GNTB to focus on sustainable inbound tourism

DUBAI: The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) presented a campaign update, for their vision of ‘Making Tourism More Sustainable’ to GCC travel professionals at Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2023.

Under the slogan, ‘Germany, simply inspiring’, GNTB is focusing on the sustainable related aspects across a number of tourism segments, which include: Embrace German Nature, highlighting natural landscapes and activity holidays; Historic Modern Germany, promoting cultural heritage and 51 UNESCO World Heritage sites, with a spotlight on traditions and customs of rural regions, and thirdly, their Feel Good – Sustainable Travel in Germany campaign, emphasising how to enjoy an environmentally friendly holiday in Germany.

“We aim to make a meaningful contribution towards climate change mitigation, supporting Germany’s commitment to net zero, as well as driving increasing numbers of environmentally aware, inbound GCC tourists,” said Yamina Sofo, Director at the German National Tourist GCC Office (GNTO GCC), an affiliate of the German National Tourist Board (GNTB).

“We want to present Germany as an all-year-round destination, that is not only sustainable, but diverse, accessible, inclusive, resilient and viable for the future,” she added.

The GCC region is now Germany’s top performing inbound source market in Asia and Australasia, with 404,707 GCC guests generating almost 1.13 overnight stays during 2022, representing an increase of 117.6 percent, compared with the same period in 2021.

“These figures confirm that Germany continues to be a preferred tourism destination for GCC visitors and unspoilt nature and careful use of resources are clearly becoming increasingly important to them. We also want to encourage longer stays in order to reduce the carbon footprint per travel day,” said Sofo.

Germany boasts more than 350 spa and health resorts and the GNTB is focusing on the sustainability-related aspects of health tourism. These include the preservation of traditional treatment methods, location-specific treatments and remedies as drivers of regional prosperity, and examples of sustainable energy management.

There is also growing interest in low-impact tourism which is supporting climate goals and making tourism more resilient. More than one-third of Germany’s land area is under special protection as a nature park or national park, it has around 200,000 kilometres of walking trails and 70,000 kilometres of long-distance cycle routes.

There has also been a resurgence of interest in traditional lifestyles in rural regions, which has further bolstered Germany’s image as a sustainable travel destination.

In addition, Germany boasts 51 World Heritage sites, over 6,000 museums, offering a wealth of interesting places of cultural and historical significance.

The GNTB’s focus on sustainability provides synergy with the official ATM 2023 theme — ‘Working Towards Net Zero’. In addition, Dubai will be the host for COP28 this year and outbound tour operators and travel agents will no doubt have sustainable travel at the top of their agendas.

Participants on the Germany stand this year include Baden-Baden Tourism Board, Düsseldorf Airport, Düsseldorf Tourism Board, Elinor Travel Germany, Frankfurt Airport VIP-Services, Frankfurt Tourism Board, Hommage Luxury Hotels Collection, Hotel Palace Berlin, Ingolstadt Village and Wertheim Village, International Office am Klinikum Solingen GmbH, The Wellem — part of the unbound collection by Hyatt, Wiesbaden Tourism and visitBerlin.