Germany eyes over 1 mn Indian tourists every year

Germany is conducting roadshows across the country to promote itself as a tourist destination and expecting around 1.2 million Indian visitors every year to visit the European nation by 2021.

"We are expecting 1.2 million overnight visitors from India every year by 2021. The number of visitors is going up around 5% every year," Romit Theophilus, Director of Sales & Marketing Office India, German National Tourist Office, told PTI.

German National Tourist Office (GNTO) is holding road shows to promote tourism. To attract tourists to Germany, it is showcasing cheap and affordable hotels and sight-seeings the country offers, he said.

"To promote Germany as tourist destination, we are doing roadshows in India. This year, we have touched leading metros as Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Delhi highlighting destinations which Germany is offering," Theophilus said.

He further said: "Germany has recorded over 5,00,432 overnight visitors from India for the period of January-August 2016 a growth of 4.4% over the same period last year."

At present, 50% visitors are from leisure and rest for business purpose.

Traffic of Indian tourists to Germany rose by 84% from 2007 to 2015 and over 6.92 lakh travellers visited the European country.

GNTO is also actively promoting Germany on digital platforms targeting the young generation.

Moreover, it is also inviting producers from Bollywood and Tollywood to shoot their respective films in Germany, he said.

"In 2011, we have done with two movie. Now we have plans to shoot more and more Bollywood and Tollywood movies as South is also an important base for us," he added.

He further said that even people from tier-II cities like Lucknow and Chandigarh, which do not have a direct flight (to Germany), are now travelling to Germany.