Germany
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Scotland’s second largest international market, Germany is the world’s top spender on international travel, and the market has grown steadily in recent years. Germany is also one of the countries with the highest per capita spend on travel, meaning that a large share of its population travel abroad. Types of holiday Touring holidays and city breaks are amongst the most popular holiday types for Germans, who on holiday enjoy:
Scotland can offer many tourism experiences to meet this demand for nature, outdoor activities and sightseeing - and research amongst German visitors has confirmed their trip highlights as the scenery, history and heritage and hiking / walking. The boom in low-cost flights has helped to improve Scotland’s accessibility for German visitors and VisitScotland has exploited the promotional opportunities of each flight launch. Marketing activities In Germany, our marketing activities target singles and couples without children aged 30-55, well educated and with above average income. Key focus is around the German cities that offer direct flights to Scotland (Frankfurt, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Berlin and Munich), though some activity takes place on a national level (e.g. online advertising and PR). Touring is the most important brand in Germany and city breaks are increasing in importance, as they enable us to capture a different segment that may not consider Scotland for their main holiday, but for a short break. Marketing activity is mainly consumer focused including online, print and outdoor media, as well as a high level of support for journalists to generate PR in the press which we have identified as key to our target audience. Travel trade activity is also important in Germany with ITB Berlin in March being the main trade show. VisitScotland also hosts around 100 German buyers at expo every year and organises trade missions and/or sales calls as relevant. Regular contact is maintained with the key travel trade, including a monthly newsletter. New areas of focus Although they represent a high value to the Scottish economy, our current German visitors are average spenders. As a new focus going forward, we are also working with premium tour operators and relevant publications for PR coverage to attract higher spending German travellers. The interest in Golf as a sport has grown tremendously over the past years in Germany and VisitScotland works closely with the trade and encourages press coverage through support of journalists. More information
The Visitor Experience survey asked our summer visitors about their holiday experience in Scotland. Summaries of the overall and country specific findings are available. Find out more about our German golfing visitors. To find out about our marketing activities in Germany and how you can become involved, please visit our Marketing Opportunities section. Useful links A profile of the German market is also available from VisitBritain German travel trends: FUR – publishers of the Reiseanalyse annual survey of German holidaymakers
Deutscher ReiseVerband (DRV) - the German Travel Association (DRV)
German national statistics office Touristik Report (in German)
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