Canadians love Germany

Inbound travel to Germany increased significantly again in the first nine months of 2012. According to figures from the Federal Statistical Office, the number of overnight stays by Canadian visitors from January to September 2012 rose by 3.1% compared to the same period last year. During this period, a total of 486,138 overnight stays by Canadian visitors were recorded in accommodation establishments with more than ten beds. “Destination Germany continues to be very popular with Canadian visitors and excelled over the first three quarters of 2012,” stated Ricarda Lindner, regional director for the German National Tourist Office in the Americas. As for what’s in store for Canadian visitors headed to Germany in 2013, well Destination Germany expects to maintain its strong numbers from Canada by offering a number of high profile events throughout the coming year. In fact, its theme for the year is Youth and it has put together a host of activities that will appeal to the younger set. Clearly tourism officials are working on the theory that if you keep the kids happy, the parents will be happy too … and seeing that it’s the parents who pay, that makes a lot of sense. Also in 2013, Germany will be celebrating 200 years of the Brothers Grimm and Richard Wagner as well as 150 years of modern architecture. Visitors planning their trip to Germany can coordinate a visit to the Wagner cities of Leipzig, Dresden and Bayreuth; travel along the German Fairy Tale Route running from Hanau in central Germany to Bremen in the north; or to the Erfurt-Weimar-Jena region where Henry van de Velde lived and worked. For more on Germany, go to http://www.germany.travel .