by James Ruggia
Last updated: 3:00 PM ET, Wed February 4, 2015
PHOTO: Germany will be promoting living traditions, like this Munich brass band, in 2015. (courtesy German National Tourism Board)
In October 1990, German reunification became official and a decades old wound began to heal. Almost 25 years later, the country seems stronger than ever and more popular than ever with travelers. Germany began counting overnights by foreign travelers in 1993, three years after Reunification. Since that time foreign overnights have doubled in Germany. This year in its tourism promotions, Germany will highlight Reunification and celebrate its Traditions and Customs with promotional campaigns by the German National Tourism Board (GNTB).
"Germany has been a good value destination for some time now, but this year with the Euro as weak as it is and the Dollar so strong means that this is the year for Americans to go to Europe and Germany will get a lot of those extra travelers," said Ricarda Lindner, the GNTB's regional manager of the Americas. "The sagging Russian market means that hotels will be missing some of the high spenders they were getting. This is an opportunity for American travelers to take advantage of a more competitive hotel market."
In the first 11 months of 2014 Germany recorded 70.2 million overnight stays from foreign visitors in accommodations with 10 or more beds. That's an extra 3 million overnights compared with the same period in 2013 - an increase of 4.6 percent. The U.S., which the GNTB calls "Germany's most important overseas market," did even better. Overnight stays by Americans in Germany was up 4.7 percent between January and November, and the GNTB believes 2015 will be an even stronger year out of the U.S.
It should come as no surprise that Germany did so well last year with the country celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall in Europe's hottest city. That theme will carry over into this year with the GNTB's two-year "Fascination Reunification" campaign. This year they will open the Green Belt, an 870 mile-long nature trail that follows the path of the former Iron Curtain. Come October, there will be many special events to mark the 25th anniversary of reunification. The GNTB will feed the fire via social media, informing users about tourist attractions that have developed in the last 25 years.
"Reunification has proven a huge benefit to Destination Germany and its incoming tourism industry," said GNTB CEO Petra Hedorfer. "Since 1993, when incoming tourism began to be statistically recorded for the country as a whole, the number of foreign visitors to Germany has more than doubled, increasing by 107.4 percent. A total of 37.2 million additional overnight stays from abroad have been recorded since then, in the new federal states alone, the number of overnight stays by foreign visitors tripled this figure for Germany as a whole, increasing by 375 percent, topped by Berlin's most significant increase of 508.9 percent in foreign visitors for 1993 to 2013."
The GNTB will also feature a 'Traditions and Customs' campaign that encompasses three themes: "Culinary Specialities," "Living Traditions" and "Arts and Crafts." The emphasis will not only present traditional arts and crafts and food but living, authentic traditions. The campaign will feature blogger tours within the three themes. In addition to live reporting on social media platforms, there will be a designated "Social Wall" accessible via the hashtag #JoinGermanTradition. Classic marketing and PR, plus activities on social media channels, are likewise components of the campaign.
According to the GNTB quality monitor, 'Traditions and History of the Region' is one of the top 10 reasons tourists choose Germany. The inclusion in a nationwide inventory of 27 traditions reveals the importance of Germany's intangible cultural heritage. Among the 27 living customs are the Swabian-Alemannic carnival, the Rhineland Carnival, the Charcoal Burner's Craft and the Tar Distillery, the Social Customs and Festivals of the Lusatian Sorbs, the Biike Burning, the Salt Panners' Fraternity in the Valley of Halle, the Oberammergau, German Bread Culture, Organ Construction and Organ Music.
The theme allows for a distribution of travelers. "In a way Germany is lucky because we are not a country that is dominated by an overpowering capital," said Lindner. "We don't have to concoct ways to get tourists to go beyond our biggest city, because they tour through the whole country discovering all of the different regions and states. Every German state features special traditions that distinguish them from the other states. Thus these traditions provide a fun way to experience the diversity of German culture."
The GNTB expects demand to remain strong. UNWTO projections show continued growth for international travel with Europe as the leading region. In the last several years Germany has taken an ever increasing share of the European market. That trend should continue as Germany looks forward to the culmination of its Martin Luther decade in 2017 and the long awaited opening of the Berlin Brandenburg Willy Brandt Airport, also scheduled for 2017. With all that's going on and a unified Germany reestablished as a political, economic and cultural powerhouse in Europe, Hedorfer's prediction of 80-million foreign overnights by 2020 seems kind of modest.
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