China takes over Sweden as Germany’s 13th largest inbound market

BERLIN- Germany remains one of the most popular destinations for world travellers. For the fourth consecutive year, international tourism to Germany continued to record new growth rates. Last year, for the first time, the country passed the 70-million-overnight mark. In 2013, total overnights grew by 4.5% to reach 71.9 million. “Despite the difficult economic climate across Europe and the world, the Destination Germany brand is seeing a global rise in demand and is in excellent shape”, declared Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive of the German National Tourist Board (DZT) during the annual ITB press conference. Arrivals were up by 3.7% to 35.65 million. 
 

All markets are growing including Europe, up by 3% in total accommodation. However, according to Hedorfer, they are six markets which generated more than half of the absolute increase in overnight stays in 2013- with considerable growth from Eastern Europe and Asia. Total overnights rose last year by 3.1 million in absolute figures with 52% of the growth coming from the UK, Russia, Switzerland, the UAE and China –including Hong Kong.
 

Asia represented last year 11% of all overnights, growing by 9.3% compared to 2012. “Asian overnights are now larger than Americas while China overnights are higher than Sweden”, highlighted Hedorfer. In total, Asia generated last year 7.91 million of overnights compared to 7.01 million for the Americas. If the Pacific area is added, Asia Pacific represented 8.74 million of all German overnights. Chinese travellers generated 1.73 million overnights followed in Asia by Japan with 1.3 million overnights –down slightly by 1.3%- and Australia with 0.73 million of overnights –up by 5.5%.
 

For this year, DZT marketing campaign will highlight UNESCO world heritage sites in the country. Germany is indeed home to 38 UNESCO World Natural and Cultural Heritage sites. “Through a comprehensive programme of sales and marketing activities and through the resulting multiplier effects, we expect to reach more than 700 million international contacts  with our UNESCO campaign”, declared Petra Hedorfer. The tourism board is planning a wide range of activities to raise further awareness including 30 press conferences worldwide, PR events and press highlight tours. The global travel industry will have access to a specific website in 30 languages with the DZT participating to 45 trade fairs worldwide.