Tourism in Germany is a significant sector of the national economy. As of 2023, Germany is the world's third-largest travel and tourism market, with the sector contributing approximately $487.6 billion to the country's GDP. It is the eight-most-visited country in the world, with a total of 407.26 million overnight stays in 2012.Zahlen Daten Fakten 2012 (in German), German National Tourist Board This number includes 68.83 million nights by foreign visitors. In 2012, over 30.4 million international tourists arrived in Germany, bringing over US$38 billion in international tourism receipts to the country.
Germany’s main tourist destinations include its major cities as well as rural and scenic areas such as the Bavarian Alps, the Black Forest, the Rhine Valley, and the Baltic and North Sea coastlines. The country contains numerous UNESCO World Heritage Sites and national parks as well as a large number of museums, historic monuments, castles, and churches that draw culturally motivated visitors.
Germany is also known internationally for several recurring events and traditions that attract tourists, including the Munich Oktoberfest and the Christmas markets held in many towns and cities during the Advent season. Business and conference tourism is an additional component of the sector, with Germany hosting a number of major international trade fairs throughout the year.
Tourism infrastructure in Germany includes an extensive rail network, motorway system, and several major international airports. The sector is supported at the national level by the German National Tourist Board, which promotes Germany as a travel destination in international markets. The ITB Berlin is the world's leading tourism trade fair.
According to Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Reports, Germany is ranked 3 out of 136 countries in the 2017 report, and is rated as one of the safest travel destinations worldwide. According to surveys, the top three reasons for tourists to come to Germany are the German culture, outdoor activities, German holidays and festivities, the countryside and rural areas, and the German cities.
History The history of tourism in Germany goes back to cities and landscapes being visited for education and recreation. From the late 18th century onwards, cities like Dresden, Munich, Weimar and Berlin were major stops on a European Grand Tour.
Spas and Seaside resorts on the North and Baltic Sea (e.g. Rugia and Usedom islands, Heiligendamm, the islands Norderney and Sylt) particularly developed during the 19th and early 20th century, when major train routes were built to connect the seaside spas to urban centers. An extensive bathing and recreation industry materialized in Germany around 1900. At rivers and close to natural landscapes (along the Middle Rhine valley and in Saxon Switzerland for example) many health spas, hotels and recreational facilities were established since the 19th century.
Since the end of World War II tourism has expanded greatly, as many tourists visit Germany to experience a sense of European history and the diverse German landscape. The country features 14 national parks, including the Jasmund National Park, the Vorpommern Lagoon Area National Park, the Müritz National Park, the Wadden Sea National Parks, the Harz National Park, the Hainich National Park, the Saxon Switzerland National Park, the Bavarian Forest National Park and the Berchtesgaden National Park. In addition, there are 14 Biosphere Reserves, as well as 98 nature parks.
The countryside has a pastoral aura, while the bigger cities exhibit both a modern and classical feel. Small and medium-sized cities often preserved their historical appearance and have old towns with remarkable architectural heritage – these are called Altstadt in German.
Statistics
+Yearly tourist arrivals in millions
The table below shows the distribution of national and international visitor nights spent in each of the sixteen states of Germany in 2017.
Germany overall had 459 million visitor nights in 2017, of which 83 million were of foreign guests. With 94.3 million nights spent in hotels, hostels or clinics, Bavaria has the most visitors. With 18.4 nights per inhabitant, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has the highest density of tourists per population (German average: 5.5 nights per inhabitant).DeStatis: Tourism in Numbers , 2017
State Nr. of nights in 2017in million of whomforeign visitorsin million nights perinhabitant Germany 459 83 5.5 Baden-Württemberg 52.9 11.3 4.8 Bavaria 94.3 19.1 7.2 Berlin 31.1 13.9 8.7 Brandenburg 13.0 0.96 5.2 Bremen 2.4 0.49 3.6 Hamburg 13.8 3.4 7.6 Hesse 34.1 7.6 5.4 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 29.7 1.0 18.4 Lower Saxony 43.4 3.7 5.4 North Rhine-Westphalia 51.5 11.0 2.8 Rhineland-Palatinate 22.2 5.2 5.4 Saarland 3.0 0.46 3.0 Saxony 19.5 2.0 4.7 Saxony-Anhalt 8.1 0.63 3.6 Schleswig-Holstein 29.8 2.0 10.3 Thuringia 9.9 0.62 4.6
Most visitors arriving to Germany on short-term basis are from the following countries of nationality: Rank Country 20241 5,261,1872 3,326,4043 3,226,3554 2,376,6745 2,140,2986 1,855,3567 1,581,3778 1,530,6939 1,476,20710 1,469,679
Surveys The official body for tourism in Germany is the German National Tourist Board (GNTB), represented worldwide by National Tourist Offices in 29 countries. Surveys by the GNTB include perceptions and reasons for holidaying in Germany, which are as follows: culture (75%), outdoors/countryside (59%), cities (59%), cleanliness (47%), security (41%), modernity (36%), good hotels (35%), good gastronomy/cuisine (34%), good accessibility (30%), cosmopolitanism/hospitality (27%), good shopping opportunities (21%), exciting nightlife (17%) and good price/performance ratio (10%) (multiple answers were possible).
Countryside
Health
About 242 million nights, or two-thirds of all nights spent in hotels in Germany, are spent in spa towns.Overnight stays by groups of communities , Statistisches Bundesamt, Wiesbaden Germany is well known for health tourism, with many of the numerous spa towns having been established at a hot spring, offering convalescence (German: Kur) or preventive care by means of mineral water and/or other spa treatment. Spa towns and seaside resorts carry official designations such as Mineral and mud spas (Mineral- und Moorbäder), Healthy climate resorts (Heilklimatische Kurorte), Kneipp cure resorts (Kneippkurorte = water therapy resorts), Seaside resorts (Seebäder), Climatic resorts (Luftkurorte), and Recreation resorts (Erholungsorte). The largest and most well known resorts also have casinos, most notably at Bad Wiessee, Baden-Baden (Kurhaus), Wiesbaden (Kurhaus), Aachen, Travemünde and Westerland (Kurhaus).
Regions
The most visited tourist regions in Germany are the East Frisian and North Frisian Islands, the Baltic Sea coasts of Holstein, Mecklenburg and Vorpommern, the Rhine Valley, the Bavarian and Black Forest, and the Bavarian Alps.
The table below shows the five most visited rural districts in 2008:
rank district # of nights in 2008 1 Nordfriesland 6.96 million 2 Rügen 5.57 million 3 Oberallgäu 5.29 million 4 Ostholstein 5.27 million 5 Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald 4.41 million
Other popular regions include in the north: Usedom, Holstein Switzerland, the Lüneburg Heath, Harz and Mecklenburg Lake District in the west: Teutoburg Forest, Sauerland, Eifel and the Moselle Valley in the east: Saxon Switzerland, Thuringian Forest, Ore Mountains and the Elbe Valley in the south: Taunus, Spessart, Rhön, Odenwald and Allgäu.
Theme routes
Since the 1930s, local and regional governments have set up various theme routes, to help visitors get to know a specific region and its cultural or scenic qualities. The table below shows some of the most prominent theme routes. Other popular German theme routes include parts of the European Route of Brick Gothic and European Route of Industrial Heritage, the Harz-Heide Road, Bertha Benz Memorial Route and Bergstrasse.
+ List of theme routes (incomplete) Route Established Theme Length German Wine Road (Deutsche Weinstraße) 1935 Palatinate wine route 85 km German Avenue Road (Deutsche Alleenstraße) 1993 Tree-sided avenues and lush countrysides 2900 km Romantic Road (Romantische Straße) 1950 Romanticism 366 km Black Forest High Road (Schwarzwaldhochstraße) 1952 Black Forest 60 km Castle Road (Burgenstraße) 1954 Castles in Germany 1,000 km Road of Weser Renaissance (Straße der Weserrenaissance) Weser Renaissance 350 km Romanesque Road (Straße der Romanik) 1993 Romanesque architecture 1,195 km German Ferries Route 2004 Fords, ferries, bridges and tunnels 250 km German Timber-Frame Road 1990 Timber framing (Fachwerk) 3,000 km German Clock Road (Deutsche Uhrenstrasse) Cuckoo clock Manufacturers, clock-face paintings workshops,museums, Black Forest and Baar villages, landscapes 320 km Industrial Heritage Trail (Route der Industriekultur) Industrial heritage of the Ruhr area 400 km German Fairy Tale Route (Deutsche Märchenstraße) Fairy tales and legends of the Brothers Grimm 600 km
Winter sport
The main winter sport regions in Germany are the Bavarian Alps and Northern Limestone Alps, as well as the Ore Mountains, Harz Mountains, Fichtel Mountains and Bavarian Forest within the Central Uplands. First class winter sport infrastructure is available for alpine skiing and snowboarding, bobsledding and cross-country skiing.
In most regions, winter sports are limited to the winter months November to February. During the Advent season, many German towns and cities host Christmas markets.
Cities
In terms of numbers of overnight stays, travel to the twelve largest cities in Germany more than doubled between 1995 and 2005, the largest increase of any travel destination.Städte- und Kulturtourismus in Deutschland , German Tourism Association (DTV) This increase mainly arises from growth of cultural tourism, often in conjunction with educational or business travel. Consequently, the provision and supply of more and higher standards of cultural, entertainment, hospitality, gastronomic, and retail services also attract more international guests.
The table below shows the ten most visited cities in Germany in 2012. Other cities and towns with over 1 million nights per year are Rostock, Hannover, Bremen, Cuxhaven, Bonn, Freiburg, Münster, Lübeck, Wiesbaden, Essen and Regensburg.
Berlin
Berlin has a yearly total of about 135 million day visitors, which puts it in third place among the most-visited city destinations in the European Union. Berlin had 781 hotels with over 125,000 beds in June 2012.Tourist Attractions In Germany (August 2023) The city recorded 20.8 million overnight hotel stays and 9.1 million hotel guests in 2010. In the first half of 2012, there was an increase of over 10% compared to the same period the year before.
Munich
Munich, the capital of Bavaria, is one of Germany’s most popular tourist destinations.
Hamburg
In 2007, more than 3,985,105 visitors with 7,402,423 overnight stays visited Hamburg. The tourism sector employs more than 175,000 people full-time and brings in revenue of €9.3 billion, making the tourism industry a major economic force in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. Hamburg has one of the fastest-growing tourism industries in Germany. From 2001 to 2007, the overnight stays in the city increased by 55.2% (Berlin +52.7%, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania +33%).
A typical Hamburg visit includes a tour of the city hall and the grand church St. Michaelis (called the Michel), and visiting the old warehouse district (Speicherstadt) and the harbour promenade (Landungsbrücken). Sightseeing buses connect these points of interest. As Hamburg is one of the world's largest harbours many visitors take one of the harbour and/or canal boat tours (Große Hafenrundfahrt, Fleetfahrt) which start from the Landungsbrücken. Major destinations also include museums.