GERMANY: 80 Million Visitors Entered Germany In 2016

Germany registered more than 80 million overnight stays by international visitors for the first time in 2016.

This is the seventh consecutive record result for the destination.

From January to December the German Federal Statistical Office recorded 80.8 million international overnight stays in accommodation establishments with a minimum of ten beds – an increase of 1.1 million compared to the previous year.

This constitutes a 1.4 per cent rise in the volume of German incoming tourism compared to 2015.

Iris Gleicke, German federal government commissioner for tourism, explained: “Destination Germany is enjoying continued popularity with international visitors.

“We have achieved record highs for incoming tourism for the seventh year in a row, which reflects the strength of our tourism industry.”

In the year 2016 Europe remained the largest source region for Germany’s incoming tourism, with a market share of 73.7 per cent and a 1.9 per cent increase, continuing to stimulate strong growth.

With a reduction of 1.1 per cent, Asia is a little below the prior year comparative figure, while America recorded a slight increase of 1.2 per cent.

Six of the ten most important European source markets bolstered Germany’s incoming tourism numbers in 2016 with higher than average growth rates.

Switzerland generated an increase of 3.3 per cent and Austria was 2.0 per cent above the comparison values for the previous year.

At 4.5 to 5.7 per cent, France, Belgium, Spain and Poland experienced especially strong growth.

The Netherlands, as the most important incoming market, was slightly above the prior year result with an increase of 0.7 per cent; Great Britain achieved a rise of one per cent, following the Brexit vote.

The United States, as the largest source market abroad, came in 2.5 per cent higher for incoming tourism in Germany than the previous year.

Petra Hedorfer, chief executive at of the German National Tourist Board, added: “Economic factors, for example the Brexit issue or financial crises in high volume source markets, but also security aspects such as fear of terrorist attacks can temporarily dampen the wanderlust in individual source markets.

“However, in the mid and long term, the value of a country’s brand as a travel destination is characterised by its touristic appeal, infrastructure, customer service orientation and its cost/performance ratio.”

REUNION: Germany Travel Agents Visit Reunion

Five tour operators and travel agencies coming from Germany, Austria and Luxembourg were part of this latest eductour in Reunion for six days. Accompanied by the person responsible for IRT's marketing and promotion in German speaking countries, Ms. Larissa Metke, the sales representative of Air Austral in Germany Ms. Katharina Essmann and by the sales representative of Lux * Hotels for Germany, Austria and Eastern Europe Mr. Manuel Schirmer, the tourism professionals have been able to live the Reunion Experience through a journey of discovery.

It is a wide range of tourist offer of the destination meeting the German group of professionals could discover with, the program

The visitors were given a wide range of tourism offerings to sample and experience, among them a visit to the market of St. Paul, the discovery of Salazie, a hike in the heart of Mafate followed by a picnic, the excursion to the Piton de la Fournaise, Reunion's highly active volcano, the helicopter flights over the island, the visit of a vanilla plantation , a culinary workshop experience in Far Far Kréol to discover the flavors of the Reunion gastronomy and so much more.

Through this tour, the objectives of this eductour were many and it was primarily about

Training professionals on their knowledge of the destination;
Increase sales to the destination Reunion;
Supporting the development of market knowledge of German tourism professionals;
Encourage professionals to include the destination in their program and create circuits;
Sustaining relationships with partners in Germany, Austria and Luxembourg;
Developing awareness of the island on the German market in cooperation with tourism professionals.

This eductour was conducted in conjunction with another Vanilla Island, Mauritius and the cooperation resulted in great success. By familiarizing German, Austrian and Luxembourg tourism professionals with the tourism products of the destination Reunion, IRT, short for Ile de la Reunion Tourisme, intends to develop the awareness and sales of the destinations on the German speaking markets.