Most Chinese only
know Germany for its beer, sausages
and soccer. German tourism bureaus and
operators want to expand that
knowledge and attract more Chinese
tourists with excellent service and
colorful tourism products.
"China
is important to Germany as a
traveling nation with its growing
wealth and eagerness to travel," says
Constanze Hilgers, director of destination
management with the German National
Tourist Board, a national marketing
organization promoting Germany as a
destination globally.
"There is
such a diversity in our country,
and it has all our customers
might be interested in," she
says.
Together with representatives
from other tourism marketing organizations
in Germany, Hilgers recently traveled
to Beijing and Shanghai to promote
her country.
According to
Hilgers, in the Germany tourism
industry, Asia ranks in the top
two after Europe, with a market
share of 10.5 percent in
2012.
Since 2009, overnight stays by
Chinese in Germany have increased
greatly to nearly 1.6 million in 2012,
followed by Japanese at 1.3
million.
In 2012, the most
visited regions by Chinese travelers
in Germany were Bavaria, Hesse,
Baden-Wuerttemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia and
Berlin.
Hilgers says besides
historical heritage, visitors can join
family package tours in summer to
visit scenic spots, museums and theme
parks. In the winter, tourists can
enjoy Christmas markets.
"Chinese
are leading the statistics in
shopping. The biggest revenue from
tax-free goods in Germany came from
China last year, with a share
of 32 percent," she
says.
Wolfgang Bauer, chief
executive of Outletcity Metzingen Holy
AG, about 50 km from Stuttgart, says
the outlet offers Chinese speaking
personal service to enhance customers'
shopping experience.
The German
National Tourist Board is investing in
online travel agencies, because online
platforms in China have potential for
growth.
"Youngsters nowadays
can't live without mobile devices,
but WiFi in Europe is not all
free. Our latest app Youth Hotspots
can help them solve the problem,"
Hilgers says.
In April, GNTB
developed Youth Hotspots, which can
not only track down about 1,500 free
WiFi locations in Germany, but also
offers tips from other travelers about
restaurants, bars, cafes, must-sees and
events. The app also works offline
and offers more than 80 coupons
especially for youngsters.
Li
Zhaohui, director of GNTB's Beijing
office, says to promote Germany as
a destination among Chinese, it's
important to work with travel agencies
and airlines.
According to Li,
GNTB has more than 3,000 travel agency
contacts in China in its database.
It has developed close relationships
with some important travel agencies in
gateway cities, such as Beijing,
Shanghai and Guangzhou.
"We're
very willing to cooperate with
official tourism bureaus as they can
offer us more in-depth information.
The earliest cooperation dates back to
the 1990s, and we have more partners
now because more destinations have
been developed," says Zhang Wei,
general manager of outbound tourism
department, China International Travel
Service Limited.
"It's
important that they come to China
to do promotion so that we can
have face-to-face conversations about our
promotion plans rather than online
communication. Our Chinese guides can
also take the opportunity to learn
more about the destinations," she
says.
According to Zhang, some
bureaus promote themselves in second-tier
cities in China, as people from
small cities are also very willing
to travel abroad.
"Compared
with a decade ago, cooperation with
them is more comprehensive and focuses
mainly on theme tours, and the
promotion is shifting to the
city's culture and history rather
than the city itself," Zhang
says.
Peter Siemering, general
manager of Bremer Touristik-Zentrale, the
tourism marketing and service organization
for Bremen, agrees.
He says
Bremen is promoting its fairy
tale-theme tour, which is perfect for
parents and children, as the city
is known for the fairy tales of
the Brothers Grimm such as Sleeping
Beauty and The Pied Piper of
Hamelin.
Hilgers is quite
confident about the Chinese market and
says they are expecting 2.2 million
overnight stays from China in
2020.
