GCC travel to Germany increases tremendously

"In the first eleventh months of 2012 the highly positive uptrend in inbound travel continued from the record levels seen in 2010 and 2011," added Petra Hedorfer. "Destination Germany looks set to achieve a record number of overnight stays again in 2012."

The mark of one million overnight stays by travellers from the GCC countries was outdone in 2011 for the very first time. Yet, the Arab Gulf States maintained their highly positive trend, with overnight stays rising by 27.7 per cent as compared to the same timeframe in the previous year, with 1,216,490 overnight stays by GCC travellers in the first eleven months of 2012. Visitors from this region are particularly high spenders: according to IPK International's World Travel Monitor, their average spending on a trip to Germany was €3,850 in 2011. By comparison, the average for visitors from Europe was €511.