AS GERMANY SPOTLIGHTS ITS NATURAL, CULTURAL OFFERINGS,
NUMBER OF GCC VISITORS HAS DOUBLED
- Germany has witnessed huge influxes of visitors from overseas travellers, with GCC holding its place as the second top overseas source market
- German National Tourism Board’s Embrace German Nature and Feel Good campaigns set to continue into 2023, raising awareness of nature-based and sustainable tourism
- The European country is looking ahead to the winter season, with ski options and an array of festive markets set to attract tourists from around the world once again
Dubai, UAE, November 4, 2022 – New figures from the German National Tourism Board has revealed the number of travellers from the Gulf between January and August 2022 more than doubled* when compared to the same period last year, suggesting the country’s ongoing campaigns focusing on nature and sustainability are hitting the mark and driving post-pandemic recovery.
The first eight months of 2022 saw an increase in overall foreign visitors to Germany rise 175 per cent compared to 2021, while the Gulf region led the charge for Asia with an increase of 263 per cent*. While the reopening of international borders and relaxing of stringent travel restrictions clearly plays a part in the rise, the fact travellers are choosing Germany over a range of other countries is testament to targeted campaigning by GNTB, who specifically created its Embrace German Nature and Feel Good campaigns following in depth research into what tourists want.
“With the GCC being the second top overseas source market, it’s important for us to ensure that the campaigns we invest in align with market wants” said Yamina Sofo, director at the German National Tourist Office (GNTO), the regional office of GNTB. “We’re also looking at what’s coming up in the next two months, with the ever-popular winter and festive seasons to begin soon, and continuing to drive our ongoing campaigns, Feel Good and Embrace German Nature.”
Both campaigns will continue into 2023 as Germany looks ahead to its winter season, with popular resorts including Zugspitze, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Black Forest, Harz Region, Taunus, Ore Mountains, all set to attract visitors to the incredible skiing and snow sports for all ability levels on offer.
Festive markets are also set to start from the beginning from November, with all running until December 24, and some until beginning of January. Visitors can revel in the authentic markets, soaking up local culture, feasting on regional delicacies in a cheerful atmosphere. Festive markets are also the ideal place to pick up gifts for loved ones, with a wide range of shopping and arts and crafts from local vendors.
Embrace German Nature, a campaign that has witnessed great success and a favourable reaction from the GCC, market the unique natural landscapes in Germany in order to inspire nature-loving, leisure-loving travelers for Germany's diverse, protected natural area, aligning closely with Feel Good campaign. More info is available here.
Germany has long since led the charge for driving eco-friendly tourism offerings, and its Feel Good campaign continues to do that by providing tourists easy and adequate tips to reduce their carbon footprint and make sustainable choices when it comes to travel, stays, and responsible activities. More info is available here.
*Comparing 2022 to Jan-Aug 2019 figures, overall foreign visitors numbers are down by -29.4 per cent, with GCC visitors at -37.9 per cent.
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About the GNTB
The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) is Germany’s national tourism organisation. It works on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action to represent Germany as a tourist destination and is funded by the Ministry in accordance with a decision taken by the German Bundestag. Working closely with the German travel industry and private-sector partners and trade associations, the GNTB develops strategies and marketing campaigns to promote Germany’s positive image abroad as a tourist destination and to encourage tourists to visit the country.
The GNTB has a three-pronged recovery strategy for overcoming the challenges of the restart after the COVID-19 pandemic:
- Raising awareness of the Destination Germany brand and enhancing the brand profile with a focus on sustainability and climate change mitigation
- Supporting the travel industry, which is dominated by small and medium-sized businesses, through relationship management and the sharing of knowledge
- Developing evidence-based action plans on the basis of targeted market research and ongoing analysis of changing customer demand.
Focus on sustainability and digitalisation
The GNTB promotes sustainable and forward-looking tourism in line with the objectives of the German government. The focus here is on sustainability and digitalisation.
Sustainability has been a core topic for more than a decade and we engage with it as a strategic issue across all areas of the organisation. Our organisation follows a three-pillar strategy that combines the sharing of knowledge with external partners and a supporting communications strategy with our internal sustainability initiative. The GNTB promotes responsible tourism, a key growth area, by showcasing Germany as a sustainable and inclusive destination in the international travel market. This is particularly important as the pandemic has accelerated the global shift in travellers’ values towards greater social and environmental responsibility.
The GNTB is a pioneer when it comes to using immersive technologies (virtual, augmented and mixed reality), voice assistants and other conversational interfaces, and artificial intelligence applications such as chatbots. To ensure that tourism offerings are visible on AI-based marketing platforms, the GNTB coordinates the German tourism industry’s open-data project, which aims to develop a tourism knowledge graph.
The GNTB has 25 foreign agencies that it manages from its head office in Frankfurt.
Further information can be found in our online press center at www.germany.travel/presse. To download press pictures, please register via: https://dam.germany.travel
Instagram.com/germanytourismar
For further information, please contact:
Emma Patterson / Umme Qizra Aleem
germantourism@actionprgroup.com, +971 58 5099830
This article was previously published on UAE Moments.To see the original article, click here