New York, May 10 2013 – Foreign tourists have voted Neuschwanstein Castle the best place to visit in Germany. Number two on the list is Europa-Park, followed at number three by Cologne Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) carried out the poll - the second of its kind - to find out which of Germany's many sights and places of interest were the most popular among foreign tourists. Between 1 July 2012 and the end of March 2013, visitors were able to vote for their 'top sights' at www.germany.travel/top100. This produced a list of 700 tourist highlights, which were then ranked according to popularity. The survey, which was available in 26 languages, registered more than 46,000 clicks.

Virtuoso®, the leading U.S. luxury travel agency network, will hold its 2014 Symposium in Berlin, Germany, on April 26-30, 2014, it was announced last night by Virtuoso’s CEO, Matthew Upchurch, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the site of the current year’s convention. The German National Tourist Office (GNTO) in collaboration with visitBerlin submitted the winning bid to host next year’s Symposium.

The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) received the 2013 Innovation Award at the ITB in Berlin. The award has been presented by the international A&O HOTELS and HOSTELS group since 2008. It is given to organisations in the tourism industry that stand out for their innovative products or their pioneering use of technology. The GNTB has been recognised for its efforts in promoting youth travel to Germany. The GNTB's theme for 2013 'Germany for young people – vibrant, fashionable, innovative' is centred around a social media marketing campaign targeted at the youth demographic.

Destination Germany is home to a wealth of cultural and natural treasures. Particularly popular are its 37 UNESCO World Heritage sites. They represent a major travel incentive for international visitors and have helped to make Germany the most popular cultural travel destination among Europeans.

In 2014 the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) will be putting Germany’s UNESCO World Heritage sites at the centre of its global marketing activities under the banner ‘UNESCO World Heritage – sustainable cultural and natural tourism’.

Destination Germany is becoming increasingly popular with international visitors. “In the last three years tourism in Germany has grown at a faster rate than the global and European average, and the country has continued to strengthen its position as one of the most popular travel destinations,” says Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive Officer of the German National Tourist Board (GNTB).

The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) is launching a broad-ranging social media campaign entitled ‘Youth HotSpots in Germany – Share the moment.’ at the 2013 ITB in Berlin as part of its ‘Germany for young people – vibrant, fashionable, innovative’ theme. The campaign is designed so that the GNTB can reach out to young people through the most appropriate means for this target group and encourage them to return to Germany again and again.

Germany has become an increasingly popular destination for young people over the past few years. That is why the worldwide sales and marketing activities of the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) are focusing on youth travel in 2013. The theme ‘Germany for young people – vibrant, fashionable, innovative’ caters to a huge tourism segment offering vast economic potential.

The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) has launched a new website for the bicentenary of Richard Wagner’s birth. Visitors with an interest in culture can now find information on special events during the anniversary year and on Wagner’s life and work at www.germany.travel/wagner. Entitled ‘Music is the language of passion’, the new microsite is available in German and English and features an interactive map to help travellers follow in the footsteps of Wagner.

For the first time Destination Germany breached the 400 million mark, with excellent growth in the volume of overnight stays by international visitors providing much of the momentum. In 2012 the German Federal Statistical Office recorded 338.43 million domestic overnight stays and 68.83 million overnight stays by visitors from abroad in accommodations with more than ten beds resulting in 407.26 million overnight stays overall.