Rising star, Germany

TO SAY that the year 2013 was an extremely successful year for Germany’s inbound tourism, may be stating the obvious.

For, the destination Germany continued to see a global rise in demand for the fourth consecutive year in 2013 which saw overnight stays by international visitors surpass the 70 million mark for the first time.

In fact, the country surpassed the European growth last year in terms of tourist overnights, which increased 4.5 per cent to 71.9 million overnights – this despite the lukewarm economic situation worldwide. While Europe contributed 75.2 per cent, Asia contributed 11 per cent and Americas close to ten per cent. The fourth year in running, Germany ranked as the second most popular travel destination for Europeans, trailing only behind Spain.

While the numbers are indeed record-breaking but the country is not sitting pretty. It has resolved to take its tourism growth forward and further.

Towards this, the country last month hosted the 40th edition of Germany Travel Mart (GTM), the largest workshop for incoming tourism to Germany in the city of Bremen, a historic city in Northwestern Germany.

“Despite the difficult economic climate across Europe and the world, inbound tourism witnessed significant development in 2013. The Destination Germany brand is seeing a global rise in demand and is in excellent shape,” explains Michaela Klare, director, Netherlands and Regional Manager, North West Germany, the German National Tourist Board (GNTB), who spoke to the international media in the absence of Petra Hedorfer, chief executive officer of the German National Tourist Board (GNTB).

Organised annually by the GNTB, the three day event this year was jointly hosted by the twin cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven, which incidentally had hosted the same event about 18 years ago. The show was attended by 600 travel and tour operators, and travel writers from 43 countries. A business-to-business (B2B) event, it gave international buyers an opportunity to network and negotiate business with over 340 German exhibitors dedicated to promoting Germany as a travel destination for foreign and European visitors.

“The GTM event at Bremen was a very nice opportunity to meet a large number of suppliers from Germany in a few days,” says Ian Dnazareth, corporate leisure manager, dnata, Dubai, UAE.

While the main aim of the event was clearly to put the spotlight on entire Germany, the show, however prompted visitors to look beyond the big cities and promote the countryside and the culture, too.

From its historical places of interest and a wealth of art and culture, from unusual maritime attractions to exceptional worlds of discovery, the visitors were simply delighted by the diverse representation from the sister cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven. The two form Germany’s smallest federal state, yet they are bigger than most when it comes to innovation and quality of life.

STEADY GROWTH FROM MIDEAST

Among the overseas markets, Germany remained one of the most popular destination for the Middle East travellers in 2013.

In fact, the Gulf or the Arabian Gulf States – with 259,427 overnight stays – was one of the six markets which generated more than half of the absolute increase in overnight stays in 2013.  The other five, which accounted for 52 per cent of this absolute growth (1.6 million overnight stays) originated from the markets UK (367,439 overnight stays), Russia (348,283 overnight stays), Switzerland (271,055 overnight stays), Poland (187,308 overnight stays) and China (171,907).

The rapid growth from this region, according to figures from the Federal Statistical Office, represents an impressive increase of 20.2 per cent compared with the same period of the previous year. Outside Europe, only China, the US and Russia accounted for more visitors to Germany in 2013. A further increase of 19.1 per cent was registered in the first month of 2014 as compared to January 2013, with 85.362 overnight stays by GCC travellers to Germany.

“We have seen unabated growth over recent years, and are pleased that the GCC is now Germany’s fourth-largest non-European tourism source market,” says Maria Amaral, manager of the marketing and sales office Gulf Countries at the German National Tourist Office (GNTO) in Gulf region.

A fact corroborated by Ahmed El Hamzawy, general manager, Mubasher Holidays, Kuwait. Says he: In Kuwait, for example, Germany is the No 4 destination in the list of top 10 most visited destinations in 2013. One of the leading B2B wholesaler travel company with headquarters based in Kuwait and branches around the region, Mubasher last year organised more than 12,000 overnights in Germany.

Tourists from the Gulf are also the biggest spenders in Germany. The average length of stay of a tourist from the Gulf is about 13 days and the mean spending per holiday trip is about €4,415 ($6,000), €337 per day. About 54 per cent of the travellers are between the age of 15 and 34, 42 per cent from 35 to 54 years while only 4 per cent are 55 or more years.

Majority of the travelers come to Germany on a health-trip or for medical reasons. Holiday trips account for 74 per cent; business trips are 24 per cent while 2 per cent on other trips.

POSITIVE FORECAST

Going forward, the GNTB expects demand for Destination Germany to remain high in 2014. Even as it does not rule some slowdown in growth due to the political and financial crisis in the Netherlands, Russia, etc., which are major inbound markets from Europe.

This projection is supported by the latest research from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), which forecasts a worldwide growth in arrivals of 4 to 4.5 per cent for 2014. For Europe, the UNWTO anticipates a growth of 3 to 4 per cent in worldwide arrivals. Says Klare: “This confirms Destination Germany is still on track for our 2020 predictions, and at this point in time 80 million overnight stays is looking achievable. For 2014 we currently expect to see demand from abroad increase by between 1 and 3 per cent.”

By Pummy Kaul