Tag Archives: GNTB

GNTB ranks among the top 100 innovation champions in the world

The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) now belongs to the Champions in the TOP 100 Innovation Competition. In the 27th round of the scientific selection process, the GNTB convinced the jurors in the ‘class B’ of corporations (size: 51 to 200 employees) with its innovative achievements. Specific projects that contributed to the jury’s decision were the use of new technologies, such as the ‘Mixed Reality’ application ‘Palaces, Parks and Gardens,’ in which internet users virtually visit Neuschwanstein Castle, or Sanssouci Palace. A speaker describes the details of each castle in the selected national language. In the #CelebratingBauhaus campaign, experts honored the digital presentation and cultural marketing of the 100th anniversary of the famous Bauhaus art school. Another project included in the evaluation was the GNTB’s pioneering role in the application of face filters for tourist campaigns on Facebook and Instagram. These filters allow users to combine their profile pictures with predefined motifs to create individual image compositions. “In the course of the digital transformation, large parts of the tourist value chain are changing. We are very proud that the GNTB’s commitment to provide clear impulses for the tourism industry is recognised in the TOP 100 innovation competition,” explains Petra Hedorfer, CEO of the GNTB Board.

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GNTB expands its successful Empathy Campaign #DiscoverGermanyFromHome

The international communication campaign #DiscoverGermanyFromHome of the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) has been accepted with an unusually strong performance in the 50 source markets of German Incoming tourism worldwide. Since the ‘go-live’ on March 16, it has reached 9.6 million users via the GNTB’s channels and generated more than a million interactions. There are also 19,000 contributions about the campaign on external channels, which in turn triggered 210,000 interactions. The sentiment for the campaign is outstanding, with 94.4 percent positive reactions. In order to maintain the dialogue with the customers of tomorrow during the phase of the lockdown, the campaign initially aimed to provide inspiring, empathetic, and informative content, which could be played out interactive via the GNTB’s more than 30 social media channels. Since mid-April, a microsite has been supplementing the digital information offering with virtual experience formats for destinations in all 16 federal states, Spotify playlists, an interactive map, quizzes, and recipes – in short: everything that makes you want to travel to Germany. At this point, various 45 sec films complement the campaign covering nature, culture and more. The dreams of the diverse offerings of Germany as a travel destination can be seen on the GNTB’s YouTube channel and the microsite. In the next step, the GNTB expands the microsite with an AI chatbot. Potential visitors to Germany receive the most current information on travel planning, travel modalities, legal aspects, and tourism offers. “The established appeal of our ‘Destination Germany’ brand, combined with high flexibility in creating and implementing the campaign, as well as the multi-layered use of digital possibilities keeps the interest in the product alive – even in times of lockdown. With inspiration and …

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GNTO appoints Yamina Sofo as its new director

The German National Tourist Office, Gulf countries (GNTO) has appointed Yamina Sofo as its new Director Sales & Marketing. In her new capacity, Yamina Sofo will provide leadership and strategic direction to the Gulf region team, manage a wide range of marketing campaigns and activities as well as work closely with the local and overseas trade partners and industry stakeholders to promote ‘Destination Germany’ as a year-round travel destination throughout the Gulf region. Speaking on her appointment, Sofo commented, “I’m proud to say that Gulf region is among the Top 20 of the most important source markets to Germany and the third largest source market outside Europe. Due to its diversity, Germany is one of the preferred travel destinations for the GCC nationals, whether for wellness and recreation, nature and sightseeing or simply for entertainment and shopping – offering high quality services, great value for money, luxury accommodation and facilities as well as environmentally-friendly transportation links throughout the entire country.” Commenting on the recent lockdown, Yamina said, “In spite of the lockdown, the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) has launched “#DiscoverGermanyFromHome”, a joined communication campaign on all social media channels worldwide to communicate inspiring, emphatic and informative content with tomorrow’s travellers in an engaging and interactive way.”

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GNTB campaign #DiscoverGermanyFromHome brings together current social media activities

German National Tourist Board (GNTB) brings together their ongoing marketing activities on all social media channels worldwide in a joined communication campaign – #DiscoverGermanyFromHome, amid the recent lockdown. The main goal is to create inspiring, emphatic and at the same time informative content in an engaging and interactive way and to communicate with tomorrow’s consumers. The campaign includes virtual experiences of the destinations in Germany in all of the 16 federal states. The campaign therefore invites consumers to experience destination-Germany virtually and furthermore strengthens the communication with potential future Germany visitors. Besides #DiscoverGermanyFromHome the campaign also uses the hashtags that are currently circulating such as #staysafe, #stayathome or #traveltomorrow. Petra Hedorfer, Chairwoman of the GNTB Executive Board, says, “With over 30 social media channels we are continuously trying to keep the interest in Destination Germany alive, inspiringly and informatively. Besides the direct consumer contact, we are also using our established online tools to maintain the active dialogue with our Germany tourism partners and the international tourism industry.” Due to the current situation the GNTB has postponed all planned market specific and worldwide marketing campaigns such as the start of the planned campaign ‘German Summer Cities’ and ‘#WanderlustGermany’ to the second half of the year. The preparations for the campaigns have been completed to the extent that the digital parts of the campaigns can start at the flick of a switch.

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GNTB now accepts Crypto currencies as payment method

Starting immediately, services of the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) can be paid in Crypto currencies such as bitcoin. The GNTB wants to test the underlying blockchain technology of Crypto currencies in their finance department to use it for their international payment traffic. Petra Hedorfer, Chair of the Board, GNTB, explains, “Within our digitalisation strategy, we continuously test newest technologies and trends to see if they could be useful for our company. Through accepting Crypto currencies as a payment method and the possible medium term implementation of the blockchain technology in our finance sector, our international company wishes to set ourselves apart as an innovator and instigator within the tourism industry.” The blockchain technology offers interesting perspectives in regards to speed, transparency and security. Experts are expecting enormous improvements and saving potentials with, for example, international transactions.

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