Theme-based campaign for 2016: Holidays in the heart of nature in Germany GNTB focusing on nature-based holidays in 2016 Frankfurt am Main, October 2015 – ‘Holidays in the heart of nature in Germany’ is the theme of the 2016 global campaign run by the German National Tourist Board (GNTB). Central to the coming year’s sales and marketing activities are the 130-plus protected national landscapes in Germany – 16 national parks, 15 UNESCO biosphere reserves and 104 nature parks. The sub-themes of ‘Surprises in Nature’ and ‘Nature’s Pleasures’ reveal lesser-known sides to and destinations in Germany, and provide tips and background stories. “In the GNTB’s Quality Monitor survey, 37 per cent of international visitors named ‘landscape and scenery’ as one of the most important criteria for their choice of holiday region, second only to ‘local attractions’,” explains Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive Officer of the GNTB. “2.6 million Europeans visited Germany for a holiday in the great outdoors in 2014, making us, alongside Austria and France, one of the world’s most popular destinations for nature-loving European travellers. More than one third of Germany’s land area is under special protection as a national park or nature park, which puts us in second position worldwide in this regard. We will harness this responsible and uncompromising approach to nature to reinforce Germany’s status as a sustainable travel destination and to further promote holidays in rural regions. Germany is already an established choice for cultural holidays; this new campaign aims to boost our country’s image as a destination for holidays in nature.” ‘Holidays in the heart of nature in Germany’ is an online campaign that is largely focused on digital forms of communication. To begin with, the nature tourism content on www.germany.travel/nature was expanded: all the national natural landscapes have been incorporated into an interactive map, and detailed content pages have been created for each of the 16 national parks and 15 biosphere reserves and for 48 of the nature parks. These pages are available in German, English and other core market languages. A destination finder with various filter functions makes it easy for users to find the natural landscape that best fits their specific holiday requirements (www.germany.travel/enjoy). Blogger projects are designed to ensure that story ideas and recommendations are continually generated in text, photo or video form under a campaign hashtag, and to increase traffic to www.germany.travel/nature. User-generated content will be collated in a dedicated social media feed at www.germany.travel/enjoygermannature. The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Denmark, Spain and Sweden have been defined as core markets for the campaign. Partners to the campaign are EUROPARC Germany, the National Natural Landscapes in Germany Association and the Association of German Nature Parks, as well as the regional marketing organisations. Sobre o DZT O Centro de Turismo Alemão (DZT) é o portal nacional do turismo na Alemanha com sede em Frankfurt am Main. Ele representa a Alemanha como país turístico em nome do Ministério da Economia e Energia (BMWi), que o apoia conforme uma resolução do Parlamento Federal Alemão. O DZT desenvolve e comunica estratégias e produtos para ampliar no exterior a imagem positiva dos destinos turísticos alemães e para promover o turismo na Alemanha. Para isso, mantém 30 representações nacionais em todo o mundo. Mais informações encontram-se no centro de imprensa do nosso portal www.germany.travel/presse.