by James Ruggia
Last updated: 12:52 PM ET, Sun January 5, 2014
In 2014, the German National Tourism Board (GNTB) will make its 38 UNESCO World Heritage sites the center of its international marketing. The GNTB employs annual themes like wellness in 2010, wine in 2011 and youth in 2013 to give focus to its marketing.
This year's theme is "UNESCO World Heritage - sustainable cultural and natural tourism will be in play during a strong period for German tourism.
The 2013 Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index placed Germany second only to the U.S. out of 50 countries. Germany also ranked fifth among cultural destinations and eighth as a tourism destination. "In times of international economic and financial crisis," said the GNTB's CEO Petra Hedorfer, Germany's numbers "are well above those of many other European destinations."
UNESCO's list features 981 sites from 160 countries comprised of natural and cultural treasures. With 38 sitesb each, Germany and France are only surpassed by Italy (49), China and Spain (44). Germany's UNESCO Sites (35 cultural and three natural) reflect the destination's diversity.
"The UNESCO World Heritage label is a major selling point for cultural tourism from abroad," said Hedorfer. "For 34 percent of cultural tourists visiting Germany, the UNESCO designation represents an incentive to travel."
In 1978 the Aachen Cathedral became the first German UNESCO site. Built by the architects of Charlemagne in the 8th century, the cathedral was the coronation site of some 30 German kings. The Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, a Baroque parkland, became the latest German site in 2013.
"Germany's UNESCO Sites contrast breathtaking nature with cutting-edge design and technology, modern art collections and contemporary cuisine," said Riccarda Lindner, the GNTB's director of the Americas.
"It's not just the likes of Bach and Goethe that highlight Germany's UNESCO trail, there's a lot of modernity on it as well like the Bauhaus school of design (based in Weimar and Dessau). Diversity is one of the major themes in a soon to launch two-year GNTB campaign under the tagline "25 Perspectives on Destination Germany."
The campaign emphasizes the wide choices available to visitors in all parts of Germany.
UNESCO lists Eisleben and Lutherstadt Wittenberg as the original sites of the Reformation. Eisleben, where Luther was born and where he died, knew his significance as far back as 1693, when the town turned his birth house into a memorial and Germany's first museum.
Thuringia, Saxony and Lower Saxony are the so-called "Motherland of the Reformation" because of the revolutionary trail Luther blazed there as a teacher and a preacher. These former East German states are rich in all kinds of attractions.
For agents, the almost 9 million Lutheran Americans offer a rich potential to explore his footprints and the sites, arts, architecture, exhibitions and buildings relating to him in this area.
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