GERMANY: Cologne is more popular than ever as a leisure and business destination, as shown by the strong growth of its visitor numbers in the first half of this year.From January to June 2017, 1,756,377 visitors came to Cologne (an increase of 11.3 per cent) and generated 3,051,072 overnight stays in this city (an increase of 13.1 per cent).
“This very positive development shows that the visitor figures in Cologne have recovered after a relatively weak 2016 and are even continuing to increase.
“One attractive travel incentive in the first half of this year was the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship 2017, which brought a large number of visitors from abroad to Cologne.
“Numerous events, as well as strong trade fairs and congresses, were also important influencing factors,” said Josef Sommer, chief executive, Cologne Tourist Board.
Thanks to the broad range of events it is offering in 2017, Cologne is well positioned as a tourist destination. In the first half of the year, Cologne experienced a considerable upswing of visitors from abroad, with increases of 14.6 per cent in arrivals and 15 per cent in overnight stays.Important source markets abroad have shown strong growth, including Russia, which has seen visitors increase their overnight stays by 97.5 per cent.For Chinese visitors, the increase was 17.9 per cent.
