Press release: 5th GNTB Incoming & Brand Summit highlights the global appeal of Destination Germany

Frankfurt am Main, 28 May 2026 - Around 70 trade journalists from more than 20 international source markets for Destination Germany have registered for the 5th Incoming & Brand Summit hosted by the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) from 21–23 June 2026 in Frankfurt am Main. Under the motto “INNOVATIVE. AUTHENTIC. LIVEABLE.”, keynote speeches and expert panels will explore how the Destination Germany brand is successfully positioned internationally, which aspects define it today, and how the brand image continues to evolve dynamically.

This year’s summit focuses on innovative tourism offerings, urban quality of life, cultural identity and authentic travel experiences – themes that are increasingly shaping Germany’s international reputation as a modern, creative and highly liveable destination. The congress programme will be complemented by pre-convention tours and a curated supporting programme in Frankfurt am Main. Participants will experience tourism products that combine cultural heritage, contemporary urban culture and innovative visitor experiences – including new premium hotel concepts such as the recently opened luxury hotel “The Florentin”, which exemplifies the dynamic development of Germany’s hospitality sector.

The GNTB’s cooperation partners for the event are Frankfurt Tourismus+Congress GmbH as host destination and Deutsche Lufthansa as the official airline partner.

Petra Hedorfer, Chairwoman of the Executive Board of the GNTB, explains: “Over recent years, the GNTB has consistently advanced its international brand communications and adapted them to the requirements of digital transformation. This is reflected not only in significantly increased global visibility, but also in the international appeal of the Destination Germany brand. Germany is now among the world’s ten most popular travel destinations (ranked 8th in 2025) and has been firmly established for more than a decade as Europe’s number one cultural travel destination. With the 5th Incoming & Brand Summit, we are once again underscoring this successful positioning.”

GNTB increases the global visibility of Destination Germany

Over the past ten years, the GNTB has expanded its international travel industry network to more than 10,400 business contacts with tour operators and online travel agencies worldwide. At the same time, the annual reach of the GNTB’s more than 40 global and market-specific social media channels increased from 226 million in 2016 to 1.3 billion impressions in 2025. Through traditional media channels such as press, television and radio, the GNTB also generated more than 20 billion contacts worldwide last year – 44 per cent more than a decade ago. Since 2015, the GNTB has worked with international influencers to promote authentic storytelling and emotional travel experiences, showcasing the diversity and attractiveness of Destination Germany to global audiences.

To strengthen efficient brand communications across increasingly differentiated communication channels, the GNTB has established new formats, including the GNTB Incoming & Brand Summit for international trade journalists, the GNTB Influencer Days and the digital GNTB B2B marketplace GTM 360°. Open data also plays a decisive role in ensuring both the visibility of the brand and the bookability of tourism products on increasingly AI-supported online platforms. The GNTB Knowledge Graph, featuring more than 580,000 datasets, additional data clusters and around 450 registered data users worldwide, provides the necessary infrastructure. The MCP server technology introduced in 2025 further optimises the Knowledge Graph for the use of AI agents. In collaboration with the 16 regional tourism organisations as well as national tourism organisations including those of Austria and Switzerland, the GNTB is also driving forward digital transformation through the Open Data Tourism Alliance (ODTA), strengthening the international visibility and digital discoverability of tourism products through open data standards and innovative technologies.

The success story of German inbound tourism at a glance

Since the beginning of unified German tourism statistics in 1993, Germany has established itself as an attractive holiday destination for international visitors. During this period, the number of overnight stays by international guests in Germany increased by 141 per cent, from 34.7 million to 83.6 million in 2025 – representing real growth of 48.9 million overnight stays.

This success story has generated increasing economic value for the predominantly SME-driven German tourism industry. According to IPK International, international visitors’ expenditure on trips to Germany has risen by 41 per cent since 2016, reaching €78.6 billion in 2025. A significant proportion of this spending directly benefits tourism providers in Germany.

Germany also continues to hold leading positions in international nation branding: since the first publication of the Anholt & Co. Nation Brands Index (NBI), which has measured the brand value of more than 50 leading economic nations worldwide for the past 20 years, Germany has consistently ranked among the top three nations. Within Europe, Germany has ranked first among the 27 countries analysed for the past eight years. In the overall ranking of the 50 countries surveyed, Germany again secured second place in 2025, behind Japan.