Germany attracted a record number of foreign visitors last year, with numbers up by 6%.
The country achieved 63.8 million overnight stays by overseas travellers in 2011 and also established itself as the second most popular travel destination for Europeans after Spain.
A total of 330.3 million overnight stays were spent by Germans in their own country, according to the German National Tourist Office.
GNTB CEO Petra Hedorfer said: “We expect the annual volume of overnight stays by foreign visitors to pass the 80 million mark by 2020 on the back of continued market growth and our customer-oriented, targeted marketing activities.
“Double-digit growth from China, India and Brazil was responsible for our strong performance in the international source markets.
“Despite the [global economic] crisis, we anticipate that the incoming sector will grow by up to 3% by the end of this year.
“The Netherlands and Switzerland – the largest source markets for Germany’s incoming tourism industry – will be a significant factor in this increase. We expect to perform well in northern Europe and Russia this year, too. Business travel will also provide crucial impetus.”
International visitors spend a total of around €36.6 billion in Germany each year.
Approximately 28% of this goes on flights, 26% on accommodation, 15.4% on food and drink and 11.5% on other goods and services, including shopping.