German National Tourist Office to host travel-trade roadshow in the Gulf

GNTO to showcase impressive line-up of German tourism partners to the GCC travel trade industry at roadshow events

As part of its continued efforts to boost tourist arrivals to Germany, the German National Tourist Office (GNTO) will be embarking on its annual roadshow in partnership with Emirates Airline. The B2B roadshow, targeting travel trade professionals, media and other key opinion leaders will kick off in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 21 October 2018 with further stops being Jeddah (22 October), Abu Dhabi (23 October) and Kuwait (24 October). The trade event - spanning vibrant cities, medical travel, designer outlet shopping, luxury hotels as well as German tour operators - aims at informing guests of the latest travel attractions in Germany, such as the upcoming winter holiday season with its festive Christmas markets and will also include raffle draws.

Recognising the importance of the Gulf region, Sigrid de Mazieres, Director for the Gulf countries at the German National Tourist Office (GNTO), an affiliate of the German National Tourist Board (GNTB), commented: “The Gulf region is Germany’s third largest non-European source market after the US and China, and we are looking forward to strengthening ties with the local travel industry and connecting them with leading German tourism partners.” She added, “Face-to-face meetings and partnerships with members of the trade are one of the most effective ways we can attract travellers from this region. This is why these roadshows are so important.”

Adil Al-Ghaith, Senior Vice President Commercial Operations, Gulf, Middle East & Iran said: “We are pleased to team up with the German National Tourist Office to further strengthen our partnership with the travel trade and to attract more GCC travellers to Germany. This is a very important market for us and we are committed to stimulating more tourist arrivals to Germany by offering fantastic connections and more travel options to Munich, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Hamburg via Dubai, especially as we introduce our flagship A380 to Hamburg this month. We are confident that the results of all our joint activities and marketing efforts will create more awareness around Germany and inspire more people to travel there.”

Through this promotional and networking initiative, the German National Tourist Office aims to not just raise awareness for ‘Destination Germany’ among the local travel trade, but to help to diversify their product offering which eventually leads to enhance travel agency’s sales and customer satisfaction levels. The latest inbound tourism figures from the Gulf region reflect that Germany is increasingly becoming a popular holiday destination for Gulf nationals. From January to July 2018 overnight stays from the region increased by 5.3% compared to the same period in 2017. Leading German partners at this year’s GCC roadshow, hosted in partnership with Emirates Airline:

Cologne Tourist Board

DMC-Destination Management

Excelsior Hotel Ernst - Cologne

Hotel Nassauer Hof - Wiesbaden

Hotel Waldorf Astoria Berlin

Messe-Reisen Falk GmbH

TCME touristic concept GmbH

Value Retail Management Germany, Wertheim Village and Ingoldstadt Village VisitBerlin

The workshops will take place as follows: 21 October 2018 - Riyadh

22 October 2018 - Jeddah

23 October 2018 - Abu Dhabi

24 October 2018 - Kuwait