The GCC market generated a travel turnover of €2.3 billion in Germany: German National Tourist Board

Germany has long been a popular destination for GCC travellers, with visitor numbers picking up since the pandemic. From January to October 2025, the number of arrivals from the UAE increased by nearly 8 per cent, and the outlook for the rest of the year remains bullish. Gulf News chatted with Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive Officer of the German National Tourist Board, during her recent visit to the UAE. Excerpts from the interview.

The GCC is the third-largest overseas tourism source market for us. Over the past 20 years, we’ve grown with support from tour operators, the wider travel and trade industries and the media, and have learned how to address different target groups. There’s tremendous potential in terms of, for example, multigenerational family travel, medical care, shopping and culture. And GCC travellers are high spenders; in 2024, this market generated a travel turnover of €2.3 billion in Germany.

It is in our DNA to offer holistic hospitality to our international guests. For example, we launched the Germany Halal Travel Guide recently — a free resource available in English and Arabic for Muslim travelers. It offers information such as lists of halal restaurants, mosques, and prayer spaces, as well as Muslim-friendly hotels and itineraries. We also emphasise accessibility, which means everyone from persons of determination to the elderly and families should be able to vacation in Germany. We incentivise service providers so that they are encouraged to be accessible.

We run global campaigns and adapt them to be market specific. For the GCC, we work closely with the region’s travel industry. We participate in events like the Arabian Travel Market and various Visit Europe workshops and activities; we run roadshows across the GCC. We also rely heavily on social media – for instance, we run an Arabic Instagram page for GCC visitors. So, we pursue a multichannel strategy. Next year, we will promote a culture-centric campaign, including the culinary Germany campaign, bridging people through food and culture.

Technology becomes valuable when it creates seamless guest experiences and a major cornerstone is our Open Data / Knowledge Graph project, which went live in 2023 and is now one of the most advanced tourism data infrastructures internationally. Importantly, we drive our digital transformation together with tourism stakeholders across Germany. The power lies in giving visibility not only to major destinations, but also to smaller businesses — family-run hotels, local museums, regional festivals, hiking routes, or boutique attractions. By making them findable through search engines, travel portals, and AI applications, we unlock entirely new growth potential. And then there’s EMMA — our AI-driven travel companion and Instagram persona ‘Emma Travels Germany’. She brings German destinations to life in a playful format for younger GCC audiences.

Germany is a true four-season destination. GCC travellers already love our summers, given our mild climate, green landscapes, and vibrant city life but our landscapes, culture, and experiences evolve beautifully throughout the year. Our cultural calendar alone is a major driver: Germany hosts 1,764 music festivals annually and more than 3,250 Christmas markets, alongside design weeks, art biennials, and countless regional celebrations. This means that no matter when guests choose to visit, there is always something special to discover.

The German tourism industry remains a vital economic force contributing 11.2 per cent to the country’s GDP and securing 6.1 million jobs. Incoming tourism closed 2024 with €77.7 billion in revenue, placing Germany among the top 10 global destinations. The sector is deeply shaped by small and medium-sized enterprises ensuring regional diversity and local value creation. GCC travellers contribute significantly to the local value chain — Visa data shows that 43 per cent of all in-destination spending goes to retail. This directly supports family-run hotels, artisan boutiques, and traditional restaurants, which safeguard authenticity, craftsmanship, and regional identity.

Germany consistently ranks as Europe’s top business travel destination. What makes us competitive is the combination of world-class infrastructure, including excellent accessibility and a network of well-connected international airports, modern event concepts, high-quality service providers, strong industries, and iconic venues in major cities. We offer both professional efficiency and inspiring leisure experiences, a compelling combination for bleisure and workation seekers.

Bavaria and Hesse are among the top German destinations for GCC travellers. In 2024, Bavaria alone recorded around 467,000 overnight stays by guests from the GCC, reflecting the strong appeal of Munich and the wider region. Travellers are drawn to its mix of vibrant city life, Alpine landscapes, family attractions, and excellent medical facilities, alongside high-end shopping and a growing range of Arabic-speaking and halal-friendly services. Hesse, home to Frankfurt, is another key gateway, with over 207,000 overnight stays from the GCC in 2024. Frankfurt’s role as an international aviation hub makes it a natural first stop, and visitors enjoy its shopping streets, luxury hotels, and easy access to nearby spa towns. We are also seeing strong demand for other key regions like North Rhine-Westphalia, Hamburg and Berlin.