Taking a cue from the successful 2000 Olympics in Australia, the German National Tourist Board has moved quickly to ensure that football fans can get their hotel bookings for the World Cup in 2006.

Travel and transport arrangements are always the most chaotic part of these mega-sports events. Travel agents and incentive houses need to package them into their brochures at least a year ahead but often face huge difficulties getting rooms and airline seats, largely because of bad organisation by the host countries.

Seeking to replicate the success of the 2000 Games rather than the considerably messy 2004 Olympics in Athens, the Germans used the world's largest travel show now under way in Berlin to launch the 2006 Fifa World Cup Accommodation Services (WCAS) hotel catalogue.

Former German football star Franz Beckenbauer, president of the 2006 World Cup organising committee, launched the catalogue showcasing more than 500 hotels that can be booked through WCAS during the World Cup finals.

The 208-page brochure contains full details of two- to five-star hotels as well as facts about the host cities and tourist attractions. Consumers can book through travel agents or directly through the web site: www.fifaworldcup.com.

The organising committee has contracted all the hotel arrangements to WCAS, a joint-venture company set up in June 2004 by Accor Germany, BTI Euro Lloyd Reiseburo and UK-based Byrom plc. All three are equal shareholders.

According to the GNTB, "The role of this joint venture encompasses the procurement, allocation, administration and marketing of hotel rooms for all potential visitors to the 2006 Fifa World Cup as well as associated events in the run-up period such as the Confederations Cup in June 2005."

The release of the hotel brochure is part of the marketing campaign that the GNTB has launched worldwide to piggyback on the World Cup and promote Germany as a holiday destination. The World Cup theme has been integrated into all the GNTB's promotional and communications work.

"Our campaign presents Germany as a hospitable, welcoming place, where art and culture loom just as large as football," says Petra Hedorfer, chief executive officer of the GNTB.

Alongside, the GNTB has launched another 44-page brochure with information about the 12 World Cup stadiums, tourist attractions and cultural highlights of the host cities and surrounding regions. Holiday packages are included, to whet the appetite for a trip to Germany even before the matches.

The brochure also contains the provisional schedule for the World Cup and announces other international sporting events in Germany from 2005 to 2007. The brochure is available in English, German, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Swedish and Japanese.

The GNTB also has set up a football shootout competition, supported by the major German tour operators ITS-Reisen, TUI, Neckermann Reisen, Ameropa and Dertour.

For a whole year, the shootout competition will tour the world at prominent travel industry trade fairs and GNTB workshops and PR events in the key markets for German tourism. The GNTB has pledged all proceeds to SOS-Kinderdorfer, one of the official charity partners of the 2006 World Cup.

The GNTB is also working with market-specific web sites for organisations promoting Germany, as well as travel industry trade fairs, workshops, study tours and maintaining contacts with tour operators.

According to Ms Hedorfer, Germany's visitor arrivals in 2004 totalled 20.1 million, up 9.5 % over 2003. The number of overnight stays rose by 8.8% over the same period, passing the 45 million mark for the first time. For this year, the projection is for 46.5 million overnight stays.

Big growth is being reported in arrivals from China and the Middle East.

Visitors from China rose to 789,000 overnight stays, up 36.5% over 2003. From the Arab Gulf States, a huge growth in demand for German health and fitness centres resulted in 512,000 overnight stays, a rise of 15.1%.

The traditional markets of the United States and Japan are also showing a rebound after a downturn in the wake of the global crisis post-September 11 and other external factors such as Sars.

Visitors from the US in 2004 totalled more than 1.9 million arrivals, up by 14.7%, generating 4.3 million overnight stays, up 15.1%. From Japan, arrivals totalled 715,000, up 10.6%, generating 1.3 million overnight stays, up 9.8%.

Since the expansion of the European Union to 25 member countries, travel from the "new Europe" is also rising.

In 2004, visitors from Poland generated 950,000 overnight stays, up 13.7%, and overnight stays by visitors from Russia rose by 5.6% to 823,000. Visitors from Hungary and the Czech Republic were also sharply up.

German spas and health centres also saw 12 million arrivals in 2004, up 1.1% over 2003. Although overnight stays were down 3.7 % to 66.2 million, the average stay of 5.5 days was almost twice as long as the 2.9 average length of stay for Germany as a whole.

Imtiaz Muqbil is executive editor of Travel Impact Newswire, an e-mailed feature and analysis service focusing on the Asia-Pacific travel industry.

from The Bangkok Post

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