Germans Want More Tourists from Croatia

The Southeast European region, comprising six countries including Croatia, has an interesting potential for German tourism in individual arrivals and vacations, as well as in the organized travel segment, particularly in business, cultural, and youth tourism. The German National Tourist Board (DZT) believes that with a targeted marketing campaign and cooperation with tour operators and other entities, the number of tourist arrivals from this region to Germany could increase from 1.7 million in 2011 to over two million by 2020.

This was emphasized today in Zagreb by Nebojša Matijašević, the director of the DZT Regional Office for Southeast Europe, during the first presentation of this office in Croatia.

This, the 30th DZT office in the world, was opened in Belgrade in March this year in collaboration with the partner association Danube Competence Center, with the main goal of promoting and strengthening Germany’s image as a diverse tourist destination in the six countries of the region (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia) and increasing the number of tourists from these countries in Germany.

From all the countries in the region, the highest number of tourists to Germany in 2011 came from Croatia, around 650,000, which was an increase of about 4 percent compared to 2010, and an increase was also recorded from other countries.

Despite the crisis in these countries, Matijašević believes that it is realistic to expect a continuation of the increase in tourist arrivals to Germany, as evidenced by the response from partners, especially tour operators from these countries.

Next year, in addition to the main theme of youth travel and tourism, DZT will also focus on a campaign for the 200th anniversary of the birth of composer Richard Wagner, the 150th anniversary of the death of the Brothers Grimm, and other themes.

He assessed the current cooperation with Croatian partners, tour operators, and others as satisfactory, with expectations for improvement and increase.

He also presented a number of data from German tourism, stating that in the first eight months of this year, the total number of overnight stays by foreign guests in Germany increased by 8.4 percent, to over 47 million, of which the majority, or 36 million, were achieved by European tourists. This confirms Germany’s second place among the most visited European countries, ahead of third-place France and behind first-place Spain, and by the end of this year, a 5 percent increase in foreign tourists is expected compared to 2011.

Domestic and foreign tourists in Germany spent a total of 278.3 billion euros last year, and the ‘magical’ figure of a total of 400 million overnight stays was achieved, of which 330.3 million were by Germans themselves, and the rest by foreigners.