Mongolia targets one million visitors in 2020
Mongolia, this year’s partner country of ITB Berlin, has set itself an ambitious goal. It aims to attract one million tourists by 2020 and for tourism to contribute 14 per cent to GDP. Currently, the figure is 5.3 per cent. Additional airline routes and a new international airport close to the capital Ulaanbaatar are part of the plan to reach this goal. At ITB Berlin Mongolia also announced colourful festivals and events for 2015 in its bid to attract more visitors.
China is the source market of the future
It is an established fact that more Chinese people are travelling than ever before. One in ten international trips begin in China and the market continues to grow. Speaking at the ITB Berlin Convention, Stephen Chung, Overseas Sales and Marketing Director of adSage, said that Chinese tourists represented a lucrative target group as they spent large sums of money. For Chinese tourists investing in real estate was important, as were luxury articles, he added. In 2014 Chinese tourists spent close to 165 billion dollars abroad.
German demand for cruises remains high
The cruise market continues to be one of the fastest-growing tourism sectors, with passenger numbers increasing threefold over the last ten years. According to the German Travel Association (DRV) which in cooperation with the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) presented a new survey under the title of ‘The 2014 ocean cruise market in Germany’, in the years to come further tourism products will be added and new ships built, resulting in market growth of 43 per cent.
