TORONTO — Staying the course charted in the previous three years, Destination Germany increased foreign overnight numbers in 2013, this time breaking the 70-million barrier.

Preliminary figures released by Germany’s Federal Statistics Office state that foreign guests spent 71.6-million nights last year in German hotels with 10 and more beds, an increase of 4% over 2012. Says German National Tourist Board (GNTB) CEO Petra Hedorfer, “Presenting itself in prime form, the German tourism brand continues to see growth in demand from foreign countries, despite difficult economic conditions in Europe and beyond.”

Five source markets generate close to half of the 2013 growth: Foreign overnights for January through November 2013 increased by close to three million, 46% (1.3-million overnights) generated by visitors from Great Britain (349,000), Russia (322,000), Switzerland (248,000), Arabian Gulf nations (237,000) and Poland (173,000).

Bavaria continues to receive the highest number of all foreign overnights, followed by Germany’s capital, Berlin, with the state of Baden-Württemberg in third place.

For the fourth year in a row, in 2013 Germany ranked second, after Spain, as favoured destination among European visitors. Representing three quarters of all foreign overnights, Europe remains the most important source market for Destination Germany.

Both North and South America continue to provide 10% of Germany’s overnight total. Strong, dynamic growth is seen from Asian countries and especially the Arab Gulf nations and China.

Since 2009, six source markets account for 40% of German incoming tourism. In the past five years, Germany recorded constant increases in visitor overnights from Switzerland, Russia, Great Britain, Poland, the Netherlands and China, generating an overall increase of 42%, or 7.1-million overnights of the total 16.8 million from abroad since 2009.