Press release: GNTB - Growth Opportunities for Coach Tourism Through International Marketing

Frankfurt am Main / Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 12 January 2026 – In the global growth market of international travel, coach tourism holds a firmly established position. Accordingly, the international marketing of Destination Germany by the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) also opens up growth and revenue opportunities for medium-sized coach tour operators. This is the conclusion drawn by Petra Hedorfer, Chairwoman of the GNTB Executive Board, in her keynote at the 43rd Day of Coach Tourism in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

With the exception of the COVID‑19 crisis, evaluations of the World Travel Monitor by IPK International show that in each of the past ten years, more than four million Europeans have chosen the coach as their primary mode of transport for traveling to Germany—a stable market share of between seven and eight percent. The top source markets for coach arrivals to Germany are the neighboring countries Poland, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, and Austria. There is considerable potential among guests from overseas markets. Thirty-seven percent of them take round trips in Germany after arriving at international airports. For these travelers, the coach is the preferred means of transport.

Petra Hedorfer: “From an economic perspective, travelers to Germany from overseas markets are of particular interest for international marketing. According to the Federal Statistical Office, they accounted for 22.9 percent of all overnight stays by foreign guests in Germany in 2024, and according to IPK, they generated 35 percent of total travel revenues. In addition, almost 70 percent of them are repeat visitors. Coach tours are an excellent way to inspire these guests with service, quality, and comfort.”

Further opportunities for the successful future marketing of Germany as a coach destination, according to the GNTB Chairwoman, lie in the possibilities of digital transformation and the implementation of AI applications. For example, the AI‑generated travel companion “Emma” will be able to serve as a brand ambassador for coach travel to Germany in the future.

Moreover, the GNTB is cooperating with the Bus Power Monitor (BPM) of the RDA International Coach Tourism Association. Through its global network, the GNTB will provide relevant inbound travel data that can be used for future capacity planning of charging infrastructure.

Thanks to this cooperation, the foundation is being laid for presenting tourism data on popular coach travel destinations in Germany as semantically structured data in the GNTB Knowledge Graph. This will improve the visibility and bookability of tourism offerings for AI‑powered search engines of global marketing platforms and ensure the connectivity and competitiveness of the German coach tourism industry in international markets.

A wide range of attractive opportunities to participate in GNTB marketing activities across around 35 foreign markets is presented in the Activity Board at www.germany.travel.