Summary

Germany's strong tourism industry is heavily underpinned by domestic tourism, which contributes 85-90% of all overnight stays. This suggests that the industry would be able to withstand upheavals in world travel patterns caused by unforeseen external forces. In terms of attractions, the country is still heavily dependent upon traditional cultural and heritage destinations, the landscape environment, spa resorts and the varied culture to be discovered in the 16 Länder. Increasingly, there is a move to develop and promote city tourism, partly as a result of the country's major cities of Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt having developed a high reputation as business and conference destinations.

During the later years of the 20th Century Germany was seen, largely by external investors (such as Six Flags, Tussaud's and Legoland) as a profitable centre for modern themed attractions development, especially in the north where a combination of high resident populations and efficient transport systems in neighbouring countries produced the catchment area volumes required to support them.

Most recently, the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) has developed annual promotional themes (eg 'Splendour of the Romanesque' in 2001 and 'Romanticism on the Rhine' in 2002) as a means of involving Länder promotional efforts in branding of such products. Noticeably, the emphasis of such theming is heavily skewed towards the country's dominant cultural characteristics.

Introduction

The travel and tourism industry in Germany has shown persistently strong growth over the past decade. The prolonged recession following reunification in 1990 is over, and the overall economic outlook is good. In 2000 it was the most popular target market for investment by European leisure companies responding to Ernst & Young LLP's Leisure Development in Europe Survey (published in 2000). Four out of every five respondents based in Germany expressed positive expectations for the leisure industry.

As the dominant prime mover, jointly with France, for the introduction of the euro and a common monetary structure for the European Union, the Federal Government is confident that the introduction of the euro in January 2002 will have a marked beneficial effect on Germany's economy. This confidence extends into the tourism sector as it is believed introduction of the euro will tend to weaken the competitive edge of the major south European destinations and to encourage inbound tourism, which lags far behind volumes in domestic tourism.

The new common currency should be relatively advantageous for Germany to the extent that price competition through devaluation, as often occurred in France, Spain and Italy in the past - is now no longer possible. It is also expected that Germany will become a more affordable destination for tourists from those other formerly weak currency countries which have also adopted the euro.

Germany has long been known as the most important outbound tourism market in Europe, and second only to the US in terms of expenditure, as its citizens habitually seek warmer climates and exotic cultural experiences. Although this circumstance would pose a severe challenge to less stable tourism economies, the national tourism industry remains buoyant because of domestic travel: the Federal Republic's tourism market economy is dominated by resident tourists, accounting for 80.5% of overnight stays and approaching 90% of total tourism receipts.

The Federal Republic comprises 16 states or Länder, including 5 new Länder established from administrative units in the former East Germany. All Länder have their own constitutions, governments, administrative agencies and independent courts. Consequently, economic activity is governed from dominant state capitals.

Each Land is represented by its own tourism office and, while a common theme is to promote the heritage, cultural and landscape assets as the principal attractors of visitors, the GNTB's influence on tourism promotion concentrates principally on strategic issues centred on themes and events.

The largest of the Western European countries in terms of land mass (357,000 sq kms) and population (nearly 83 million), Germany presents a rich variety of products to in-coming as well as to resident tourists. The Federal Republic shares similar characteristics to those of all European countries in terms of tourist attractors: heritage assets and a multiplicity of cultural variations - in dress, food, wines and architecture - which distinguish the individual Länder.

As a significant contributor to the economy, tourism accounts for 8% of Gross Domestic Product and provides 2.8 million jobs or 7.2% of total employment. The industry contributes some 3.4% to GDP (DM139.9 billion/?71.5 billion), and is expected to grow to DM198.2 billion/?101.3 billion (3.3%) by 2011.

In 2000 the travel industry generated annual sales of more than DM275 billion (€140.5 billion), placing it in fourth position behind motor manufacturing, the data processing equipment and electrical engineering sector and mechanical engineering - and ahead of the chemical and construction industries.

The presence of modern theme parks - for example, Warner Brothers' Movie World near Dusseldorf, Bavaria Filmstadt and Walibi at Metz - and the confidence shown by the Tussaud's group in acquiring Heide Park in Saltau, Northern Germany as part of a £200 million development plan, adds another important dimension to the tourism product.

It is significant that many of Germany's theme parks have been developed in the northern part of the country where there is a heavy concentration of domestic population, and which is also within comparatively easy reach of markets in Belgium, France and Holland.

Other reports of relevance:

- Travel and Tourism in Germany, TTI Country Report, January 2002

- Special Report, Holidays - Coping with a Crisis, 2002

- Theme Parks Market - US Report, Consumer Intelligence, 2001

- Special Report, Holidays - Destination Marketing, 2001

- Special Report, Holidays - Planning, Buying, Financing Holidays, 2000

- The Future of Visitor Attractions, Travel & Tourism Analyst No.1 2000

- Theme Parks Abroad, UK Report, Leisure Intelligence, November 1999

and the forthcoming:

- City Breaks in Europe, Leisure Intelligence, April 2002

- Family Holidays in Europe, Leisure Intelligence, June 2002

- Hotels in Europe, Leisure Intelligence, August 2002

- Third Age Travel in Europe, Leisure Intelligence, October 2002

- Pre-family Holidays in Europe, Leisure Intelligence, December 2002.

Definitions

An attraction is where it is feasible to charge admission for the sole purpose of sightseeing. An attraction must be a permanently established excursion destination, a primary purpose of which is to allow public access for entertainment, interest, or education; rather than being primarily a retail outlet or a venue for sporting, theatrical, or film performances. It must be open to the public, without prior booking, for published periods each year, and should be capable of attracting day visitors or tourists, as well as local residents. In addition the attraction must be a single business, under a single management, so that it is capable of answering the economic questions on revenue, employment etc, and must be receiving revenue directly from the visitors.

This report looks at a number of specific types of non-traditional attraction:

- Family entertainment centres (generally located in Spain) are usually located close to holiday beach resorts and are intended to offer a means of relieving the repetitiveness of a diet of two weeks of sun and sand.

- Pleasure/leisure parks (such as the Oakwood white-knuckle complex in South West Wales) aim to provide an all-weather activity centre largely appealing to younger generations.

- Urban family entertainment destinations (eg Heron City near Madrid) aim to roll up the range of motivations for leisure-seeking into one place - shopping, electronic interactive activities, entertainment, eating and drinking.

- Theme parks (such as Disneyland Paris and Universal Mediterranea) seek to retain visitors within their complexes of attractions by providing a whole-visit package - entertainment, 'edutainment', education, accommodation and restaurants, for example.

- Corporate brandlands (eg Swarowski Crystal factory in Austria, Volkswagen's Autostadt, the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin and Wedgwood's emerging glass and pottery centre) exploit the high level of brand recognition on the back of their general corporate marketing and promotion strategies, combining edutainment with consumer exploitation and revenue-earning from retail sales of their products on factory sites.

The definitions of travel and tourism industry and travel and tourism economy are taken from the World Travel and Tourism Council's (WTTC) Tourism Satellite Account methodology, which has identified two major concepts: travel and tourism consumption and travel and tourism demand, which help differentiate between the technical 'industry' (products and services) impact and the broader travel and tourism 'economy' impact (products and services for visitor consumption as well as products and services for industry demand).

The standard definitions used in the terminology of this report (and the Leisure Intelligence series) are as follows:

- tourism is any travel which involves an overnight stay away from home

- a holiday is a subjectively defined form of tourism. A holiday can be distinguished from other leisure travel such as visits to friends and relatives (VFR) or shopping trips

- a long holiday is a holiday of four nights or more away from home; a short break is a holiday which involves one to three nights away from home

- short-haul refers to air holidays within Europe, dominated by flights to Mediterranean resorts but including the Canary Islands, which are treated as a part of the Spanish market. Long-haul, therefore, refers to holidays outside Europe

- an inclusive tour, or package holiday, is defined as the simultaneous sale of at least two elements of a holiday to the traveller: fares on public transport (eg flights) and commercial accommodation (eg hotel or self-catering apartment). Other elements, such as meals or excursions, are not essential to the definition of an inclusive tour. The term 'all-inclusive' is used to describe a special type of resort holiday in which food, drink, excursions and other services are provided as part of the total holiday cost.

- an independent holiday is one in which the traveller organises and books transport and accommodation from separate sources (eg a ferry crossing and a caravan site). Seat- or flight-only is a type of independent holiday, and the terms are used to denote holidays in which travellers only purchase a return fare and thereafter book their own accommodation, car hire etc.

Data sources

Collection of data on tourism in Germany is difficult because of the way the industry is organised and represented. This can lead to imperfect and sometimes conflicting information. The Federal Statistics Office in Bonn collects and makes available each month complete data on arrivals, overnights, a breakdown between foreign and domestic visitors and by Länder.

Further data and policy comment is available from the German National Tourist Board and German Federal Bank. Data from these two bodies differs slightly, but not sufficiently for the accuracy to be called into question. A publication, Tourism in Figures, first produced in 1998, provides a wealth of tables and charts, bringing together data from the World Tourism Organization (WTO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Eurostat (the statistical office of the European Union) and the German Central Bank.

The German National Tourist Board provides data on tourism motivation collected from the European Travel Monitor; and the German Touristic Union publishes a range of information on such aspects as the economic importance of tourism, infrastructure, mode of transport and urban and even tourism. Detailed information on the performance of individual attractions sectors and sites within them is not universally available.

The 16 Länder Statistical Offices and Tourism Offices do not have a consistent system for collation of data - such as attendance and revenues - from visitor attractions within their territories.

Complete information is available from the German Hotel and Restaurant Association concerning trends in hotel and restaurant capacity, operating performance and employee characteristics. It also monitors hotel development.

Reports on Leisure Development in Europe 2000 by Ernst & Young LLP (and their Real Estate, Hospitality and Construction country reports), and Deloitte & Touche's Survey of Continental European Visitor Attractions provide useful summary overviews. Valuable information is contained in Mintel's series of TTI Country and City Reports, and Travel & Tourism Analyst.

Abbreviations

BTW	Federal Association of the German Tourism Industry
DHV	German Spa Association
DIRG	German Information and Reservation Association
DTV	German Touristic Union
DZT	German National Tourist Board
Eurostat	The statistical office of the European Union
GNTB	German National Tourist Board
OECD	Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
IAAPA	International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions
WTO	World Tourism Organization
WTTC	World Travel & Tourism Council