtual experience of the different attractions. an interactive map shows the location of the sites as well as other points of interest such as scenic routes, footpaths, cycling trails, spa towns and health resorts, all adding to the incentive to travel. other useful sources of information that can be accessed via a PC, smartphone or tablet range from route planners and weather forecasts to event listings and directories of restaurants and hotels operated by GNTB members.

In preparation for the theme year, the GNTB is also developing a new cultural travel magazine focusing on uNESCo. a map of Germany pinpointing World Heritage sites will be used as adver-tising material in all markets. Fact-finding tours of Germany’s uNESCo World Heritage sites and introductory presentations at events such as the Travel Market Netherlands, Travel Week Japan, and roadshows in the uSa, etc. will help familiarise key players from the global travel trade with the chosen theme for the year. Detailed information is made available through press releases and press newsletters at www.germany.travel/presse as well as through editorial meetings and media events.

500 years since the Reformation: key themes up to 2017

Spiritual travel plays an important role in marketing at the GNTB. The 500th anniversary of the Reformation marked by the Luther decade (2007 to 2017) is a key milestone in the promotion of this segment. The GNTB is using a wide range of marketing campaigns in defined key markets to promote the theme while working closely with the Luther 2017 coordinating office, the Evangelical Church in Germany, regional tourism organisations and

the main towns and cities in Germany with historical links to Luther. In 2015 the theme will take an artistic turn, focusing in particular on the works of Lucas Cranach the Younger who was born 500 years ago. In recognition of the Luther decade, the GNTB will also be hosting the 2015 GTM in Weimar.

2014 UNESCO World Heritage in Germany Sustainable cultural and natural tourism

2015 25 years of German unity

2016 Holidays in the heart of nature Germany’s national parks and nature parks

2017 Religious travel in Germany Sites of the Reformation

Forthcoming GNTB annual themes

“Not only does the UNESCO name bring additional visitors to Germany, but it can also help to promote sustainable development and understanding between nations. By collaborating with the GNTB for the 2014 theme year we have the opportunity to make authentic world cultural and natural heritage accessible to even more people and to raise awareness of the importance of World Heritage and of UNESCO.”

Dr Roland Bernecker, Secretary General of the German Commission for uNESCo

2014 600th anniversary of the Council of Constance 25 years since the peaceful revolution in Leipzig

2015 500th anniversary of the birth of Lucas Cranach the Younger

Scenic routes of Germany

2017 Luther 2017 – 500 years since the Reformation

2019 100 years of the Bauhaus

Forthcoming key PR themes

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6 INTERNaTIoNaL MaRKETING


International marketing Whether it’s megatrends such as health and culture, theme years or basic themes – the GNTB uses market-specific instruments for its promotional activities around the world. These are targeted at key players from the trade and press, consumers and partners in business and tourism. The foundation for this strategy is a thorough analysis and evaluation of the markets.

North Sea, amrum Island

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Global network for sales and marketing

Regional Management americas/Israel

Regional Management North West Europe

Regional Management South West Europe

Regional Management North East Europe

Regional Management South East Europe

Regional Management asia/australasia

Foreign representative offices

Sales and marketing agencies since 2012: promoting Germany in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia

PR agencies

Market covered by the GNTB

Los Angeles

Chicago

Toronto

New York

São Paulo


The German National Tourist Board promotes Destination Germany both in the traditional source markets of Europe and overseas, and in the expanding markets of eastern Europe and Asia. Its promotional activities around the world are planned, coordinated and implemented via six regional management offices covering a total of 30 representative offices and sales & marketing agencies.

Beijing

Hong KongNew Delhi

Dubai

Jaffa

Istanbul

WarsawFrankfurt head office

Prague

Budapest

Brussels

London

ZurichParis

MilanLjubljana

Copenhagen

Amsterdam

Madrid

Oslo

StockholmHelsinki

Moscow

Vienna

Sydney

Tokyo

Belgrade

SeoulZagreb

SarajevoPodgorica

SofiaBucharest

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Regional Management North West Europe With a total of 19.2 million overnight stays in 2012, the North West Europe source markets have a share of 28 per cent of all overnight stays by foreign visitors in Germany.

Overnight stays (OS) in 2012* GNTB forecast for OS in 2020** Population in millions***

NETHERLANDS 10,939,882 11,000,000 to 13,300,000 16.7

UK / IRELAND 4,839,427 5,000,000 to 5,400,000 62.8

BELGIUM 2,870,823 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 10.8

LUxEMBOURG 539,748 800,000 0.5

NORTH WEST EUROPE 90.8 million people***

NETHERLANDS North Rhine-Westphalia 21.3 %* Rhineland-Palatinate 18.9 %* Bavaria 13.9 %*

UK Berlin 22.1 %* Bavaria 20.5 %* North Rhine-Westphalia 15.7 %*

BELGIUM Rhineland-Palatinate 32.6 %* North Rhine-Westphalia 20.1 %* Baden-Württemberg 13.7 %*

LUxEMBOURG Baden-Württemberg 29.3 %* Bavaria 15.6 %* North Rhine-Westphalia 13.1 %*

Top destinations

*In accommodation establishments with ten or more beds / **Differences due to rounding/ ***2012 statistics

*Federal state’s share of all overnight stays from the market concerned

Source: Federal Statistical office

19,189,880overnight stays in 2012*

21,200,000GNTB forecast for 2020** overnight stays*

Rank


Foreign representative offices for North West Europe

Regional Management North West Europe

Frankfurt head officeBrussels

London

amsterdam

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Netherlandsoverall, the Netherlands generated almost eleven million over-night stays in Germany during 2012, 2.9 per cent more than in the previous year and a continuation of the upward trend in this source market. This is due to the strong holiday market, which is extremely important and accounts for 70 per cent of all travel to Germany by Dutch people. Germany is the most popular out-bound destination for travellers from the Netherlands, with a market share of more than 18 per cent. around 57 per cent of all foreign holidaymakers who went camping in Germany and around one in two international visitors enjoying active holidays in Germany come from the Netherlands. The most popular destina-tions within Germany in 2012 were North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Bavaria. The Netherlands generates 15.9 per cent of inbound tourism to Germany and annual tourism revenues of around €1.2 billion. The GNTB expects high growth in demand for 2013.

UK / IrelandIn the year under review, around 4.5 million overnight stays were registered by British visitors, 5.7 per cent more than in the previous year. The main reason for this is the resurgent business travel segment: 30 per cent of all travel from the united Kingdom is busi-ness-related, while 55 per cent is for holidays and 15 per cent is for trips to visit friends and family. With a market share of 4 per cent, Germany is the seventh most popular destination for visitors from the united Kingdom. The most popular destinations within Germany were Berlin, Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia. British visitors generate 6.6 per cent of inbound tourism to Germany, bring-ing in revenues of around €1.7 billion. The united Kingdom is the fourth largest of all the source markets for Destination Germany.

The GNTB expects an increase in demand for holidays to Germany by British travellers in 2013. Growth in the volume of business trips to Germany will depend on the economic climate and whether this turns out as forecast.

BelgiumWith around 2.9 million overnight stays, travel to Germany from Belgium rose by 4.4 per cent compared to the previous year. of all travel from Belgium to Germany, 73 per cent is for holidays, 15 per cent is for trips to visit friends and family and 12 per cent is business-related. Germany is the second most popular outbound destination for Belgian travellers, with a market share of 12 per cent.

Belgium generates over 4 per cent of inbound tourism to Germany, which represents around €0.6 billion in tourism reve-nues for the German economy. The most popular destinations within Germany were Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-West-phalia and Baden-Württemberg. The GNTB expects to see further growth in the number of overnight stays in 2013.

Market review: North West Europe The Netherlands, United Kingdom and Belgium are traditionally among the top source markets for inbound tourism to Germany. In 2012 all three increased their volume of overnight stays in Germany.


Baden-Württemberg,snow-shoe trekking in the Black Forest

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Regional Management North East Europe With a total of 10.6 million overnight stays in 2012, the North East Europe source markets have a share of 15 per cent of all overnight stays by foreign visitors in Germany.


DENMARK 2,855,677 3,000,000 to 3,800,000 5.6

RUSSIA 2,247,281 2,500,000 142.7

POLAND 2,013,267 2,200,000 38.3

SWEDEN 1,659,463 1,600,000 to 1,800,000 9.5

NORWAY 843,686 900,000 5.0

FINLAND 612,339 900,000 5.4

BALTIC STATES 371,267 500,000 6.9

NORTH EAST EUROPE 213.4 million people***

DENMARK Berlin 21.2 %* Schleswig-Holstein 20.5 %* Lower Saxony 12.6 %*

RUSSIA Bavaria 31.7 %* Berlin 18.5 %* North Rhine-Westphalia 13.7 %*

POLAND Bavaria 18.7 %* North Rhine-Westphalia 13.9 %* Berlin 11.8 %*

SWEDEN Berlin 23.1 %* Schleswig-Holstein 14.1 %* Bavaria 11.7 %*

NORWAY Berlin 30.4 %* Bavaria 14.3 %* Schleswig-Holstein 9.5 %*

FINLAND Berlin 29.1 %* Bavaria 18.3%* North Rhine-Westphalia 11.1 %*

Top destinations






Rank


Frankfurt head office

Copenhagen

Oslo

Foreign representative offices for North East Europe

Sales and marketing agencies

Regional Management North East Europe

Stockholm

Helsinki

Moscow

Warsaw

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DenmarkIn 2012 the number of overnight stays in Germany by visitors from Denmark increased by 10.6 per cent to almost 2.9 million. 71 per cent of all trips to Germany from this market are for holidays, 18 per cent are business-related and 11 per cent involve trips to visit friends and family. Germany is by far the most popular destination for visitors from Denmark, with a market share of 25 per cent. The GNTB expects to see further growth in the num-ber of overnight stays by Danish visitors in 2013.

SwedenSweden generated around 1.7 million overnight stays, up 8.9 per cent on the previous year. 65 per cent of all travel from Sweden to Germany is for holidays, 14 per cent is for trips to visit friends and family, and 21 per cent is business-related. Germany is the most popular international destination for Swedish travel-lers, with a market share of 14 per cent. Provided the economic situation is favourable, the GNTB expects the number of overnight stays in Germany by visitors from Sweden to increase again in 2013.

Norwayaround 0.8 million overnight stays were registered from this mar-ket in 2012, 12.7 per cent more than in the previous year. around 72 per cent of all travel from Norway to Germany is for holidays, 15 per cent is business-related and 13 per cent is for trips to visit friends and family. Germany is the fourth most popular destina-tion for Norwegian visitors, with a market share of 8 per cent. The GNTB expects the number of overnight stays to increase in 2013.

FinlandFinland is another country that saw a further strong recovery in 2012. It had been hit hard by the financial crisis in 2009 / 2010, mainly because business trips represent about 35 per cent of all travel to Germany from this market. German accommodation providers recorded a total of around 612,000 overnight stays by visitors from Finland in 2012, up 2.1 per cent on the previous year. Germany is the fourth most popular destination for visitors from Finland, with a market share of 6 per cent. The GNTB expects the positive trend in the number of overnight stays by Finnish visitors to continue in 2013.

PolandNeighbouring Poland has become an important source market for Germany. In 2012 it accounted for around 2.0 million overnight stays, an increase of 17.6 per cent. For a while now, the GNTB has been running special campaigns in Poland to promote holidays to Germany, which currently account for around 30 per cent of all trips made to Germany by Poles. Germany is by far the most popular international destination for Polish travellers with a 41 per cent share of the market. The GNTB expects to see further growth in this market in 2013.

RussiaRussia has become an important inbound market for Germany in recent years. The total number of overnight stays in Germany by Russian visitors was 2.2 million in 2012, up 25.9 per cent on the previous year. Holiday travel accounts for 54 per cent of this total. Germany is the fifth most popular destination for visitors from Russia, with a market share of 9 per cent. The GNTB expects fur-ther growth from this source market and a rise in overnight stays in 2013.

Market review: North East Europe The GNTB anticipates an increase in the number of overnight stays in Germany by visitors from North East Europe and Russia, provided that economic growth remains stable in the region. In the medium term, the number of overnight stays by northern European and Russian visitors in hotel accommodation is expected to rise to around 11.5 million.



Ingolstadt, Chic outlet Shopping Village

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Regional Management South West Europe With almost 13.8 million overnight stays in 2012, the South West Europe source markets have a share of 20 per cent of all overnight stays by foreign visitors in Germany.


SWITZERLAND 5,210,806 5,000,000 to 7,100,000 7.7

ITALY 3,468,347 5,100,000 61.0

FRANCE 3,064,548 3,600,000 63.5

SPAIN 2,027,802 3,800,000 46.8

SOUTH WEST EUROPE 179.0 million people***

SWITZERLAND Baden-Württemberg 36.3 %* Bavaria 22.6 %* Berlin 10.0 %*

ITALY Bavaria 33.3 %* Berlin 24.7 %* Baden-Württemberg 11.9 %*

FRANCE Baden-Württemberg 23.8 %* Berlin 19.9 %* Bavaria 18.1 %*

SPAIN Berlin 32.7 %* Bavaria 19.9 %* North Rhine-Westphalia 11.4 %*

Top destinations






Rank


Foreign representative offices for South West Europe

Regional Management South West Europe


Zurich

Paris

Milan

Madrid

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FranceThere was another increase in travel to Germany by visitors from France in the year under review. around 3 million overnight stays by French visitors, 4.6 per cent more than in the previous year, were registered in 2012. This is the direct result of a particularly large holiday market, which accounts for around 50 per cent of all travel to Germany by French visitors. The most popular destina-tions within Germany were Baden-Württemberg, Berlin and Bavaria. Germany is the fifth most popular destination for visitors from France, with a market share of 7 per cent. French visitors generate 4.5 per cent of inbound tourism to Germany and tourism revenues of around €1 billion for the German economy (source: IPK). The GNTB expects further growth in the number of overnight stays for 2013.

SpainThe number of overnight stays by visitors from Spain dropped slightly, by 0.8 per cent, to around 2 million in 2012. However, this was still up 11 per cent on 2008 and represents a significant re-covery following the slump in 2009. around 63 per cent of all travel to Germany from this market is for holidays, while 30 per cent is business-related and 8 per cent is for trips to visit friends and family. Germany is the fifth most popular destination for visitors from Spain, with a market share of 9 per cent. The most popular destinations within Germany were Berlin, Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia. approximately 2.9 per cent of inbound tourism to Germany is generated by Spanish visitors along with revenues of some €0.9 billion for the German economy. Destination Ger-many is extremely well positioned against its direct competitors and is taking advantage of the high demand for products to in-crease its market share. The GNTB expects another increase in the number of overnight stays from Spain in 2013.

SwitzerlandSwitzerland accounts for 7.6 per cent of inbound tourism to Germany and is the second largest source market for travel to Germany. It also produced some of the highest tourism revenues for the German economy, generating around €2.4 billion. With 5.2 million overnight stays, an increase of around 9.4 per cent on the previous year, this important market proved extremely resilient to the financial crisis. This is on account of the strong holiday market, which represents around 50 per cent of all Swiss travel to Germany. The most visited destinations within Germany were Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Berlin. Germany is the most popular destination for visitors from Switzerland with a 28 per cent share of the market. The GNTB expects further stable growth in the number of overnight stays from Switzerland for 2013.

ItalyThe Italian market for overnight stays in Germany grew by 6.4 per cent in 2012 to reach almost 3.5 million. 69 per cent of all trips to Germany from Italy are for holidays, 25 per cent are business-related and 6 per cent involve trips to visit friends and family. Germany is the third most popular destination for visitors from Italy, with a market share of 10 per cent. The most popular destinations within Germany were Bavaria, Berlin and Baden-Württemberg. Italy accounts for 5 per cent of inbound tourism to Germany. Italian visitors generated tourism revenues of around €1.1 billion. The GNTB expects the number of overnight stays by Italian visitors to rise in 2013.

Market review: South West Europe The high-volume markets of South West Europe all performed well in 2012. Even in Spain, a source market hit especially hard by the economic crisis, the volume of overnight stays in Germany stabilised and was up significantly on the pre-crisis level of 2008.


Bad Wörishofen, pine room at the thermal baths

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Regional Management South East Europe With a total of around 6.1 million overnight stays in 2012, the South East Europe source markets have an approximate 9 per cent share of all overnight stays by foreign visitors in Germany.


AUSTRIA 3,221,467 3,200,000 to 4,470,000 8.4

CZECH REPUBLIC 858,798 1,000,000 10.6

HUNGARY 714,635 800,000 10.0

ROMANIA 557,124 No figures available 21.9

SLOVAKIA 301,061 400,000 5.5

SLOVENIA 220,981 300,000 2.0

BULGARIA 196,009 No figures available 7.1

SOUTH EAST EUROPE 65.5 million people***

AUSTRIA Bavaria 38.8 %* Baden-Württemberg 12.9 %* Berlin 10.0 %*

CZECH REPUBLIC Bavaria 31.7 %* Baden-Württemberg 13.3 %* North Rhine-Westphalia 10.9 %*

HUNGARY Bavaria 33.8 %* Baden-Württemberg 20.4 %* North Rhine-Westphalia 8.5 %*

ROMANIA Bavaria 30.2 %* Baden-Württemberg 19.7 %* North Rhine-Westphalia 12.5 %*

SLOVAKIA Bavaria 31.6 %* Baden-Württemberg 16.8 %* North Rhine-Westphalia 14.5 %*

SLOVENIA Bavaria 33.8 %* Baden-Württemberg 17.6 %* North Rhine-Westphalia 12.2 %*

BULGARIA Bavaria 23.0 %* Baden-Württemberg 14.8 %* North Rhine-Westphalia 12.9 %*

Top destinations






Rank


Foreign representative office for South East Europe

Sales and marketing agencies / regional office covering Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia in Belgrade

PR agency

Regional Management South East Europe


Prague

Budapest

Ljubljana

Vienna

Belgrade

Istanbul

Zagreb

Sarajevo

Podgorica

Bucharest

Sofia

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Market review: South East Europe In 2012 the markets of south-east Europe continued their strong recovery from the economic crisis and the majority generated double-digit increases in the number of overnight stays. Austria in particular is generating continuous gains in the number of overnight stays in Germany.

austriaaround 3.2 million overnight stays by visitors from austria were registered in 2012, an increase of 6.3 per cent on the previous year. The holiday segment accounts for around 42 per cent of all travel to Germany, while 27 per cent is business-related and 31 per cent is for visits to friends and family. Germany is the second most popular international destination for austrian travellers with a 23 per cent share of the market. austria generated tourism reve-nues of some €1.2 billion.

Czech Republic / SlovakiaIn the year under review, around 858,800 overnight stays by visi-tors from the Czech Republic were registered in Germany, up 12.4 per cent on the figure for 2011. of all travel from the Czech Republic to Germany, 31 per cent is business-related, while around 56 per cent is for holidays and 13 per cent is for visits to friends and family. Germany is the most popular outbound destination for Czech travellers with a 20 per cent share of the market. as a holiday destination, Germany ranks second, with a market share of 14 per cent. The total number of overnight stays in Germany by visitors from Slovakia in 2012 was around 301,000 – 12.8 per cent more than in the previous year. Germany ranks as the fifth most popular European destination for Slovakians.

HungaryVisitors from Hungary contributed to the German tourism indus-try with around 714,600 overnight stays in 2012. This was a year-on-year gain of 15.6 per cent, indicating that the Hungarian mar-ket has more than made up for the decline caused by the economic crisis in 2009. about 36 per cent of all travel to Ger-many from this market is for holidays, while 39 per cent is busi-ness-related. Germany is the second most popular destination

for visitors from Hungary and has a market share of 13 per cent. Germany accounts for 7 per cent of all holidays from Hungary, making it the sixth most travelled-to destination.

SloveniaIn 2012 Germany recorded around 220,900 overnight stays by visitors from Slovenia – growth of 20.7 per cent compared to 2011. Travel from Slovenia is dominated by business trips, which account for 61 per cent of the market. around 25 per cent of all travel to Germany from Slovenia is for holidays, while 14 per cent is for trips to visit friends and family. of the most popular international des-tinations for travellers from Slovenia, Germany ranks third, with a market share of 15 per cent.

TurkeyIn the year under review, around 576,000 overnight stays by visi-tors from Turkey were recorded in Germany – a considerable gain of 10.8 per cent. Holidays account for the largest proportion of inbound travel from Turkey at 56 per cent. Germany is the most important international destination for Turkish travellers, with a 30 per cent share of the overall market and a 33 per cent share of the holiday travel market.

Other countries in south-east europeEvery year, around 1.7 million trips to Germany are made by travel-lers from other future growth markets in south-east Europe. In 2012 the source markets of Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina generated around 1.4 million overnight stays. Germany ranks among the top seven outbound destinations in these countries. If this trend continues, the number of overnight stays by visitors from these markets could climb to 1.5 million by 2020.


Wolfsburg, art Museum

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Regional Management Americas / Israel With a total of around 7.5 million overnight stays in 2012, the Americas / Israel source markets have an approximate 11 per cent share of all overnight stays by foreign visitors in Germany. Our most important overseas market is the USA with 4.9 million overnight stays in 2012.


USA 4,854,776 5,900,000 315.8

BRAZIL 694,440 830,000 198.4

CANADA 623,867 850,000 34.7

CENTRAL/SOUTH AMERICA 669,756 No figures available 399.4

AMERICAS (TOTAL) 6,842,839 7,600,000 948.3

ISRAEL 660,936 700,000 7.7

AMERICAS / ISRAEL 956.0 million people***

USA Bavaria 29.0 %* Berlin 15.6 %* Hessen 14.5 %*

BRAZIL Berlin 27.9 %* Bavaria 25.9 %* Hessen 12.9 %*

CANADA Bavaria 26.9 %* Berlin 20.0 %* Hessen 13.9 %*

ISRAEL Berlin 39.7 %* Baden-Württemberg 23.5 %* Bavaria 15.3 %*

Top destinations






Rank


Foreign representative office for americas / Israel


Regional Management americas/Israel


Los angeles

Chicago

Toronto

New york

Jaffa

São Paulo

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Market review: Americas / Israel The USA is the third most important source market in the world for Destination Germany and the most important overseas market. Together with Canada, Central America, South America and Israel, it contributed around 7.5 million overnight stays to Germany’s incoming tourism industry in 2012 – up 7.5 per cent on 2011.

USaVisitors from the uSa, the third most important source market for inbound tourism in Germany, made around 4.8 million over-night stays in 2012, an increase of 4.2 per cent. of all travel from the uSa to Germany, 46 per cent is for holidays, while 28 per cent is business-related and 25 per cent is for trips to visit friends and family. The most popular German destinations for american trav-ellers in the year under review were Bavaria, Berlin and Hessen. among the top European destinations for travellers from the uSa, Germany ranks fourth, with a market share of 13 per cent. over-night stays by uS visitors generated 7.1 per cent of inbound tour-ism to Germany and tourism revenues of around €5.6 billion. The GNTB expects overall growth in the number of overnight stays by visitors from the uSa in 2013.

CanadaIn the year under review, the number of overnight stays in Ger-many by visitors from Canada was around 623,900, 4.4 per cent more than in the previous year. The most popular destinations within Germany were Bavaria, Berlin and Hessen. The majority of all travel from Canada to Germany (around 62 per cent) is for holidays, while 20 per cent is for business and 18 per cent is for trips to visit friends and family. Germany is the eighth most pop-ular destination in Europe for Canadian visitors, with a market share of 14 per cent. In view of the economic recovery, the GNTB anticipates further growth in 2013.

Brazilapproximately 694,400 overnight stays by visitors from Brazil were recorded in 2012, 18.4 per cent more than in the previous year. Roughly 80 per cent of all travel to Germany from this mar-ket is for holidays, while 20 per cent is business-related. The most frequently visited German destinations were Bavaria, Berlin and Hessen. Germany ranks as the seventh most popular European destination for Brazilians. In 2013 the GNTB expects the number of overnight stays by visitors from Brazil to increase again.

Central / South americaThe Central / South american source market (excluding Brazil) generated around 669,700 overnight stays in Germany in 2012, up 14.9 per cent on the previous year. This is part of an ongoing recovery that has more than made up for the decline resulting from the financial crisis in 2009.

IsraelIn the year under review, Germany recorded around 660,900 overnight stays by visitors from Israel. This represents a rise of 19.2 per cent compared to 2011. The most popular destinations within Germany were Berlin, Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. around 69 per cent of all travel from Israel to Germany is for holidays, while 20 per cent is business-related and 11 per cent is for trips to visit friends and family. Germany is the third most popular European destination for travellers from Israel and has a market share of 10 per cent. For 2013, the GNTB expects further increases in the number of overnight stays by Israeli visitors.


eisleben, market square

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Regional Management Asia / Australasia With a total of 6.2 million overnight stays in 2012, the Asia and Australasia source markets have a 9 per cent share of all overnight stays by foreign visitors in Germany.


CHINA / HONG KONG 1,563,298 2,200,000 1,353.6

JAPAN 1,325,544 1,400,000 126.4

ARAB GULF STATES 1,284,583 2,000,000 41.1

AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND AND OCEANIA 807,410 900,0001 36.8

INDIA 584,508 1,500,000 1,258.4

SOUTH KOREA 423,530 600,000 48.6

SOUTH AFRICA 174,892 No figures available 50.7

ASIA / AUSTRALASIA 2,915.6 million people***

CHINA / HONG KONG Bavaria 26.8 %* Hessen 18.2 %* Baden-Württemberg 14.0 %*

JAPAN Bavaria 33.6 %* Hessen 16.6 %* North Rhine-Westphalia 13.3 %*ARAB GULF STATES Bavaria 41.2 %* Hessen 17.4 %* North Rhine-Westphalia 12.7 %*

AUSTRALIA1 Berlin 30.3 %* Bavaria 28.6 %* Hessen 9.9 %*

INDIA Baden-Württemberg 25.0 %* Bavaria 22.8 %* Hessen 18.9 %*

SOUTH KOREA Hessen 34.2 %* Bavaria 29.7 %* North Rhine-Westphalia 9.5 %*

Top destinations

*In accommodation establishments with ten or more beds / **Differences due to rounding/ ***2012 statistics 1 australia only

*Federal state’s share of all overnight stays from the market concerned 1 incl. New Zealand and oceania




Rank


Foreign representative office for asia/australasia


PR agency

Regional Management asia/australasia


Beijing

Hong KongNew DelhiDubai

Sydney

Seoul Tokyo

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Market review: Asia / Australasia A number of Asian countries delivered double-digit growth in the volume of overnight stays in Germany in 2012. The markets of China, Japan, Korea, India, the Arab Gulf States and Australia all comfortably exceeded the numbers of overnight stays achieved during the crisis period of 2008 / 2009.

Japan / South KoreaThe Japanese travel market continued its recovery from the global economic crisis in 2012, despite the impact of natural dis-asters. This resulted in the number of overnight stays in Germany by Japanese visitors rising to around 1.3 million, up 12.1 per cent on the previous year. around 59 per cent of all travel from Japan to Germany is for holidays, while 24 per cent is business-related and 17 per cent entails trips to visit friends and family. Germany is the third most popular destination within Europe for visitors from Japan, with an 11 per cent share of the market. There was also a return to growth in travel from Korea to Germany. In 2012 the number of overnight stays by visitors from Korea rose by 22.1 per cent to approximately 423,500, another significant gain on the number recorded in 2008.

China / Hong KongIn the year under review, visitors from China and Hong Kong made around 1.6 million overnight stays in Germany, 18.2 per cent more than in the previous year. Holiday travel accounts for around 41 per cent of all travel from China and Hong Kong to Germany and business travel makes up 59 per cent. Germany has a 20.4 per cent share of the European travel market. The GNTB forecasts a further increase in the number of overnight stays by visitors from China and Hong Kong in 2013.

arab Gulf StatesWith around 1.3 million overnight stays, tourism to Germany from the arab Gulf States was up 27.5 per cent on the previous year. The leisure segment accounts for some 87 per cent of all travel to Germany from this market, while trips to visit friends and family

make up 1 per cent and 12 per cent is business-related. Germany has a 22 per cent share of the market for travel to Europe from the arab Gulf States. The GNTB expects overall growth in the number of overnight stays by visitors from this region in 2013.

IndiaIn 2012 the number of overnight stays in Germany by visitors from India increased by an impressive 6.8 per cent to around 584,500, more than making up for the decline resulting from the financial crisis. The GNTB sees huge potential for growth here. In India, Germany is a popular destination for holidays and business trav-el, and ranks as the second most popular destination in Europe. around 39 per cent of all travel to Germany from this market is for holidays, while 50 per cent is business-related and 11 per cent is for trips to visit friends and family. The GNTB expects further significant growth in the number of overnight stays from India for 2013.

australia / New Zealand / OceaniaThe trend in the australasian source market was very positive in 2012. The total number of overnight stays in Germany by visitors from australia, New Zealand and oceania was 807,400, up 10.4 per cent on the previous year. Germany ranks as the fourth most popular European destination for visitors from this region, with a market share of 6.4 per cent. The GNTB expects to see growth in the number of overnight stays by visitors from australasia in 2013.


Munich, flea market

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7 aIMS aND oBJECTIVES


Berlin, Reichstag

Aims and objectives In accordance with its charter, the GNTB’s objective is to enhance the positive image of Destination Germany abroad and to increase the volume of inbound tourism to Germany. The GNTB defines specific targets and tasks for each year in close consultation with the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, its main source of funding, and on the basis of the tourism policy objectives of the federal government.

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T he Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology sets specific annual objectives for the GNTB’s international marketing. The primary objective is to promote tourism,

particularly in the context of supporting SMEs. In 2013 the second-ary global objective remains to increase the volume of overnight stays by visitors from abroad and to increase revenues generated by inbound tourism to Destination Germany.

The specific mid-term and long-term objectives of the GNTB in accordance with its charter are:

1 to cultivate the image of Destination Germany and conduct market research

2 to devise strategies and carry out press and PR work in the form of advertising campaigns and theme-related projects

3 to market Germany as a travel destination4 to coordinate the marketing activities of tourism providers

Cultivating the image of Destination Germany abroad / market research

In 2013 the GNTB continued with its market research activities that analyse the current positioning of Destination Germany in the international tourism market. This market research uses sta-tistical analyses as well as various sources that gauge the image of Germany around the world. The conclusions drawn from the results form the basis of the marketing strategy along the product lines Culture and active Holidays / Health & Fitness.

Devising strategies and carrying out press and PR work in the form of advertising campaigns and theme-related projects

The GNTB implements its strategic objectives through theme-based marketing campaigns for individual years. In 2013 the GNTB’s activities are focused on youth travel. a&o Hotels & Hostels, the German Youth Hostel association and Deutsche Bahn are the cooperation partners for the campaign entitled ‘Germany for young people – vibrant, fashionable, innovative’.

The GNTB is using its key PR themes for 2013 to draw attention to notable anniversaries and events of importance to tourism. one of these themes is the 200th anniversary of Richard Wagner’s birth, which is being commemorated by numerous events in the places where he lived and worked. During the 200th anniversary

7 aIMS aND oBJECTIVES

Objectives and tasks for the German National Tourist Board in 2013 Tourism is a key pillar of the German economy, contributing significantly to gross value added and job creation. It is very much in the interests of the federal government to secure jobs in the tourism industry – which predominantly comprises small and medium-sized enterprises – and to boost the economies of underdeveloped regions.

Ernst Burgbacher, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology and Federal Government Commissioner for SMEs and Tourism, talking at the GNTB stand during the GNTB/Messe Berlin parliamentary evening, ITB 2013


of the Brothers Grimm fairytales, the GNTB is promoting the many events marking the occasion and is capitalising on the opportu-nity to market the German Fairytale Route as well. The 150th birthday of Henry van de Velde and the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Elysée Treaty are also being marketed as addition-al themes in the relevant markets.

Marketing Germany as a travel destination

at the heart of the GNTB’s marketing work for Destination Germany, in addition to social media activities specific to indi-vidual markets and themes, is the multimedia content available in 29 languages at www.germany.travel. In 2013 the GNTB is once again promoting Destination Germany at around 20 leading trade and consumer fairs around the world and hosting at least ten of its own workshops/roadshows. In doing so, it coordinates German tourism providers. In Germany itself, the GTM Germany Travel Mart™ is a combination of workshop, product presentation and networking opportunity for the international travel trade.

This year, the GNTB is continuing the successful work of the India Pool and the Russia Pool. These pools are used to attract addi-tional funds to drive forward the development of the high-growth markets of Russia and India. The GNTB has translated its market-specific annual targets for sales, advertising and direct marketing into individual marketing action plans for 2013.

Coordinating the marketing activities of tourism providers

Public-private partnerships remain a core element in the GNTB strategy with regard to making efficient use of funds and generating the greatest possible multiplier effect. In 2013 the GNTB is continuing to focus on cooperations with partners in Germany and key brands that represent Destination Germany such as the GCB German Convention Bureau, Magic Cities Germany, the German uNESCo World Heritage Sites association and Deutsches Küstenland.

The GNTB works together with the Pacific asia Travel association (PaTa) to develop high-potential markets in asia. It is also expand-ing the scope of ongoing cooperations with strategic partners such as Lufthansa and Deutsche Bahn. at European level, the European Travel Commission (ETC) will continue to market Europe overseas and focus its promotional activities on the BRICS countries.

1 Make the public, politicians and business more aware of the significance of tourism as a factor for Germany’s economy and international image.

2 Continue to improve the economic conditions conducive to growth in the tourism industry.

3 Position Germany as a sustainable tourism destination.

4 Tap into the potential for tourism presented by demographic change.

5 Ensure Germany is known as a tourist destination that offers outstanding quality.

6 Improve the skills of people working in the tourism industry.

7 Continue to improve Germany’s tourism products and services.

8 Ensure that tourism in Germany is accessible to everyone.

9 Improve how tourism policy-makers and the tourism industry work together.

Tourism policy objectives of the federal government

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8 aDMINISTRaTIoN


Administration The GNTB uses creative marketing to success - fully promote the tourism appeal of Destination Germany around the world. To do this, it requires highly skilled and motivated employees. State-of-the-art IT systems connect all parts of the organisation and make a contribution towards sustainability. Stringent financial management ensures that the GNTB stays within budget.

Kastel-Staadt, monks’ sanctuary

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Personnel

The GNTB employment plan for 2012 covered a total of 144.6 posi-tions. 70.6 of these are at head office, 72 are based abroad and there are two executive positions. There are also apprentices in years one, two and three of their apprenticeships, a new group of management trainees starting every october at head office and several dozen interns working in Germany and abroad.

Last year we added a feature that has previously been missing from our otherwise fully integrated software systems for human resources. It is now possible for all employees around the world to log their working hours in our central system on the basis of local times and directly from their computer.

Assessment of staffing requirements

The assessment of staffing requirements is a key basis for long-term personnel planning – both in terms of recruitment and deployment. as a public service organisation that receives a government grant, the GNTB is required to use the funds pro-vided to it in an efficient and economical manner. an objective assessment of staffing requirements based on tasks and business procedures is essential for maintaining efficiency in organisa-tional structures and processes.

a review of the tasks, organisational structure and personnel requirements of the GNTB’s foreign representative offices was completed in 2012. It resulted in a report outlining the project findings and a plan of implementation.

GNTB provides training for two tourism qualifications

The GNTB is currently training a total of 16 apprentices. at the end of 2012 six of them were working towards a tourism qualification and ten were working towards a leisure and tourism qualification. In 2011 the recognised occupation of ‘Travel professional’ was adapted to become ‘Tourism professional for private and business travel’.

The GNTB apprentices spend time in all relevant departments at the head office in Frankfurt and are given the opportunity to broaden their horizons on various work placements, for example in a foreign representative office, at a tour operator or in a tourist information office. This provides them a wealth of expertise and social skills to take into their future career in tourism. Because the GNTB provides more training than is needed to meet its own staffing requirements, some of these young people will move on to other companies in the German travel industry after complet-ing their apprenticeship or will enrol in further courses of study.

The broad scope of the apprenticeship at the GNTB helps the apprentices to achieve very good exam results. In 2012, for exam-ple, apprentice Julius Kraft was named the top achiever for leisure and tourism in the Hessen region.

Administration In 2012 the administrative organisation of the GNTB enabled human resources to be planned and assigned in accordance with needs. Further developments were made to IT systems as planned. The situation in terms of income and expenditure developed in accordance with the financial plan.


12,000

10,000

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

0

€ ’000

Personnel expenditure

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Breakdown of expenditure in 2012

61 %Marketing costs 29 %

Personnel expenditure for marketing and administration

9 %other operating expenses

1 %Capital expenditure

First career steps for university graduates

The GNTB also develops young talent through an in-house train-ee programme. In 2012 six university graduates gained their first professional experience at the GNTB on their way to becoming the managers and tourism experts of the future. The modular programme gives trainees an insight into two fields of marketing in which they can work on their own projects and gather addi-tional experience abroad. By the time they have completed the 15-month programme, which includes training seminars and in-volvement in a high-profile event, trainees have all the skills they need to take up a permanent position at the GNTB at home or abroad or at another organisation in the tourism industry.

Internships for students

The GNTB also helps to nurture young talent by providing intern-ships. Students can obtain their first professional experience at the head office in Frankfurt or in one of many foreign representa-tive offices and sales & marketing agencies. The interns spend time in all marketing departments, gaining hands-on experience of the work of an international marketing organisation. Involve-ment in projects at home and abroad gives the interns an in-depth insight into tourism work.

Focus on employee skills

Constant market changes, management innovations and new tools for tourism marketing all require ongoing training. To cater to this, the GNTB continued to pursue measures for the further development of its employees in 2012. The options available range

from seminars and method training (including project manage-ment) to specialist courses on subjects such as new trends in the media. These were complemented by personal development courses focusing on subjects such as rhetoric or conflict manage-ment. The aim of all training measures is to equip employees with the necessary skills to meet current and future requirements.

Information technology

The IT department is the main point of contact and service pro-vider for all matters relating to digital data processing in the GNTB’s day-to-day operations. Its staff members also support the individual departments in the planning and implementation of IT projects. Most services for employees in Germany and abroad are provided centrally in Frankfurt. The IT department currently runs 265 workstations, 45 physical servers and 75 virtual machines around the world, providing total storage space of 48 terabytes.

In 2012, projects from the previous year were completed and the strategy for IT infrastructure was aligned to future projects. We successfully migrated workstations to Microsoft Windows 7 and email services to Microsoft Exchange and then freed up the resources used by the parallel adoption.

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GNTB’s internet connection put out to tender

Every three years the GNTB re-tenders the internet connection for its head office in Frankfurt and for its eleven foreign repre-sentative offices. Because of the increased demand for storage space and the greater number of centralised IT services, higher bandwidths will be required for internet access and for commu-nications via the internal network. The award of the contract in 2012 ensured that the increased requirements will be covered in a cost-effective way. In fact, it was possible to more than double the bandwidth of the global network connection while keeping the cost structure the same. This is of particular strategic impor-tance in view of the projects coming up over the next few years.

Introduction of content delivery network

Extensive test scenarios using content delivery networks (CDNs) were carried out in 2012 in order to further optimise the delivery of content on the GNTB websites and thereby minimise loading times for end users. The experiences with this type of web-host-ing have been positive across the board, and so this year the IT department is working together with the Media Management department to put out an invitation to tender for the services of a global CDN provider. The faster loading times of www.germany.travel and other GNTB websites were noticeable particularly in the asian markets. at the same time the costs for the previous server housing centre were reduced considerably by moving over to a virtual data centre.

Outlook for 2013

Further measures in IT are contingent on the successful migration to a new service provider for network connection services. once the contract has been awarded, the global data and email services of the foreign representative offices will be centralised in Frankfurt. This will minimise hardware requirements at the inter-national locations and therefore reduce maintenance costs. The GNTB is introducing virtual storage technologies as an economi-cal means of meeting the growing requirements for storage capacities at head office. The IT department is also working with Central Services to determine to what extent the increased band-widths in the local area network can be used for a global telephone system based on state-of-the-art Voice over IP (VoIP) technology.

Logistics

The GNTB’s logistics and distribution department delivered brochures and other promotional items to the 30 foreign repre-sentative offices and sales & marketing agencies in 2012. It also supplied materials for the trade fairs, workshops and roadshows that took place in the destination markets. The new regional office in Belgrade for the markets of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia means that the south-east Europe territory is now fully covered.

The GNTB distributed a total of around 1.9 million brochures around the world in 2012. The 208 consignments, of which 58 were for trade fairs and workshops, were sent by land, sea and air.

GNTB apprentices on their assignment at the 2012 GTM in Leipzig


2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

€ ’000

Grant from federal government

0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000

Marketing costs

€27.7million grant from the federal government

€20.9million spent on marketing

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

€ ’000 2,000 20,500 21,000 21,500 22,000 22,500 23,000

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Financial management

In 2012 operating expenses went up because of the upgrading of IT systems and the introduction of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, whereas personnel expenses went down because of the discontinuation of the GNTB’s domestic marketing remit. The fact that the GNTB is no longer responsible for market-ing Germany domestically must also be taken into consideration when evaluating the changes in income from services. If the results are adjusted accordingly, it transpires that income from services in international marketing has remained at the same level of €6 million. The Federal Ministry of Economics and Technol-ogy increased the GNTB’s grant because of the collectively agreed rises in staff pay.

In doing this, the ministry underlined how important it is to stimulate the economy and to secure jobs in the tourism industry. ongoing cost discipline, a review and streamlining of the product portfolio – primarily in relation to trade fair activities and online advertising – and the steadily increasing involvement of tourism partners meant that the financial resources available for global marketing could be increased in 2012. This also made it possible to extend the international network for promoting Destination Germany.

Income

The GNTB’s operating results showed yet another improvement in 2012. The overall budget went down from €35.9 million to €34.4 million because of the discontinuation of the nationwide domestic marketing remit. Income from commercial activities came to €6 million and the grant provided by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology rose to €27.7 million. Grants and contributions from members increased by 3 per cent to €684,000 as a result of new members joining the organisation.

Expenditure

Taking into account the discontinuation of the domestic market-ing remit, overall marketing expenditure reached a new all-time high of €20.9 million. While other operating expenses rose by €297,000 to €3.3 million due to essential investments in IT and back-office systems, personnel expenses fell by around 1 per cent to €10.2 million. This again is because the GNTB is no longer responsible for nationwide domestic marketing. The GNTB’s accounts valued the non-cash payments made by partner or-ganisations at €1.7 million in 2012.

Implementation of a new ERP software solution, started in the third quarter of 2011, continued as planned in 2012, with further stages in the project successfully signed off. Booking and payment capabilities are now in place, and electronic workflow processes for procurement and budget approval have also been realised. For cost accounting purposes, a new procedure for logging the time spent on projects was introduced and rolled out across the organisation.

Outlook for 2013

In 2013 the expansion of the ERP system will continue to be a key focus in terms of financial management. This is exemplified by the introduction of an electronic accounting workflow and the planned deployment of the contract management module. This will increase the level of automation of the business units and make them more transparent. It will make operational procedures more efficient and will put an end to certain paper-intensive pro-cesses (working towards a ‘paperless office’).

The accounting functions of the foreign representative offices are being centralised in 2013. This will free up four positions previ-ously occupied by administrative tasks and make them available for market development.


Income2012 € ’000

%2011 € ’000

%2010 € ’000

%2009

actual € ’000

%2008

actual € ’000

%2007

actual € ’000

%

Income from services 6,041 17.5 6,717 18.7 7,381 20.3 7,572 21.2 7,033 20.3 6,673 19.6

Grants from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology*

27,713 80.5 27,040 75.3 26,622 73.1 25,640 71.8 25,121 72.5 24,939 73.3

Grants from the federal states 0.0 1,473 4.1 1,790 4.9 1,790 5.0 1,790 5.2 1,790 5.3

Grants and contributions from members

684 2.0 664 1.8 633 1.7 718 2.0 685 2.0 600 1.8

Income from GNTB budget** 34,438 100.0 35,894 100.0 36,426 100.0 35,720 100.0 34,629 100.0 34,001 100.0

Income from special projects 117 523 387 988

Total income (consolidated) 34,555 36,417 36,813 36.708 34,629 34,001

expenditure2012 € ’000

%2011 € ’000

%2010 € ’000

%2009

actual € ’000

%2008

actual € ’000

%2007

actual € ’000

%

Personnel expendi-ture for marketing and administration

10,201 29.6 10,292 28.7 10,130 27.8 10,244 28.7 9,815 28.3 9,673 28.4

other operating expenses 3,252 9.4 2,955 8.2 3,395 9.3 2,919 8.2 2,815 8.2 2,903 8.5

Capital investment 40 0.1 102 0.3 563 1.5 226 0.6 189 0.5 157 0.5

Marketing costs 20,945 60.8 22,545 62.8 22,338 61.3 22,331 62.5 21,774 62.9 21,268 62.6

Expenditure from GNTB budget** 34,438 100.0 35,894 100.0 36,426 100.0 35,720 100.0 34,629 100.0 34,001 100.0

Expenditure on special projects 117 523 387 988

Total expenditure (consolidated) 34,555 36,417 36,813 36,708 34,629 34,001

* Remaining cash on hand in 2006 deducted from 2007 figure / ** There is a rounding difference of €1,000 in some cases in the total amounts

GNTB financial overview: sources and appropriation of funds

137

9 oRGaNISaTIoN aND STRuCTuRE


essen, Zollverein mine

Organisation and structure Worldwide, six regional management teams coordinate the activities of 30 foreign representative offices and sales & marketing agencies; the GNTB’s sponsors and its 67 members, representing the travel and tourism industry, regions of Germany and trade associations, work together to promote Destination Germany. Members of the Board of Directors, the Advisory Board and the Marketing Committee at a glance. The organisational structure of the German National Tourist Board.

139


Addresses of GNTB Regional Management OfficesRegional Management North West Europe Netherlands Duits Verkeersbureau Haaksbergweg 51, 1101 BR amsterdam

Michaela Klare [email protected] Tel. + 31 (0)20 3113921 Fax + 31 (0)20 3113972

Belgium / Luxembourg Duitse Nationale Dienst voor Toerisme office National allemand du Tourisme Gulledelle 92, 1200 Brussels

Jürgen Lettau [email protected] Tel. + 32 (0)22 404581 Fax +32 (0)22 453980

United Kingdom / Ireland German National Tourist office 60 Buckingham Palace Road London, SW1W oaH

Klaus Lohmann [email protected] Tel. + 44 (0)20 73170912 Fax + 44 (0)20 73170917

Regional Management North East Europe / RussiaDenmark Tysk Turist Information Vesterbrogade 6 D III, 1620 Copenhagen V

Bernd Hässler [email protected] Tel. + 45 (0)33 436818 Fax + 45 (0)33 436801

Finland Deutsche Zentrale für Tourismus e. V. Deutsch-Finnische Handelskammer e. V. Postfach 83, 00101 Helsinki

Marjaana Saurila [email protected] Tel. + 358 (0)96 1221212 Fax + 358 (0)96 42859

Norway Tysklands Nasjonale Turistkontor Drammensveien 111 B, 0273 oslo

Sabine Graeff [email protected] Tel. + 47 (0)22 128230 Fax + 47 (0)22 128222

Poland DZT Marketing- und Vertriebsagentur Polen Deutsch-Polnische Industrie- und Handels-kammer Polsko-Niemiecka Lzba Prezmyslowo- Handlowa ul. Miodowa 14, 00–246 Warsaw

Olga Teodorek [email protected] Tel. + 48 (0)22 5310528 Fax + 48 (0)22 5310688

Sweden Tyska Turistbyrån aB Box 10147, 10055 Stockholm

Iris Müller [email protected] Tel. + 46 (0)86 651884 Fax + 46 (0)86 651883

Russia DZT Marketing- und Vertriebsagentur Russland Prospekt Wernadskogo Kor. 1, Bld. 103, office 087, 119 526 Moscow

Alla Belikova [email protected] Tel. + 7 (0)495 4335150 Fax + 7 (0)495 9333853

Regional Management South West EuropeFrance office National allemand du Tourisme 21, rue Leblanc ‘Le Ponant II’, 75015 Paris

Beatrix Haun [email protected] Tel. + 33 (0)140 200507 Fax + 33 (0)140 201700

Spain / Portugal oficina Nacional alemana de Turismo c/ San agustin 2-1° derecha Plaza de las Cortes, 28014 Madrid

Ulrike Bohnet [email protected] Tel. + 34 (0)9 13600393 Fax + 34 (0)9 14202450

Italy Ente Nazionale Germanico per il Turismo Via Soperga 36, 20127 Milan

Rijkert Kettelhake [email protected] Tel. + 39 (0)2 00667791 Fax + 39 (0)2 00667721

Switzerland Deutsche Zentrale für Tourismus e. V. Freischützengasse 3, 8004 Zurich

Harald Henning [email protected] Tel. + 41 (0)4 42132211 Fax + 41 (0)4 42120175


Regional Management South East EuropeAustria and Slovakia Deutsche Zentrale für Tourismus e. V. Mariahilfer Strasse 54 1070 Vienna

László Dernovics laszlo.dernovics@ germany.travel Tel. + 43 (0)1 513279210 Fax + 43 (0)1 513279250

Czech Republic Deutsch-Tschechische Indus- trie- und Handels kammer DZT Marketing- und Vertriebsagentur Tschechien Václavské náměstí 40 Stepanska 65, 110 00 Prague 1

Karel Zelený [email protected] Tel. + 420 (0)2 21490374 Fax + 420 (0)2 24222200

Hungary Deutsch-ungarische Industrie- und Handels-kammer DZT Marketing- und Vertriebsagentur ungarn Lövöház utca 30. 1024 Budapest

Viktória Novák [email protected] Tel. + 36 (0)13 457633 Fax + 36 (0)13 457634

Slovenia Deutsch-Slowenische Industrie- und Handels-kammer DZT Marketing- und Vertriebsagentur Slowenien Tomšičeva 3, 1000 Ljubljana

Maja Horvat [email protected] Tel. + 386 (0)1 2528855 Fax + 386 (0)1 2528869

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia Danube Competence Center (DCC) Regionalbüro Knez Mihailova 9, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia

Boris Camernik [email protected] Tel. + 381 (0) 11655 7115 Fax + 381 (0) 11 2630 399

Regional Management Americas / IsraelUSA / New York German National Tourist office 122 East 42nd Street, Suite 2000 New York, N.Y. 10168-0072

Ricarda Lindner [email protected] Tel. + 1 (0)212 6617858 Fax + 1 (0)212 6874138

Canada German National Tourist office c/o VoX International Inc. 2 Bloor Street West, Suite 2601 Toronto, oN, M4W 3E2

Anne Dollendorf [email protected] Tel. + 1 (0)416 9351896 ext. 224 Fax + 1 (0)416 9350939

USA / Los Angeles German National Tourist office 1334 Parkview ave, Suite 300 Manhattan Beach, Ca 90266

Maggie Burnside [email protected] Tel. + 1 (0)310 5451350 Fax + 1 (0)310 5451371

Brazil Centro de Turismo alemão (DZT) c/o Câmara de Com. e Ind. Brasil-alemanha Rua Verbo Divino, 1488 – 3° andar 04719-904 São Paulo

Margaret Grantham [email protected] Tel. + 55 (0)11 51875168 Fax + 55 (0)11 51812788

USA / Chicago German National Tourist office P.o. Box 59594 Chicago, IL 60659

Heike Pfeiffer [email protected] Tel. + 1 (0)773 5396303 Fax + 1 (0)773 53963783

Israel German National Tourist office c/o Lufthansa German airlines 37, She’erit Israel Street 68165 Tel aviv-Yafo

Goldi Gottlieb [email protected] Tel. + 972 (0)35 135306 Fax + 972 (0)36 825622

Regional Management Asia / Australasia Japan German National Tourist office 7-5-56 akasaka, Minato-Ku Tokyo 107-0052

Peter Blumenstengl [email protected] Tel. + 81 (0)335 860380 Fax + 81 (0)335 865079

Arab Gulf States German National Tourist office c/o Lufthansa German airlines P.o. Box 9224, World Trade Center, 18th floor Sheik Zayed Road, Dubai, u.a.E.

Antje Roeding-Boudier [email protected] Tel. + 971 (0)44 057513 Fax + 971 (0)43 313602

China / Mainland German National Tourist office c/o GIC German Industry & Commerce Beijing, Landmark Tower II unit 0830, 8 North, Dongsanhuan Road Chaoyang District, 100004 Beijing

Li Zhaohui [email protected] [email protected] Tel. + 86 (0)10 65396720 Fax + 86 (0)10 65396724

Australia German National Tourist office c/o Gate 7 PTy Ltd 32 Crown Street Woolloomooloo Sydney NSW 2011

Susann Schwachenwalde [email protected] Tel. + 612 (0)93 316202 Fax + 612 (0)93 562001

China / Hong Kong German National Tourist office c/o German Industry and Commerce Ltd. Hongkong, South China and Vietnam 3601 Tower one, Lippo Centre 89 Queensway, Hong Kong

Katrin Yeung [email protected] Tel. + 85 (0)225 321223 Fax + 85 (0)228 106093

India German National Tourist office c/o airplus Travel Services Pvt Ltd 704 7th Floor Surya KiranBuilding 19 Kasturbha Gandhi Marg, New Delhi - 110001

Romit Theophilus [email protected] Tel. + 91 (0)11 49371001 Fax + 91 (0)11 49371015

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The GNTB’s members and sponsors(as at april 2013)

Accor Hospitality Germany GmbH • Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG • Amadeus Germany GmbH • A&O Hotels und Hostels Holding AG • Autostadt GmbH • Avis Budget Autovermietung GmbH & Co. KG • Best Western Germany GmbH • DB Deutsche Bahn AG (DB) • Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LH) • Deutsches Reisebüro GmbH (DER) • Deutsches Weininstitut GmbH • Deutsches Jugendherbergswerk (DJH) • Europa-Park GmbH & Co Mack KG • Europäische Reiseversicherung AG • Flughafen München GmbH • Fraport AG • Friedrichstadt-Palast Betriebsgesellschaft mbH • Global Blue Deutschland GmbH • Grand City Hotels GmbH • HanseMerkur ReiseVersicherungsgruppe • IHB Travel GmbH • Lindner Hotels AG • Maritim Hotel-gesellschaft mbH • McArthurGlen Management GmbH • Messe Berlin GmbH • NH Hoteles Deutschland GmbH • Outletcity Metzingen Holy AG • Relais & Chateaux GmbH • Ringhotels e. V. • Sixt AG • Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen GmbH • Stage Entertainment Marketing & Sales GmbH • Steigenberger Hotels AG • Thomas Cook AG • TUI AG • Value Retail Management Germany GmbH • Wellness-Hotels-Deutschland GmbH

Berlin • Neumünster

Bayern Tourismus Marketing GmbH • Berlin Tourismus & Kongress GmbH • Bremer Touristik-Zentrale Gesellschaft für Marketing und Service mbH • HA Hessen Agentur GmbH – Tourismus- und Kongressmarketing • Hamburg Tourismus GmbH • Investitions- und Marketinggesellschaft Sachsen-Anhalt mbH (IMG) • Tourismus NRW e. V. • Rheinland-Pfalz Tourismus GmbH • Thüringer Tourismus GmbH • Tourismus Marketing Gesellschaft Sachsen mbH (TMGS) • Tourismus-Agentur Schleswig-Holstein GmbH • TourismusMarketing Niedersachsen GmbH (TMN) • Tourismus Marketing GmbH Baden-Württemberg (TMBW) • Tourismus-Marketing Brandenburg GmbH (TMB) • Tourismusverband Mecklenburg-Vorpommern e. V. • Tourismus Zentrale Saarland GmbH

Companies

Tourism marketing organisations of the federal states


Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrradclub e. V. (ADFC), German Cyclists’ Federation • Bundesverband der Deutschen Tourismuswirtschaft e. V. (BTW), Federal Association of the German Tourism Industry • Deutscher Heilbäderverband e. V. (DHV), German Spa Association • Deutscher Hotel- und Gaststättenverband e. V. (DEHOGA), German Hotel and Restaurant Association • Deutscher Industrie- und Handelskammertag e. V. (DIHK), Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce • Deutscher ReiseVerband e. V. (DRV), German Travel Association • Deutscher Tourismusverband e. V. (DTV), German Tourism Association • German Convention Bureau e. V. (GCB) • Goethe Institute • Historic Highlights of Germany e. V. (HHOG) • Hotelverband Deutschland e. V. (IHA), German Hotel Association • Magic Cities Germany e. V. (MCG) • RDA Internationaler Bustouristik Verband e. V., International Coach Tourism Federation • UNESCO-Welterbestätten Deutschland e. V., German UNESCO World Heritage Sites association

Corporate bodies, associations, foundations, institutions and organisations

Sponsors

aG ‘Barrierefreie Reiseziele in Deutschland’ Dr Carmen Hildebrandt, Spokeswoman

Bundesverband der Gästeführer in Deutschland e. V. (BVGD) Dr ute Jäger, Chairperson

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Tourismuswissenschaft e. V. (DGT) Professor Harald Pechlaner, DGT President

DMG-Deutsche Marketing Gesellschaft mbH Frank Winkler, Managing Director

Frankfurter Societäts- Druckerei GmbH Peter Hintereder, Chief Editor

IPK International GmbH Rolf D. Freitag, Executive Director

Nationale Koordinationsstelle Tourismus für alle e. V. (NatKo) Dr Rüdiger Leidner, Chief Executive officer

Pacific asia Travel association (PaTa) Stu Lloyd, Senior Director Marketing and Membership Services

PRoJECT M GmbH Prof. Dr. E. Kreilkamp

Schlösser und Gärten in Deutschland – arbeits-gemeinschaft Deutscher Schlösserverwaltungen Dr Christian Striefler, Director

TourComm Germany GmbH & Co. KG Kai Gödeke, Managing Director

Tourismusverband Sächsische Schweiz e. V. Tino Richter, Managing Director

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Members of the GNTB Board of Directors elected at the 114th general meeting on 15 November 2011 (as at april 2013)

Günter Ihlau Director of International Relations TuI aG

Dr Gerd Müller President German Spa association (until 31 october 2012)

Andreas von Puttkamer Head of the aviation Division Flughafen München GmbH

Regine Sixt Senior Executive Vice President SIXT International, SIXT aG

Josef Sommer Spokesman Magic Cities Germany e. V.

Peter Verhoeven

Chief operating officer ibis Brands Europe

Dietrich von Albedyll Chief Executive officer Hamburg Tourismus GmbH

Jens Bischof Board Member Responsible for Sales & Revenue Management, Passenger Business Deutsche Lufthansa aG

Birgit Bohle Chief Executive officer DB Vertrieb GmbH

Jürgen Büchy President German Travel association (DRV)

Richard Eberhardt President RDa International Coach Tourism Federation

Dr Christian Göke Managing Director Messe Berlin GmbH

Other elected members

Ulrich Schönleiter Director in charge of Subdepartment II B

Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi)

Bernd Hoepner Ministerial Counsellor, Head of Department II C 1

Federal Ministry of Finance (joined GNTB Board of Directors on 19 February 2013)

Ministerial representatives

Ernst Burgbacher Member of the German Parliament

Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) Federal Government Commissioner for SMEs and Tourism

Dr Marion Weber Head of Department II a 4

Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) (invited member on the GNTB Board of Directors since 1 March 2013)

Invited members

President

Klaus Laepple President of the GNTB Board of Directors

Ernst Fischer President of the German Hotel and Restaurant association (DEHoGa)

Vice President

Reinhard Meyer President of the German Tourism association (DTV)

Minister of Economics, Labour, Transport and Technology for Schleswig-Holstein

Martin Zeil Minister of State

Bavarian Ministry of State for Economics, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology

Vice Presidents


Members of the GNTB Advisory Boardelected at the 114th general meeting on 15 November 2011 (as at april 2013)

Chairman Ernst Fischer President German Hotel and Restaurant association (DEHoGa)

First Deputy ChairmanBurkhard Kieker Managing Director Berlin Tourismus & Kongress GmbH

Second Deputy ChairmanWalter Krombach Managing Director Willy Scharnow Foundation for Tourism

Other elected membersDr Martin Buck Director of the Travel & Logistics Competence Center Messe Berlin GmbH

Professor Rudolf Forcher Honorary member German Spa association (DHV)

Dr Michael Kerkloh Chief Executive officer Flughafen München GmbH

Martin Katz Managing Director aMERoPa Reisen GMBH (until 30 January 2013)

Roland Mack Managing Partner Europa-Park GmbH & Co Mack KG

Dr August Ortmeyer Head of Department for Services, Infra-structure and Regional Policy association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK)

Ex officio membersMinisterial Counsellor Dr Gerhard Schulz Head of Department uI 10 Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and urban Development

Michael Häusler Head of Department for International Innovation, Transport and Tourism Policy, Federal Foreign office

Dr Heinrich Neumann Head of Finance, Economics and Technology Department in the Press and Information office of the Federal Government

Federal state representatives 16 representatives of the ministers (senators) responsible for tourism in the federal states (as at april 2013)

Baden-Württemberg Cornelia Bressem Ministry for Rural affairs and Consumer Protection Postfach 10 34 33, 70029 Stuttgart

Bavaria Ministerial Counsellor Dr Otto Ziegler Bavarian Ministry of State for Economics, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology Prinzregentenstrasse 28, 80538 Munich

Berlin Dr Dietrich Kalkum Senate office for Economics, Technology and Research Martin-Luther-Strasse 105, 10825 Berlin

Brandenburg Martin Linsen Ministry for Economics and European affairs Heinrich-Mann-allee 107, 14473 Potsdam

Bremen Dr Christel Lübben Senator for the Economy and Ports of the Federal State of Bremen Zweite Schlachtpforte 3, 28195 Bremen

Free Hanseatic City of Hamburg Bernd Meyer office of Economics, Transport and Innovation Department of North German Cooperation, Tourism & Marketing alter Steinweg 1 – 3, 20459 Hamburg

Hessen Ulrike Franz-Stöcker Hessen Ministry of Economics, Transportation, urban and Regional Development Kaiser-Friedrich-Ring 75, 65185 Wiesbaden

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Gerd Lange Ministry for Economics, Building and Tourism Johannes-Stelling-Strasse 14, 19053 Schwerin

Lower Saxony May-Britt Pürschel Ministry for Economics, Labour and Transport Friedrichswall 1, 30159 Hannover

North Rhine-Westphalia Walter Jakobs Ministry of Economics, Energy, Industry, SMEs and Skilled Trades of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia Haroldstrasse 4, 40213 Düsseldorf

Rhineland-Palatinate Juliana Jung Ministry of Economics, Climate Protection, Energy and Regional Planning Stiftsstrasse 9, 5116 Mainz

Saarland Administrative Director Dr Rainer Schryen Saarland Ministry for Economics, Labour, Energy and Transport am Stadtgraben 6-8, 66119 Saarbrücken

Saxony Ministerial Counsellor Frank Ortmann Saxon State Ministry for Economic affairs, Labour and Transport Wilhelm-Buck-Strasse 2, 01097 Dresden

Saxony-anhalt Andreas Höfflin Ministry of Sciences and Economic affairs of the State of Saxony-anhalt Hasselbachstrasse 4, 39104 Magdeburg

Schleswig-Holstein Ministerial Counsellor Martin Hamm Ministry for Economics, Labour, Transport and Technology of the State of Schleswig-Holstein Düsternbrooker Weg 94, 24105 Kiel

Thuringia Ministerial Counsellor Dittmar Engel Ministry of Economics, Labour and Technology Max-Reger-Strasse 4 – 8, 99096 Erfurt

GNTB sponsorsThere are currently twelve GNTB sponsors

145


Members of the GNTB International Marketing Committeeelected at the 114th general meeting on 15 November 2011 (as at april 2013)

Elected members Thomas Feda Managing Director Tourismus+Congress GmbH Frankfurt am Main

Burkhard Kieker Managing Director Berlin Tourismus & Kongress GmbH

Dr Gabriele Weishäupl Director, Munich Tourist Board (until 31 March 2012)

Regional marketing organisationsBavaria Jens Huwald / Dr Martin Spantig Managing directors Bayern Tourismus Marketing GmbH

Brandenburg Dieter Hütte Managing Director Tourismus-Marketing Brandenburg GmbH

Hamburg Dietrich von Albedyll CEo Hamburg Tourismus GmbH

Hessen Folke Mühlhölzer / Stefan Zindler Tourism and Conference Marketing Ha Hessen agentur GmbH

Saxony Hans-Jürgen Goller Managing Director Tourismus Marketing Gesellschaft Sachsen mbH

Saxony-anhalt Bettina Quäschning Senior Manager Investitions- und Marketinggesellschaft Sachsen-anhalt mbH

Rhineland-Palatinate Dr Achim Schloemer Managing Director Rheinland-Pfalz Tourismus GmbH

Baden-Württemberg Andreas Braun Managing Director Tourismus Marketing GmbH Baden-Württemberg

Ex officio membersThe 51 tourism companies and associations that are members of the GNTB

accor Hospitality Germany GmbH Melanie Schütz Trade Marketing Manager

air Berlin GmbH & Co. Luftverkehrs KG André Rahn Marketing Director

allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club e. V. (aDFC), German Cyclists’ Federation Burkhard Stork National Executive officer

amadeus Germany GmbH Brigitte Löhl Head of Business Development

a&O Hotels und Hostels GmbH & Co. KG Ludwig Ottenbreit Director of Marketing and Sales

autostadt GmbH Otto-Ferdinand Wachs Managing Director

avis Budget autovermietung GmbH & Co. KG Klaus Tusche Director Marketing, Partnerships & Leisure Sales

Best Western Hotels Deutschland GmbH Marcus Smola Managing Director

Bundesverband der Deutschen Tourismus-wirtschaft e. V. (BTW), Federal association of the German Tourism Industry Michael Rabe General Secretary

DB Vertrieb GmbH Marc Giesen Head of International Sales

Deutsche Lufthansa aG Andrea Pernkopf Director Product Development Leisure Travel

Deutscher Heilbäderverband e. V. (DHV), German Spa association Markus Schneid Managing Director

Deutscher Hotel- und Gaststätten- verband e. V. (DeHOGa), German Hotel and Restaurant association Ernst Fischer President

Deutscher Industrie- und Handelskammer - tag e. V. (DIHK), association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce Ulrike Regele Head of Trade and Tourism

Deutscher ReiseVerband e. V. (DRV), German Travel association Hans-Gustav Koch Chief Executive officer

Deutscher Tourismusverband e. V. (DTV), German Tourism association Claudia Gilles Chief Executive officer

Deutsches Reisebüro GmbH (DeR) Werner Sülberg Head of Corporate Development

Deutsches Weininstitut GmbH (DWI), German Wine Institute Monika Reule Managing Director

Deutsches Jugendherbergswerk/Haupt-verband, German youth Hostel association/Central association Bernd Dohn Chief Executive officer


europäische Reiseversicherung aG Hans Stadler ERV Tourism Sales Manager

europa-Park GmbH & Co Mack KG Michael Kreft von Byern Representative of the Board of Directors

Flughafen München GmbH Andreas von Puttkamer Head of the aviation Division

Fraport aG Susanne D. Schick Senior Manager Sales

Friedrichstadt-Palast Betriebsgesellschaft mbh Veit Knöfler Marketing Director

German Convention Bureau e. V. (GCB) Matthias Schultze Managing Director

Global Blue Deutschland GmbH Michael Mauerhoff Marketing Manager

Goethe-Institut e.V. Kay Hug Head of Sales and Marketing

Grand City Hotels GmbH Sven Doliwa Vice President for Commercial operations

HanseMerkur Reiseversicherung aG Doreen Simon Managing Director of Reisemeister GmbH

Historic Highlights of Germany e. V. Götz Beck Chairman

Hotelverband Deutschland (IHa) e. V., German Hotel association Markus Luthe Chief Executive officer

IHB Travel GmbH Dimitrios Triadis Managing Director

Lindner Hotels aG Ulrich Pfeiffer Sales Director

Magic Cities Germany e. V. Dorothea Niestert Managing Director

Maritim Hotelgesellschaft mbH René Halla Global Sales Director

McarthurGlen Management GmbH Raffaela Gruber Travel Marketing Manager for Northern Europe

Messe Berlin GmbH Dr Martin Buck Director of the Travel & Logistics Competence Center

NH Hoteles Deutschland GmbH Nicole Lerrahn Communications Manager

Outletcity Metzingen Holy aG Wolfgang Bauer General Manager

RDa Internationaler Bustouristik Verband e. V., RDa International Coach Tourism Federation Dieter Gauf Chief Executive officer

Relais & Chateaux GmbH Melanie Thöne Director of Member Services for Germany, Northern & Eastern Europe

Ringhotels e. V. und Ringhotels Service GmbH Susanne Weiss Chief Executive officer

Sixt GmbH & Co. autovermietung KG Carsten Anhalt Vice President for International Sales

Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen GmbH Dr Christian Kurtzke Chief Executive officer

Stage entertainment Marketing & Sales GmbH Sven-Thorsten Prahl Senior Manager for Business Development

Steigenberger Hotels aG Marcus Bader Head of Marketing and E-Commerce

Thomas Cook aG Beat Blaser Product Manager for Self-Drive/Independent Travel

TUI Deutschland GmbH Christian Clemens Chief Executive officer

UNeSCO-Welterbestätten Deutschland e. V., German UNeSCO World Heritage Sites association Horst Wadehn Chairman of the Executive Board

Value Retail Management Germany GmbH John T. Quinn Head of operations, Germany

Wellness-Hotels-Deutschland GmbH Michael Altewischer Managing Director

147

Foreign representative office Sales and marketing agency/

regional office


Organisation chart of the German National Tourist Board (as at april 2013)

Destination ManagementConstanze Hilgers

Source market support, incl. trade fairs, workshops and factfinding toursamericas/Israel asia/australasia North East Europe North West Europe South East Europe South West Europe

Media ManagementJochen Nehr

Marketing ServicesInternet, extranet

Market Research/Partner Management/ThemesDr Britta Grigull

Market ResearchPartner ManagementTheme Years

Human Resources, Law, Central ServicesMartin Siegmund

Human ResourcesTraining and Professional DevelopmentCentral Services

Financial ManagementMichael Rausch

Business Planning, BudgetAccountsCost AccountingContract Awards

Information Technology, LogisticsMike Bressem

Server and Network OperationUser SupportStorage, Logistics

Regional Management Asia/AustralasiaPeter Blumenstengel

Regional Management Americas/IsraelRicarda Lindner

Regional Management South East EuropeLászló Dernovics

Regional Management North East EuropeBernd Hässler

Regional Management North West EuropeMichaela Klare

Regional Management South West EuropeBeatrix Haun

Chief Executive OfficerPetra Hedorfer Head of CEo’s office: Manuel Kliese

Commercial DirectorReinhard Werner

Innovations Managementolaf SchlieperSustainabilityBarrierfree travelCSR

Corporate CommunicationsBeate KilianPress / PR and press toursSocial mediaCommittee work

Procurement of information materialLucia Rachor

Internal AuditRalph Bürger

Japan (Tokyo) Peter Blumenstengel

USA (New York) Ricarda Lindner

Austria/Slovakia (Vienna) László Dernovics

Denmark (Copenhagen) Bernd Hässler

Netherlands (Amsterdam) Michaela Klare

France (Paris) Beatrix Haun

UK/Ireland (London) Klaus Lohmann

Belgium/Luxembourg (Brussels) Jürgen Lettau

Spain/Portugal (Madrid) ulrike Bohnet

Switzerland (Zurich) Harald Henning

Italy (Milan) Rijkert Kettelhake

China (Beijing) Li Zhaohui

USA (Los Angeles, Chicago) Maggie Burnside, Heike Pfeiffer

Czech Republic (Prague) Karel Zelený

Sweden (Stockholm) Iris Müller

Hong Kong/South China (Hong Kong) Katrin Yeung

Canada (Toronto) anne Dollendorf

Hungary (Budapest) Viktória Novák

Norway (Oslo) Sabine Graeff

Australia (Sydney) Susann Schwachenwalde

Brazil (São Paulo) Margaret Grantham

Slovenia (Ljubljana) Maja Horvat

Finland (Helsinki) Marjaana Saurila

India (New Delhi) Romit Theophilus

Israel (Jaffa) Goldi Gottlieb Bosnia and Herzegovina,

Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia (Belgrade) Boris Camernik

Poland (Warsaw) olga Teodorek

Arab Gulf States (Dubai) antje Roeding-Boudier

Russia (Moscow) alla Belikova


Graupa, Richard Wagner Museum

149

PRoDuCTIoN CREDITS

Design and layoutM.a.D. Kommunikation www.mad-kommunikation.de

Textasger Schubert

TranslationLingServe Ltd.

Printed byDruckerei Hassmüller Graphische Betriebe GmbH & Co. KG www.hassmueller.de

Picture credits:all pictures were provided by the German National Tourist Board, except:air Berlin p. 40 (bottom); andreas Klug p. 22; aVIS p. 40 (top left); Bad Wörishofen p. 113; Corbis p. 126; Deutsche Bahn aG p. 41 (bottom); documenta und Museum Fridericianum Veranstaltungs-GmbH, 2012 (photographer: Nils Klinger) p. 60; Getty Images p. 14, 36, 40 (centre), 50, 88, 98, 125, 130; imago / blickwinkel p. 138; Investitions- und Marketinggesellschaft Sachsen-anhalt mbH p. 121; Lindner Hotels p. 2; Lufthansa aG p. 40 (top right); picture alliance / dpa p. 149; SIXT aG p. 41 (top); TourismusMarketing Niedersachsen GmbH p. 117; Value Retail Management GmbH p. 109


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