GNTB survey of travel industry key accounts from 27 countries – Positive expectations for recovery in German incoming tourism.
NEW DELHI – For today's start of the GTM Germany Travel Mart (GTM), the German National Tourist Board (GNTB), as organizer, can build on a strong positive opinion of the international participants. Around a third of the key accounts from the international travel industry who registered for the GTM took part in an online survey conducted by the GNTB to analyse the mood and expectations.
95 percent of survey participants expect Germany as a travel destination to be at least as attractive to visitors again after the crisis as it was before, and almost 30 percent even expect Germany to gain market share in international competition.
Petra Hedorfer, Chairwoman of the GNTB's Executive Board: "Even in the Corona crisis, Destination Germany enjoys a high level of brand awareness and a positive mindset – both among customers and trade partners. This high level of confidence in the appeal of our brand continues in the business expectations expressed. Buyers attending the most important sales event for German incoming tourism are predominantly optimistic for the current fiscal year: more than half (53 percent) expect an improvement as early as 2021 compared to the crisis year 2020, and a third anticipate a similar business performance as in the previous year. At 58 percent, the positive mood regarding Germany as a travel destination is even above average among buyers from overseas markets. It is therefore important to provide all GTM participants – German suppliers as well as international buyers – with concrete information and arguments with which we can jointly create confidence among potential guests, convey security and further strengthen their willingness to travel."
In the travel managers' sentiment, recovery has already begun. Thirty-eight percent expect to return to pre-crisis levels as early as next year, and more than three-quarters overall say they will return to 2019 levels by 2023 at the latest.
The recovery phase is supported by an extraordinarily high level of appreciation among the buyers surveyed for the tourism products on offer in Destination Germany. The aspect of sustainability scores particularly well here: 84 percent rate the quality of sustainable products in Germany as good/very good. Digital offerings in Destination Germany also receive top marks: 93 percent of key accounts rate the digital content available as good to very good.
The vGTM 2021 goes online from April 27 – 29 as a digital event with around 250 German suppliers and 480 buyers from international travel companies which also includes 29 buyers from Pan India. The partner state of GTM 2021 is Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Tobias Woitendorf, Managing Director of the TMV: "Similar to the International Tourism Exchange Berlin, we are focusing on the future topics of safe travel, sustainability, health tourism and accessibility, which will be presented to trade visitors using practical examples. Even if travel is not yet possible, the exchange with international tour operators about changing framework conditions and travel interests is important. We need to think beyond Corona. For this, vGTM 2021 is a welcome and suitable platform."
With its Baltic coast, the Mecklenburg Lake District, UNESCO world heritage sites, Hanseatic cities and the state capital with its castle ensemble, Germany's north easternmost state offers a wide range of tourist attractions for international guests. Accordingly, "10 Reasons to Discover Mecklenburg-Vorpommern" is the title of a webinar with which the GTM partner state presents itself to international key accounts on the first day of the workshop.
With a comprehensive information program, vGTM 2021 supports all participants in developing recovery strategies to launch German inbound tourism out of the Corona crisis. This includes webinars, panel discussions and "Meet the Experts" sessions with market insights.
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
