Germany Gears Up for Christmas Market Season

“It may be difficult to imagine as we look outside and the sun is shining, but Christmas is coming and the Christmas markets in Germany open in two months,” Juliane Ehrich, manager public relations, for the German National Tourist Office in Canada said yesterday (Sept. 19) at a travel trade event in Toronto.

Despite the challenges facing travel to Europe this year, she says inbound tourism figures for Germany are recovering and the German National Tourist Board expects Canadian arrivals to break even with the 2015 numbers.

In addition to providing fun facts about the festive markets, five tourism partners were on hand to provide the latest news and developments in Bavaria, Regensburg, Frankonia, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Saxony, and upcoming events like the celebrations planned for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017.

Pictured at Canoe Restaurant are: Juliane Ehrich, German National Tourist Office; Daniela Wiese, Regensburg Tourism GmbH; Olaf Seifert, Frankonia Tourism; Birgit Neuner, Garmisch Partenkirchen; Wolfgang Gartner, Saxony Tourism; and Marzena Pallazzo, Bavaria Tourism.