Tag Archives: Petra Hedorfer

German National Tourist Board’s (GNTB) has launched its latest campaign, German.Local.Culture., on the back of a successful Arabian Travel Market (ATM 2021) participation which stimulated strong interest from GCC travel representatives. As one of Germany’s top three source markets, which registered more than 1.6 million overnight stays in 2019, the GCC is a key focus for the tourism board, who led a delegation of six tourism partners during the first live travel exhibition in Dubai this week. “The relationship between the GCC and Germany remains extremely strong, and with the announcement earlier about changes to quarantine regulations, we are optimistic for a swift traveller recovery from the region,” said Yamina Sofo, Director of Sales & Marketing, German National Tourist Office (GNTO), the regional office of GNTB. “The new campaign, German.Local.Culture., will not only showcase the very best that Germany and our regions has to offer, but will further showcase the destination as a must visit.” “The German.Local.Culture. campaign addresses the increased longing of travellers for authenticity and traditions and gives insights into German customs from handicrafts to local and regionally typical dishes,” Petra Hedorfer, Chairwoman of the Executive Board of the GNTB, said. Commenting on the success of ATM, Robert Lekel, Marketing Manager at Munich Tourism, said: “It was great being at ATM this year, we are able to be visible and show future and returning customers, and travellers, that we are waiting for them and hopeful for flights again. We felt the positive spirit between everyone, we are very happy to connect once again.” His thoughts were echoed by Cornelia Stahr, Head of Global Marketing at Baden-Baden Tourism, who added: “I am very happy the Arabian Travel Market could …

Unspoilt nature and carefree enjoyment, sustainable offers and good entertainment are the cornerstones of the ‘German Summer Cities 2021′ campaign, with which the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) is promoting vacations in the urban regions in summer 2021. With #GreenSummerStories, the GNTB draws the attention of potential guests to alternative offers beyond the familiar tourist hotspots, such as green spaces, parks, local recreation areas and leisure activities in the vicinity of urban destinations. “The Corona pandemic has disproportionately affected city breaks as a particularly successful segment of German incoming tourism. In line with the growing need for security and care on the part of foreign guests, the focus in the coming year will be on new sustainable city experiences – German Summer Cities,” explains Petra Hedorfer, CEO of the GNTB. “We are setting new trends for international travellers with attractive offers in the areas surrounding the cities. Our marketing activities are focused on raising brand awareness for the Destination Germany brand and inspiring our customers’ travel plans for next year.” The ‘German Summer Cities 2021’ will focus on five thematic clusters: ‘Nature and the City’ focuses on the broad spectrum of nature and activity offers in the city and directly at the gates of the cities. ‘Sights’ also highlights lesser-known highlights in metropolises and smaller cities. ‘Romanticism’ gives suggestions for dream routes to indulge and linger. ‘Art and Culture’ spans the arc from classical culture, tradition and customs to contemporary art experiences. ‘Entertainment’ inspires trips to Germany on the occasion of small and large events that will take place in 2021. Petra Hedorfer continues, “With great commitment, many partners in Germany’s tourism industry have adapted to the needs of customers …

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.

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 …

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.

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.