Germany is expecting to breach the 1 million mark in overnight stays by Indian visitors in the current year itself, having already crissed 523,000 overnight stays in the period from January to July this year, which in itself reflects a 15 pc growth in the number of overnight stays in the corresponding period last year, said Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive Officer, German National Tourist Board. The total spend by Indian tourists to Germany in the year 2023 stood at EUR 1 billion, she added.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi today, Hedorfer said that she was now targetting a 10 pc growth, both in the number of overnight stays as well as tourism spend by Indian visitors in the year 2025. 

She added that Germany was the third largest destination for Indian visitors to Europe, behind only the United Kingdom and France and that Germany had 10 pc share of the total Indian travel market for Europe in 2023.

In terms of demography, Hedorfer said that over three-fourths or 76 pc of travellers from India to Germany are in the age group of 25-44 year

Hedorfer is in Delhi as part of a large delegation from Germany that is here for a bilateral summit meeting between Germany and India as Chancelloz Olaf Scholz meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two leaders will also address the 8th APAC Meeting of AHK, the German Chamber of Commerce, that will be held in New Delhi on October 25.

Reeling off several key figures that define the contours of Indian market for Germany Tourism, Hedorfer said that the tourism growth also stemmed partly due to better air connectivity between India and Germany as the total number of flights between the two countries had risen to 285 per month in 2024, a growth of 25 pc from 228 flights per month in 2019.

Hedorfer said that though business travel remained an important part of the overall travel from India to Germany, over 58 pc of all travel from India to Germany in 2023 was for leisure, translating into 42 pc travelling for business.

Over 58 pc of all travel from India to Germany in 2023 was for leisure

Hedorfer added that almost four-fifths or 79 pc of all Indian travellers to Germany stayed for at least four nights in Germany, and only 21 pc stayed three nights or lesser. “This fits in very well with our overall promotion of slow travel and asking travellers to explore Germany in depth,’’ Hedorfer told the media. Moreover, as many as 37 pc Indian visitors made round-trips to Germany, making their Europe visits mono-destination travel to Germany. 

In terms of demography, Hedorfer said that over three-fourths or 76 pc of travellers from India to Germany are in the age group of 25-44 year. Another area where the travellers from India scored over other groups of international tourists in Germany is the duration of their stay.

“With an average stay of 9.3 days, Indians stay the most in Germany, as against 7 days by a European traveller and the average stay of travellers from rest of the world which is 8.5 days. This shows that Indian visitors are actually exploring our country in detail and visiting many places,’’ Hedorfer said.

To keep the momentum of tourism growing, Hedorfer said that a number of activities have been planned in India, both for this year and the next, with several new campaigns and roadshows in the pipeline. “We have been working the Indian market with a sales agency for two decades. In 2015, we initiated an India pool for the first time, which has been extremely successful in supporting the activities of German partners in India. The number of overnight stays by Indian guests in Germany rose by almost 40 pc from 693,000 to 962,000 by 2019. With a new edition of the India Pool and market-specific activities, we are building bridges between the demand from Indian travellers and the tourism offering in Germany. In view of the changing conditions, especially technological developments, we are also organising a high-profile delegation trip with top managers from the German travel industry next spring with the GNTB India Digital Travel Knowledge Tour,” Hedorfer added.