Tourist board to invest €4M promoting country in Germany in 2023
"The German market is the second main market in terms of guests, but it is the fourth in terms of revenue," said the head of Portuguese Tourism Board (TP), Luís Araújo.
The Portuguese participation in the ITB Berlin tourism fair in Germany, in 2023, has 89 companies, plus the seven tourism regions, in a year in which about four million euros will be invested in the German market.
Speaking to Lusa, the head of the Portuguese Tourism Board (TP), Luís Araújo, said that the number of companies at the fair, which begins on Tuesday, is similar to the last national participation, in 2020, but the focus is more on the “diversity” of the country.
“The German market is the second main market in terms of guests, but it is the fourth in terms of revenue,” he stressed, adding, “We are talking about Europe’s main export market, the third largest market in the world to make trips.”
Therefore, he argued, “there is still room to grow in the German market”.
“What we want is to grow in a segmented way, so what we bring to the fair, besides the companies, are our wagers from the point of view of specific products that attract clients with greater added value,” he said, pointing to areas such as “literary tourism, contemporary art, architecture, ‘cycling and walking'”.
For Luís Araújo, these are “niche products aimed at a high segment of the German public” that will “bring tourists all year round and, mainly, they will consume more”.
The head of TP pointed out regions such as the Centre, North and Azores as priorities in this strategy, highlighting that around “80% of Germans travel essentially to Madeira, Algarve and Lisbon”.
This year, the ITB is exclusive to the B2B segment (‘business-to-business’, an English expression referring to a commercial interaction between two companies, which will act as client and supplier), that is, it will not receive final consumers, which justifies the focus on business tourism and events.
“The fair is very focused on one segment, this is a fair for business meetings, with operators, international travel agents,” he said.
Portugal’s stand also has, in this edition, “a very sustainable emphasis, with all materials being recycled or recyclable”, said Luís Araújo.
The head of the TP also revealed that investment in the German market this year will be around four million euros, “including participation in fairs, campaigns, brand activations”, among other initiatives.
The ITB is being held in Berlin until Thursday.
