German National Tourist Office, India (GNTO) recently concluded a four-city roadshow in India. The event witnessed participation of eight travel partners. Speaking to Express TravelWorld, Romit Theophilus, director, sales and marketing, GNTO, informed, “India has recently shifted to the top 20 destinations for inbound tourists for Germany. The country has already recorded over 500,432 overnights from India for the period of January-August 2016 with a growth of 4.4 per cent over the same period last year. We are hopeful to touch 600,000 overnights by the end of 2016. Germany has been the top destination for Indian travellers in Europe for the past five years and we hope to once again establish it as a leisure destination in 2017.”
The workshops helped facilitate interactions between German partners and the Indian travel trade on latest offers, highlights and attractions for Indian travellers. The event saw participation from Köln-Düsseldorfer Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt AG, the city tourism board of Cologne, the state tourism board of Saxony, Stuttgart and Southwest Germany, the city tourism board of Baden-Baden, AirBerlin, Lufthansa German Airlines and Maritim Hotels.
One of the partners, Wolfgang Gartner, head, international marketing, Visit Saxony, stated, “Saxony as a city has a better connect with Indian travellers. Majority of tourists visit the city for day tours and therefore, there has not been a significant increase in the overnights.”
Gregor Gosciniak, head, marketing, Cologne Tourist Board, informed, “2016 has seen a decline in Indian tourist overnights because last year saw a major convention which pulled more traffic. We are sure to bounce back with the numbers in 2017.” Gosciniak also introduced the Köln card among the agents which can be used as tickets for tourist spots or transportation in Cologne.
Mark Spivey, director, international sales, Maritim Hotels, stated, “Maritim holds five per cent of the market share of Indian tourists coming to Germany. Earlier the major traffic was of business travellers, but the recent years have seen a rise in leisure travellers as well.”
Germany will be focusing on marketing initiatives through social media in the coming year, informed Theophilus. The GNTO campaigns in the coming years will feature sustainable holidays, Luther, the 500th anniversary of the reformation in 2017, Culinary Germany in 2018 and 250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven in 2020.