4Hoteliers
SEARCH
SHARE THIS PAGE
NEWSLETTERS
CONTACT US
SUBMIT CONTENT
ADVERTISING
Exclusive interview with Petra Hedorfer - CEO of the German National Tourist Board -  DZT.
Tuesday, 5th May 2015
Source : Joseph Fischer ~ Exclusive for 4Hoteliers.com

A significant part of Germany's growing tourism attractiveness on the global scale and specifically in Europe (Germany is the second most popular destination for Europeans for the fifth year running) can be attributed to the work of the German National Tourist Board.

During my recent participation at the 2015 German Travel Market in city of Erfurt, I had the pleasure and a rather unique opportunity to have a one-on-one interview with Mrs. Petra Hedorfer â€" the CEO of the DZT.

JF: Germany incoming tourism has been growing consecutively over the past five years, over and above the average growth rate of the EU. Clearly, the DZT has done a great job. What are, in your opinion, the main reasons for such a positive growth ratio?

PH: That's a big question. Thank you for your compliments for our team. It isn’t just the work of the DZT. There are many reasons and many partners that may be attributed to the success of our country, Germany, as a travel destination. It is the ongoing investment over the last decade.

After the horrors of the 2nd. World War, it was difficult for us to build a new image of Germany as a tourist destination. What we tried doing was to create and build an image that suited the times. The one point that helped us was the re-unification of Germany that showed the world a picture of freedom, of a  liberal market. Many people wanted to see the former Communist territories that for 50 years were almost completely hidden behind the walls of the "Iron Curtain".

A significant contribution was made by the Federal Government with its decision to move the federal Capital from Bonn back to Berlin, a decision which helped Germany's new image.

Another big influence: the setup as brand travel destination, was aware that we were a predominantly business destination.  Germany was the number one world destination for fairs MICE business and a very important global destination for business and corporate travel. The image analysis 15 ago showed a clear image of Germany as Corporate Travel business.

We started from that base point to start talking about leisure travel. Being geographically located at the centre of Europe we figured that, for us, it would be best to focus on our neighboring countries as feeder market for the leisure segment of travel. So for us the European market was the first market we approached.  We focused on cultural trips and short-break city trips. We positioned ourselves as a "Cultural Destination".

Clearly this wasn’t easy. There was a learning curve. For many years we have been known as a pure "Business Destination" and now we surprised the customers by showing also the cultural possibilities Germany has to offer. At that time, consumer behavior has also changed. Before the late 80's, people used to stay in one place for a long summer holiday.

With the emergence of "Low-Cost" airlines connecting Europe, it changed the way people used to travel and their travel habits. More short-break, short-haul travels.

The real "ice breaker" for us was the World Football Championship that took place in Germany.  The global media was focused on Germany and it showed the Germans not only as busy, hard working, serious people. It showed how Germans can also have fun and enjoy life, offering great warm hospitality to the guests from all over the world. 

We found that our hospitality infrastructure that was built mainly for business travels during weekdays, gave us a rather unique advantage during weekends for the leisure market. We fill up the hotels during weekdays with corporate business, and during weekends and holidays - with leisure market. This gives us a huge advantage over our competitors, such as Italy or France. As you well know, hotel business is all about creating the right customer mix.

Germany nowadays is one of the most affordable destinations within the Eurozone with brand-new tourism infrastructure.

The investment of the International hotel chains after the fall of the wall was tremendous.  

The connectivity to Germany via road, fast trains, flights and new airports, makes it easy for us to keep the poll-position in the market.

Ranking on position 7 in Tourism, Germany is excellently positioned in the 2014 Nation Brands index out of 50 countries worldwide.

JF: The rapid growth of incoming tourism to Germany poses also a challenge in terms of growing enough hotel accommodations to supply the growing demands. Do you think that the development of new hotels is fast enough?

PH: A fair point. Currently, we have an annual occupancy rate in all of Germany of around 60%, so clearly there are enough hotel rooms to support further growth; still, there are some locations/destinations where we need to have an additional supply of rooms. The effect of the growing number of tourists and occupancy rates on rates is clear.

It is a very sensitive "balancing-act". We need to keep our product affordable and competitive but at the same time, hotels are first and foremost businesses and they need to make money in order to maintain standards.

JF: In the 2014 data statistics, we see a large growth ratio of tourists from Asia, India and the GCC courtiers. These markets are becoming very important for Germany both in terms on the number of tourists coming from those countries but also in terms of the average daily spend of tourist. These clients have different food requirements: Asian food, vegetarian and HALAL foods. Do you think that hotels are doing enough to offer specialty foods for these clients?

PH: Yes, you are absolutely right. There is a tremendous effort from the hotel industry, especially among the 4 and 5 stars.  

The hotels have identified this market requirement and are actually offering an Asian food corner and specialty menus.

For small-medium size and countryside hotels, this is different; for these hotels, it is rather difficult to focus on many market segments. However, if you see the travel itineraries of Asian travelers, Indians GCC travelers, most of those tours focus on the larger cities and the big tourism attractions and not the "off-the-beaten-track" destinations.

I see and recognize the great effort that the hotel industry is putting into this. Clearly there is always a place for improvement but I am confident that we will have good solutions for these market needs.

This is strictly an exclusive feature, reprints of this article in any shape or form without prior written approval from 4Hoteliers.com is not permitted.

Joseph - Yossi - Fischer the CEO of Vision Hospitality & Travel - international lodging & Travel Solutions.

 Latest News  (Click title to read article)




 Latest Articles  (Click title to read)




 Most Read Articles  (Click title to read)




~ Important Notice ~
Articles appearing on 4Hoteliers contain copyright material. They are meant for your personal use and may not be reproduced or redistributed. While 4Hoteliers makes every effort to ensure accuracy, we can not be held responsible for the content nor the views expressed, which may not necessarily be those of either the original author or 4Hoteliers or its agents.
© Copyright 4Hoteliers 2001-2024 ~ unless stated otherwise, all rights reserved.
You can read more about 4Hoteliers and our company here
Use of this web site is subject to our
terms & conditions of service and privacy policy