The virtualGTM 2020, hosted by the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) from June 22-25, yielded positive results.
More than 5,700 online meetings were conducted, where 450 organisations from the international tourism industry participated.
As many as 49 countries used the platform to connect and learn about the offers of 250 German partners, from the hotel and transportation industry, the leisure sector, incoming services and regional tourism organisations to negotiate partnerships for the coming year.
Besides the business and networking platform, the participants attended panel discussions and webinars with market insights on the status quo of German incoming tourism. The talks introduced the latest trends and the leading players that the German tourism industry has seen recently, and the upcoming marketing campaigns of the GNTB for the next two years.
An onsite evaluation among suppliers and buyers suggests, 90% of the participants were satisfied/very satisfied with the GTM, 84% of the participants upheld GTM as a good/very good platform for business transactions, and 92% of the participants made new contacts at the event, with 90% of the participants planning to attend the GTM again.
Petra Hedorfer, chair of the GNTB executive board, explained: ?With the realisation of the virtual GTM 2020, we took a clear stance for the recovery programme for the German incoming tourism. The unexpected high response confirms our decision to develop this virtual market place as an alternative to physical GTM. At least 70% of the participants had already attended former GTM events, and the alternative events were equally popular. The feedback of the participants shows that the GTM, even as a virtual conference, has confirmed its position as a leading sales event for German incoming tourism.?
The GTNB and Mecklenburg-West Pomerania tourist board have jointly decided to postpone GTM 2020, which was originally planned for May in Rostock, to 2021 due to COVID-19.
Image credit: Martin Damboldt/Pexels
