At the conclusion of the 49th Germany Travel MartTM (GTM) in Essen, the German National Tourist Board (GNTB), as organizer, can report an extraordinarily positive response. According to an on-site survey of suppliers during the event, 90 percent were satisfied/very satisfied with the way the GTM went.
Petra Hedorfer, CEO of the Board of Directors of the GNTB: “GTM 2023 once again confirmed the importance of face-to-face meetings as a means of continually maintaining business relationships on an ongoing basis. 83 percent of suppliers had already participated in the GTM in the past. 97 percent of the respondents were able to make new business contacts, and 87 percent intend to participate in the GTM again in the future. At the same time, the positive feedback from the participants confirmed the GTM’s key topics: Sustainability, Digital Transformation, linking city breaks with rural regions, climate- and environmentally friendly transportation, and extending the length of stay. The positive response to GTM 2023 is a strong signal for the position of German inbound tourism in the global competition among destinations.”
Around 200 German companies from the hotel industry, the transport sector and the leisure industry, incoming services, regional tourism organizations and around 230 buyers from international travel companies and from online travel companies used the platform on April 17 and 18, 2023, to negotiate offers for the coming year. To this end, they used the GNTB’s GTM Networking Tool to arrange around 5,300 appointments. Around 100 journalists also took part in the event.
Romit Theophilus, Director, German National Tourist Office in India, said, the response from both our partners and agents has been overwhelming and we are grateful for all the support that we have received through the years in our endeavour in showcasing Germany as a travel destination in the Indian tourism landscape. A formidable representation of Germany‘s touristic offering indicates a strong interest in the Indian market and on the other hand, the presence of our trade partners at such events only reinforces Germany‘s strong appeal to the Indian traveller. This exceedingly well-organized travel mart also presents the latest news and trends in Germany’s incoming tourism industry to selected Indian journalists, whose reports then generate additional push in the German travel market.”
Mr. Theophilus said in a statement, “In terms of growth from India, we had a decent year with a year-to-date growth of over 205% in comparison to 2021. Germany welcomed more than 600,000 more Indians (Overnights) in 2022 as compared to the same period in 2021. For the coming years, the country has a lot to offer in terms of adventure, food, cuisine, new unexplored destinations, and unique experiences. We are thankful to our partners for their continued support, and we hope that we welcome more tourists for the upcoming season.”
The GNTB also organized the 49th GTM as a Green Meeting. Among the concrete measures, to reduce the event’s carbon footprint included, for example, supporting environmentally friendly rail travel, offsetting the CO2 emissions of all flights, catering as far as possible from regional sources and the use of reusable trade show furniture and energy-saving event technology.
50th GTM 2024 in Chemnitz
The next GTM will be held in Chemnitz, Germany, April 21-23, 2024. Host of the GTM 2024 will be hosted by the Chemnitzer Wirtschaftsförderungs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (CWE) and the Tourismus Marketing Gesellschaft Sachsen mbH (TMGS).
