Germany
Overview of the country
Terrain: The total area is 357,021 km2, where the terrain is relatively flat. It is the
seventh largest country by area in Europe and the 62nd largest in the world. Within
we find the famous rivers the Danube, the Elbe and the Rhine. The central rolling
hills in the south is the Alps. Glaciers are found in the Alpine region, but are
experiencing deglaciation.
Borders: Germany borders with Denmark on the north; with Poland and Czech
Rep. on the east; Austria and Switzeland on the south; France and Luxemburg in the
south-west; and Belgium and Netherland on the north-west.
Population: Commonly divided in two ethnic groups: alpines (center and south)
and teutonics (north). It concentrates on the capital city Berlín (3.4 million people),
Hamburg (1.786.448 people), Münich (1.353.186 people), Cologne (1.007.119
people) and Frankfurt (679.664 people).
Overview of the country
Weather: Around -6 ºC to 1 ºC average in January, and around 16 ºC to 20 ºC in July.
The rainfall can reach to 1.980mm per year on the south, mostly as snow; at the
center, 1.500 mm as maximum; and 710 at the low lands of the north. Germany has
air and water pollution issues.
Language: The main language in Germany is german, spoken by almost all the
citizens. There are, but, a few dialects much different from the main german.
Religion: Around two thirds of Germany's population are Christian. They are fairly
evenly split between Protestants and Catholics, but there are more Protestants in
northern Germany, while the South has more Catholics. Germany is also home to
around four million Muslims and about 100,000 Jews.
Gross domestic product: $2.96 billions (2010 )
Germany as a Market
.
Germany
are well known as a good market for tourism as, being one of the
european most “rich” countries, they tend to spend good amounts of money when
they travel. Spain is the first destination choice for them, with a 12,9 % of the
trips, followed by Italy (7,2 %) and Turkey (7 %).
The rest of the german destinations are its borders countries: Austria (6,2%),
Poland (2 %) or Denmark (1,6 %).
Rank
1
Country Regional Market International Tourism Expenditures (2010)
Europe
$77.7 billion
Germany as a destination
Germany is the major business trip destination in Europe (followed by
France, UK and Spain). As an important industrial and business center,
German cities are prepared to recieve them, with an extensive motor way
net, conference infraestructures, roads, specialized companies,...
A part of the importance as a leisure destination, due its historical and
cultural value, the percentage of the domestic trips within the country is
huge too.
In total, Germany had 26.88 million visitors on 2010.
Business trips relevance
Berlin
Bundestag
The Black
Forest
Brandenburger Tor
Victory Column
Rhine
Loreley
Unter den linden
Neuschwanstein
Auschwitz concentration camps
Germany is not only well known by its cultural and economical influence, but for
its history too. And specially, for the nazi crimes and its leader, Hitler. One of the
places that makes more reference to all this history is the Auschwitz
concentration camps, where between 2.5 and 4 million people, mostly jewish,
were killed.
In 1947, Poland founded a museum on the site of Auschwitz I and II, which by
2010 had seen 29 million visitors—1,300,000 annually—pass through the iron
gates crowned with the infamous motto, Arbeit macht frei ("work makes free").
Road and automotive transport
Main article: Autobahn
Germany has approximately
650,000 km of roads, of which
231,000 km are non-local roads.
The road network is extensively
used with nearly 2 trillion
kilometers travelled by car in
2009, in comparison to just 70
billion km travelled by rail and
35 billion km travelled by plane.
Rail transport
Inter City Express train
Main article: Rail transport in Germany
Railways:
total: 40,826 km, with at least 14,253 km electrified and
14,768 km double- or multiple-tracked
Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) is the major German railway
infrastructure and service operator.
S-Bahn
In some areas of Germany an urban railway called S-Bahn is in operation.
These trains usually connect larger agglomerations to the suburban areas,
although in the case of the Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn these also serve as a method of
interurban transport between large cities (Munich, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main,
Hamsburg and Nuremberg/Fürth).
Air transport
Short distances and the extensive network
of motorways and railways make airplanes
uncompetitive for travel within Germany
(1%). But due the introduction of low-fares
airlines, domestic air travel is becoming
more attractive.
Frankfurt International Airport is
Germany's largest airport and a major
transportation hub in Europe (one of the
airports with the largest number of
international destinations served worldwide).
Germany's second most important international
airport is Munich. Other major airports are
Berlin Tegel, Berlin Schönefeld, Düsseldorf,
Hamburg, Cologne-Bonn, Leipzig/Halle.
Airlines
Lufthansa
and Air
Berlin
aircraft
Germany's largest airline is former national carrier Lufthansa that was privatised
in the 1990s. The group also includes domestic subsidiaries Lufthansa Cityline and
Eurowings that operate as Lufthansa Regional as wellas independently Operating
low-cost subsidiary Germanwings.
Air Berlin became second largest airline in recent years by absorbing LTU and dba.
Charter carrier include Condor, TUIfly and Germania. In addition there are several
regional carrier such as OLT and Cirrus Airlines as well as cargo operator such as
Lufthansa Cargo and Air Cargo Germany.
Water transport
Waterways: 7,500 km; major rivers include the Rhine and Elbe;
Kiel Canal is an important connection between the Baltic Sea and
North Sea, the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal links Rotterdam on the North
Sea with the Black Sea.
Ports and harbours: The port of
Hamburg is the largest sea-harbour in
Germany and ranks #2 in Europe, #7
worldwide, in total container traffic.
Merchant marine: total: 4759 ships
(with a volume of 1,000 gross register
tons (GRT) or over) totaling 6,395,990.
Hamburg Harbour
The tourism organization
GNTB, The National Tourism Board represents Germany
throughout the world as a destination for holidays, business and
visits to friends and family. GNTB is supported by 64 members,
including tourism companies, regional marketing organisations,
associations and cooperative marketing ventures.
With a revenue of 185 billion euros in 2009, the German travel
industry is helping to stabilise the economy.
Domestic tourism: 314 million overnight stays
International tourism: 54.8 million overnight stays.
Gastronomy
Spanferkel
Currywurst & Pommes frites
German sausages
and cheese
Other notables features
Famous German Brands: Adidas, Allianz, Audi, Bayer, Bosch, BMV,
Deutsche Bank, Hugo Boss AG, Lidl, Loewe, Montblanc, Mercedes-Benz, Opel,
Siemens, Staedtler, Volkswagen Group, Wella...
German Beer: Germany has created a kind of “beer culture”, being just behind
the Czechs and the Irish in their per capita consumption of beer. The highest
density of breweries in the world is found near the city of Bamberg, in the
Franconia region of Bavaria. They even celebrat the Oktoberfest, a 16-18 days
festival celebrated in Munich at the late September.
For more information, click the link below:
http://www.germany.travel/nl/germany/over-ons/annualreport/jahresbericht.html