Germany sees GCC boom

Germany has reported a massive 66% year-on-year increase in GCC arrivals in July 2010 compared to same period last year. According to the German National Tourist Board (GNTB), 290,521 GCC tourists visited Germany in July this year, compared to 175,946 in 2009.

Meanwhile, January to July 2010 saw an increase of 40.2% in the number of Arab travellers visiting Germany. With 620,510 overnight stays in total, the Gulf is now the second most important overseas market for Germany, second only to the US.

“July and August are traditionally two of the essential months of travel in the Arabian Gulf region,” said Antje Roeding, director, marketing and sales, Gulf Countries, German National Tourist Office (GNTO) in Dubai. “This year, July was an especially successful month.

The sharp growth of incoming tourism from the Gulf to Germany in July contributed significantly to making the summer season of 2010 very successful.”

Germany is currently the second most popular outbound destination for Gulf travellers after the UK. GNTO has been aggressively promoting throughout the Gulf with initiatives such as its annual roadshow for the travel trade, ‘Dallal fi Almania’.