Heidelberg is a magnet for visitors

An 18.8 percent increase in overnight stays in the first quarter of 2015.

Tourism in Heidelberg recorded a further significant increase in the first quarter of 2015. The number of overnight stays rose in the first three months of the year by 18.8 percent to 248,460. This was announced by the Statistical Office of Baden-Württemberg. The average length of time spent in the city was 1.9 days per guest. Some 40 percent of the visitors came from abroad. At the top of the list of increases in visitor numbers were Spain (+ 77.7%), Austria (+ 46.3%), the US (+ 16.2%), the Netherlands (+ 10.5%), the United Kingdom (+ 9.4%) and Switzerland (+ 8.8%). Overnight stays on the part of visitors from Asia also achieved staggering growth rates, increasing by a total of 19.2 percent. At the head of the pack is China, with an increase of nearly 50 percent. The total of nights spent by visitors from Germany increased by more than 20 percent.

“This is the effect we wanted to achieve – for three years now we’ve been using our integrated communication and marketing concept to specifically address selected markets and target groups. These measures are now really bearing fruit – even in the first quarter, which, as you know, is always less busy,” says Mike de Vries, Managing Director of Heidelberg Marketing GmbH. “And the trend is continuing. In April too we recorded 20 percent more overnight stays than in the previous year.” With extensive media work in the source markets – both domestic and international – Heidelberg has attracted a great deal of attention and enhanced its position. This presence is being further amplified by creative marketing campaigns. Subject to particular marketing attention are the topics of “Science”, “Tourism” and “Culture”. The number of overnight stay has risen in the past three years by more than 10 percent – to over 1.2 million. “We’re particularly pleased about the increase in overnight stays: after all, every guest spends an average of € 170 a day in Heidelberg. This is bringing particular benefits to the hotel and gastronomic sector and to retail. The growth rates since 2012 have brought in more than € 25 million additional value-added per year for the city of Heidelberg.” Overall, tourism contributes a total turnover of half a billion euros to the coffers of the city of Heidelberg.