Germany is targeting 1.5 million Gulf tourists by 2015. Germany is targeting 1.5 million Gulf tourists by 2015.

GNTB organises Middle East roadshow in plan to bring in 1.5 million Gulf visitors

The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) embarked on a roadshow around the Gulf in March in a bid to boost Gulf tourists to Germany. 16 German partners and suppliers were involved in the event which stopped in Riyadh, Jeddah, Kuwait, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Antje Roeding, director Gulf countries, GNTB was “very pleased” with the overall trade turnout, adding: “the dialogue between participants and their GCC audience resulted in great enthusiasm on both sides.”

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Roeding said the Gulf was an important growing market for Germany. “The number of overnight stays for tourism to Germany has increased continuously. For 2010, a further increase of two percent is possible. For 2015, GNTB estimates the volume of overnight stays from the Gulf to be 1.5 million, which would be the second most important source market to China.”

German participants had positive feedback about the potential for development of tourism from the Gulf.

Klaus Odenthal, director of Cologne Tourism Board said: “Cologne is certainly in the focus of the travel industry in the countries we visited. The colleagues I meet were very interested in the medical facilities as well as in the tourist attractions, such as the Phantasialand Theme Park. A full house at every destination certainly shows the interest of the local industry in our cities and products.”

“We were very pleased with the number of participants,” added Eva Gresch, marketing manager for Wiesbaden. “Especially in Saudi-Arabia and Kuwait we noticed great interest in the medical services of Wiesbaden and its clinics. Since 2006 we have seen increased arrivals from the UAE. Even in 2009, a very difficult year in tourism, the number of tourists remained stable. An event like this offers the possibility to raise the popularity of Germany.”

Christian Tänzler from the Berlin Tourism Board also had positive feedback about the event: “The event was a great success for us. We had a lot of requests from travel agents. The increase of visitors and overnights from the GCC states to Berlin shows a continuous growth in the last years. An event like this is a helpful instrument to present Berlin as an attractive travel destination.”