The German National Tourist Office (GNTO) hosted its annual Round Table trade discussions last week (6th December), with a select group of UK Tour Operators at the GNTO’s London office and chaired by the director of GNTO for the UK and Ireland, Klaus Lohmann.

Germany has picked up the Bronze Award at the 2012 British Youth Travel Awards, in recognition of its dedication and success in promoting Germany to the British youth and education market. The award was in the ‘Best International Youth Destination’ category.

Inbound travel to Germany increased significantly again in the first nine months of 2012. According to figures from the Federal Statistical Office, the number of overnight stays by visitors from abroad from January to September 2012 rose by 8.6 per cent year on year.

The German National Tourist Office (GNTO) celebrated the outstanding UK editorial coverage given to Travel Destination Germany over the last 12 months, at its annual Travel Writers’ Awards Ceremony held in London today. The winner of this year’s Germany Travel Writers’ Awards was Philip Hensher, for his feature about Thuringia, entitled ‘Romantic Roots’ which appeared in the November 2011 issue of Lonely Planet Magazine.

The German National Tourist Board (GNTB), its long-standing partner Deutsche Bahn (DB) and 32 city partners have launched a Christmas app. Visitors to Destination Germany can use the app to discover the country’s Christmas markets and find out about opening hours, admission prices and highlights in the different towns and cities.

Christmas has come early to the German National Tourist Board with a rise in UK visitor figures of 4.7% for the months of January to September 2012, compared to the same period for 2011.

By young people for young people: the German National Tourist Board (GNTB), in collaboration with the tour operator ruf and 'A&O Hotels und Hostels', carried out two surveys amongst German youngsters in order to find out about their favourite places in the part of Germany in which they live. These 'HotSpots' are now being incorporated into the GNTB's new Youth Travel campaign, which will be officially launched in March 2013 at the ITB trade fair in Berlin.

Captivating landscapes with fascinating flora and fauna, from the coastal regions in the north to the Bavarian Alps in the south. With its 105 nature reserves and 14 national parks, Destination Germany is a veritable paradise for nature lovers and offers unforgettable experiences in the great outdoors, with plenty of scope both for active pursuits and relaxation.

Germany remains on a growth trajectory in 2012 as one of the most popular travel destinations: during the first eight months of the current year, overnight stays by international visitors were up 8.4 per cent compared with the same period last year.

Germany had once again strengthened its position as one of Europe's favourite travel destinations, generating significant growth from the key source markets. A total of 42.7 million trips to Germany from other European countries were registered in 2011. This makes Germany the second-favourite destination for European travellers (after Spain), with year-on-year growth of 7 per cent.

Destination Germany is the official partner country for the first World Travel Market (WTM) in Latin America. The GNTB made the announcement today at the WTM in London during an international press conference hosted by the WTM organiser Reed Travel Exhibitions.

Ireland’s score on the football field may not have been high in a recent match against Germany, but in tourism, the scores have seen yet another monthly rise in visitor numbers from Ireland.

The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) is working with the Hostelworld.com online booking platform to promote its Creative Germany theme, which is aimed at young people. As well as youth travel features in several languages on www.hostelworld.com and in its newsletters, the theme is also being promoted within an app on the GNTB’s current total of nine market-specific Facebook pages.

The Belgian artist Henry van de Velde was an exponent of Classical Modernism who paved the way for the Bauhaus movement. His repertoire ranged from the architectural design of buildings and interiors to the design of jewellery and everyday objects. Numerous commissions brought van de Velde to Germany in 1900, where he left behind an impressive legacy.

The fairytales of brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are among the best-known works of German literature. Their collection of 'Children's and Household Tales' made the Brothers Grimm famous around the world. 20 December 2012 marks the 200th anniversary of the first edition of these popular stories. The German National Tourist Board (GNTB), in conjunction with the Hessen Agentur regional PR agency, is using this anniversary as basis for encouraging culturally minded travellers to visit Germany.

The year 2013 marks the bicentenary of the birth of Richard Wagner, one of Germany's most famous composers and music dramatists. The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) is using this anniversary as an opportunity to highlight a host of events in towns and cities associated with him.

Following on from a highly successful first half of 2012, the Federal Statistical Office has again reported encouraging growth for Destination Germany. The number of overnight stays by international visitors from January to August was up by 8 per cent year on year. Overall, the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) registered more than 47 million overnight stays by international visitors in the first seven months of this year.

With the Irish Travel Trade Awards approaching on the 30th November and the release of the latest highly positive statistics from the German National Tourist Board in Frankfurt for June and July, it seems the Irish Tourist Industry has much to celebrate.

High profile guests representing UK convention organisers, business travel experts and the travel trade were given a unique insight into how to hold ‘sustainable’ and ‘green’ meetings at a pioneering event yesterday, co-hosted by the German National Tourist Office (GNTO) and the German Convention Bureau (GCB).

‘Green Meetings’ and sustainability in business is the theme of the German National Tourist Office’s forthcoming networking seminar on Wednesday, 26th September, an event initiated and hosted by the German National Tourist Office, in conjunction with The German Convention Bureau (GCB).

Germany is a cosmopolitan and hospitable travel destination that welcomes everyone, able bodied and disabled visitors, from all walks of life, whatever the reason for their visit. This was the message at a press conference today, given by the German National Tourist Board, the strategic partner of the German House London, Museum of Docklands.

'Dream Tour of Germany', the social media campaign run by the German National Tourist Board (GNTB), came to a successful conclusion on Friday. The Facebook app and competition microsite went online at the end of July – during which time the app was accessed 58,116 times via the seven international GNTB Facebook pages, 10,300 times via the microsite and was 'liked' by 25,229 Facebook users.

During the Paralympic Games in London from 29 August to 9 September 2012, the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) is for the first time an official partner of the German House. The German House is a central meeting point for the country’s athletes and representatives from German industry, politics and the media, and it is an ideal venue for the GNTB to promote Germany as a barrier-free travel destination.

During the Paralympic Games in London, the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) is promoting barrier-free travel in Destination Germany at its press conference on 7 September. The focus will be on the film project ‘GOLD – U CAN DO MORE THAN U THINK’, a feature-length documentary following three elite athletes on the road to the 2012 Paralympic Games.

The upward trend for incoming travel to Germany continues with another round of high increases for the first six months of this year. According to figures from the Federal Statistical Office, the number of overnight stays in Germany by visitors from abroad rose by 9 per cent from January to June compared with the same period in 2011.

Apple has placed the new ‘Top 100’ app from the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) on its ‘New and Noteworthy’ page online in Germany. The ‘Top 100’ is featured in Apple’s editorial section of the latest and most interesting apps - as recommended by them.

More than 3,000 ‘Dream Tours of Germany’ have been created so far by Facebook fans in the UK, courtesy of the German National Tourist Board’s (GNTB) new social media campaign currently available on Facebook www.facebook.com/visitgermany and via the GNTB website www.germany.travel/specialoffers until 31st August.

Top 100 is the name of the new app launched by the German National Tourist Board (GNTB), which visitors to Germany can use to find out about the country’s top 100 tourist sights. At the beginning of the year, the GNTB conducted a survey among travellers in Destination Germany to find out what they considered to be their personal highlights.

Destination Germany is enjoying another good year as it continues to gain in popularity with holidaymakers from around the world. According to preliminary figures from the Federal Statistical Office, international travellers visiting Germany made a total of 30 million overnight stays in accommodation establishments with more than ten beds – a year-on-year increase of 9 per cent.

Over 125 guests from the worlds of travel, media and sport celebrated the Olympics last night, courtesy of the German National Tourist Board, the strategic partner of the German House London, Museum of Docklands.

Further steady growth in May: the upward trend for incoming travel to Germany continued with another round of double-digit increases for May.

The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) is an official partner of the German House during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London. The German House is a central meeting point for German athletes and representatives from German industry, politics and the media and an ideal venue for the GNTB to showcase Germany as a travel destination. “Sport is very important economically for tourism.

The Olympics is an occasion where sport and tourism come together on the world stage, reaching the pinnacle of achievement - and awareness - on a global scale. In appreciation of the world’s most prestigious and famous sporting tournament, the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) is hosting an evening reception at The German House, Museum of London, Docklands, on 31st July, to celebrate the exhilarating associations between sport, tourism and travel, on this most historical occasion.

From July to August 2012, people from all over the world who are fans of the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) on Facebook can put together their very own dream tour of Germany.

Destination Germany has a new World Heritage site. On 30 June 2012 the UNESCO World Heritage Committee added the Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth to its global list of cultural and natural treasures. The committee declared the opera house to be a unique monument to the festivals and music of the European baroque. This means that Destination Germany is now home to a total of 37 properties under the special protection of UNESCO.

Playing golf is a good way of keeping physically and mentally fit. The sport has long been a popular leisure activity for people of all ages. According to the German Golf Association, Germany is home to around 700 golf courses. There is something to suit all abilities, from absolute beginners to seasoned players with low handicaps. “11 per cent of international visitors who travel to Germany rank sport as their top activity,” says Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive Officer of the German National Tourist Board (GNTB), referring to the latest Quality Monitor survey of the German tourism industry.

The German government is to relax visa regulations for frequent travellers from China, so the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) is expecting a sharp rise in the numbers arriving.

The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) is promoting Destination Germany at the 2012 Expo in South Korea from 12 May to 12 August. This year's World's Fair in the port city of Yeosu has the theme 'The Living Ocean and Coast'. The topography of Germany with its coastlines and coastal regions on the North Sea and Baltic means there is plenty of crossover in this area.

In keeping with this year’s key theme ‘Wine heritage and nature – fine wine and good times’ the German National Tourist Office (GNTO) is happy to be part of the Taste of London Festival 2012 to promote Germany’s wine growing regions.

Business travel is a key economic factor for Germany. With this in mind, the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) has created a theme for 2012 entitled 'Germany: open for business – trade fairs and conventions'. The GNTB and the German Convention Bureau (GCB) are jointly promoting Germany's business travel segment in key markets such as China, the United States, Brazil and the UK. At the Meeting Experts Conference (Mexcon), which ended on 20 June in Berlin, more than 700 experts from the world of business, academia and politics discussed the future of the events industry.

Germany has won the category of ‘Best Overseas Country for Groups’ at The 2012 Group Travel Awards (Friday 17th June in London). Two tourist attractions in Germany were also shortlisted: the Volkswagen theme park, ‘Autostadt’, in Wolfsburg and ’Siegfried’s Mechanical Music Cabinet Museum’ in Rüdesheim. Lufthansa was shortlisted in the ‘Best Airline for Groups’ category.

According to travel industry sources such as ABTA, UK holidaymakers are on the starter blocks and getting ready to race away this summer. Surveys released in the media and online indicate that many people in the UK have alternative ideas when it comes to enjoying the fun and games during July and August.

Rising UK visitor figures, Germany’s top tourism attractions, PR and marketing themes for 2013-2015 and future visitor forecasts were all included in the German National Tourist’s Office (GNTO) annual press conference, which took place at the Goethe Institute, London, yesterday.

Summer is here and Germany's beer gardens are open for business! This highly popular Bavarian tradition, which celebrates its 200th anniversary this year, has now spread to all parts of Germany and according some of Ireland’s top tour operators, beer gardens remain one of the most popular attractions for Irish Tourists visiting Germany

The German National Tourist Office (GNTO) has appointed Charles Wilson as Sales Manager for the UK & Ireland with immediate effect.

Frankfurt / Main, 22 May 2012 - Germany's image as a destination for conferences and events is going from strength to strength. This is the firm belief of 91 per cent of service providers and 92 per cent of event organisers. 'Green meetings' are now an established business segment in Germany with excellent prospects for future growth. 44 per cent of event planners and 51 per cent of service providers believe that the importance of green meetings will continue to grow.

Frankfurt / Main, 22 May 2012 – Spendings by international visitors to Germany on business travel including an overnight stay have reached €13.5 billion per year. Combined with the €14.6 billion spent by domestic business travellers, business-related travel now accounts for 24 per cent of total spending in the travel sector for trips including an overnight stay – according to a recent study funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) and published jointly by the BMWi and the Federal Association of the German Tourism Industry (BTW). Germany has become the most popular destination for business trips among European travellers.

Frankfurt am Main, 21 May 2012 – Summer is here and Germany's beer gardens are open for business! This 200-year-old Bavarian tradition has now spread to all parts of Germany. "According to the latest Quality Monitor survey of the German tourism industry, 60 per cent of international visitors come to Germany for the country's unique flair and atmosphere, and 93 per cent come for the traditional German food and drink", notes Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive Officer of the German National Tourist Board (GNTB).

London, 18th May 2012: while the Olympics are fast approaching for London, the latest figures from the German National Tourist Office show that if the UK were stood on the Podium of Tourism, it would be awarded the silver medal in the latest rankings of overnight stays in Germany by international visitors: UK visitors represented an impressive 6.7 market share of German Tourism, with a total of over a quarter of a million (274,624) international overnight stays in February alone.

From 13 to 15 May 2012, the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) is hosting the 38th GTM Germany Travel Mart™ together with Leipzig Tourismus und Marketing GmbH and Tourismus Marketing Gesellschaft Sachsen mbH. Other important GNTB partners are Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Deutsche Bahn AG. "The GTM is the biggest event of the year for Germany's inbound travel industry and is extremely important in terms of international marketing. This is where key accounts from all over the world can come together with German suppliers," explained Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive Officer of the GNTB. For medium-sized tourism providers, this platform is a unique opportunity to establish contacts within the international travel industry and to promote their latest products and services. The GTM is going green for the first time this year and is also being supported by the GNTB with a host of social media activities. Another first at the 2012 GTM is the live social media newsroom featuring multimedia content on the @gtm2012 Twitter feed and on Storify. And in another premiere, the GTM press conference is being streamed live on the GNTB website at www.germany.travel/gtmlive.

'Vibrant, fashionable, innovative'. The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) plans to use a new broad-based social media campaign to promote Germany as a travel destination around the world, particularly among young travellers. The campaign will be launched at the ITB 2013 in Berlin and will continue throughout 2013 and 2014. The planned campaign will support the theme for 2013: 'Germany for young people – vibrant, fashionable, innovative' which caters to a tourism segment offering vast economic potential. The target group is also huge, with current figures showing that about a third of all international visitors to Germany are under the age of 39. "Young people visiting from abroad today are Destination Germany's future holidaymakers and business travellers. They are becoming an ever more important target group, especially as domestic tourism will be increasingly affected by demographic change," said Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive Officer of the GNTB.

London, 09th May 2012 – Take one travel-hungry UK student, equip him with an iPad, and an eventful travel itinerary to Germany and set him forth with the task of creating a very personal diary of discovery.This was the task set by the German National Tourist Office (GNTO) to James Burns, aged twenty, a student at Newcastle University and the winner of the GNTO’s TravelMeister competition, which launched in November 2011 on Facebook. Throughout his trip, James, filed a daily account of his experiences through seven German towns and cities, on Facebook.

Frankfurt am Main, 4 May 2012 – A first for the GTM: for the entire duration of the 38th GTM Germany Travel Mart™, the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) is engaging in a range of social media activities. The content generated on the individual social media channels will paint a dynamic picture of events at the workshops and will be available online even after the GTM has finished. "This is part of our ongoing Web 2.0 strategy", says Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive Officer of the GNTB. "As well as offering an authentic picture of what's going on at the trade fair, the multimedia content is also consolidating the impact of this year's Germany Travel Mart™ and extending its reach."

London, 02nd May 2012 – Chairman Nigel Rosser, vice Chairman Barry Norris and the members of The Caravan Writers’ Guild (CWG) - the UK’s only professional body of specialist writers for caravan and motorhome owners - are embarking on their first ever study trip to Germany.

London, 20th April 2012 – The German National Tourist Office (GNTO) has

appointed Victoria Kyme as the new PR Manager for the UK & Ireland with

immediate effect.

More UK tourists visited Germany in January than from any other European country, with just one exception, according to the latest statistics released by the German National Tourist Board. Only the Dutch – with the convenience of their adjoining borders – beat UK tourists when heading to Germany for their holidays.

Creative Germany is the slogan for a new, young and creative side to Germany as a travel destination. "Germany is traditionally known as the country of poets and philosophers", says Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive Officer of the German National Tourist Board (GNTB). But even now, people in our country are still setting trends every day, coming up with innovative ideas and pushing the boundaries of art. The famous 'Made in Germany' label has evolved into a 'Created in Germany' brand. De facto brand ambassadors include popular contemporary painters such as Neo Rauch, Bernhard Heisig, Werner Tübke and Wolfgang Mattheurer, all exponents of the Leipzig School who have made a name for themselves around the world.

London, 22nd March 2012 – “Capital Connections – Gateway To New Horizons” was the motto of yesterday’s B2B event celebrating the forthcoming opening of Berlin’s new international Berlin-Brandenburg airport (BER). The new hub in the heart of Europe was a good reason for a get-together in one of London’s most popular landmarks – the Tower Bridge.

The travel destination Germany has yet again set a new record for 2011, generating over 60 million overnight stays by foreign visitors to Germany for the second successive year. This result represents an additional increase of 5.8 million for 2010 and an extra 3.5 million overnight stays for 2011, respectively a 10% and 5.7% increase year on year.

Frankfurt am Main, 16 February 2012 – Countless travel guides and surveys provide information about the most popular attractions in Germany. But now, in its own survey, the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) is turning directly to the people who have already visited the country in order to find the top 100 must-see attractions in Destination Germany. The results are being incorporated into a special app which will be available from summer 2012 in English and German for Apple and Android devices.

London, 10th February 2012 – Yesterday’s “Germany Travel Show 2012” - the German National Tourist Office’s annual workshop for the UK travel trade and press – was the biggest and most successful show since its launch fifteen years ago. 61 of Germany’s key tourist partners such as hotels, town & city representatives and regional tourist boards met with 180 UK tour operators and travel organisers for the annual one-stop premier event for incoming travel to Germany. This year the show was held at the unique & prestigious “One Marylebone” in the heart of London.