25% more Russians in Germany
German National Tourism Organization (DZT) Moscow office revealed to RiaNovosti that the number of nights that foreign tourists spent in Germany last year reached record-breaking level of 60.3 million people.
The growth of the number of overnights stood at 10%, which allowed Germany to beat France and to become second of all European countries in the number of arrivals. If this trend remains unchanged the number of tourist nights is likely to reach 80 million by 2020.
The tourist flow from Poland increased by 15.7%, from Britain – by 13%, from Switzerland – by 8.6%. Tourists from the Middle East, that prefer to come to Germany in summer for medical purposes and shopping, showed 26% increase. The tourist flow from BRIC countries increased significantly. The number of Brazilian overnights put on 42% compared to 2009, Chinese – 33%, Indian – 26%. Russians spent 1486 million overnights in Germany – 24% increase.
“Germany in order to estimate the level of travel business considers only the number of overnights, not the number of tourists. It is vital for DZT to know how many nights were spent in hotels with more than 9 beds. Unfortunately sleepovers in private flats and small guest houses, that are very popular in Germany, are not included in the statistics. So the actual figure is much bigger” – said Mrs. Irina Keyko, the head of DZT Moscow office.
She added that among German regions Russian preferred Bayern (27% in 2009), Berlin (15%), Nordrhein-Westfalen (Dusseldorf and Cologne) (13.5%) and Baden-Wurtemberg (12.5%).
Over the last 10 years the growth of incoming tourism to Germany reached 40%, 42.6 million overnights were registered in 2000. Thanks to major international events in 2011 such as FIFA Women’s World Cup and the celebration of 125th anniversary of the invention of the automobile, even more tourists are expected in Germany.