Leona Flach upholds the tourism scene of Frankfurt

Friday, February 9, 2024

Ms. Leona Flach, Manager of Tourism and Marketing at Tourism and Congress GmbH Frankfurt am Main engages in a talk with Travel And Tour World.

Flach shares with the readers the present tourism scene of Frankfurt and how it is contributing to the country’s economy.

Travel And Tour World: Two years have passed by since the pandemic had taken a massive toll on the travel and tourism industry. What is Frankfurt’s tourism scene now?

Leona Flach: The general number of travellers started to increase as people got more and more comfortable travelling again post-covid. So much so, that the number for German travellers isnow higher than the pre-covid numbers. Many European markets have shown a faster and a better growth after the travel restrictions were lifted. While the U.S market is recovering quite well, China is recovering a bit slower. This is mostly due to the travel restrictions being lifted only at the beginning of this year. Above all, we see great recovery from all markets. You can tell that everyone is excited to travel again. The city is full, people are outside and happy to be exploring!

Travel And Tour World: Frankfurt has seen a significant surge in passenger traffic compared to the previous year. Share with our readers your reaction to such achievement.

Leona Flach: The demand for travel is higher than before and is stillrising. The flight frequency is almost back to normal when compared to pre Covid. While we are still behind our 2019 numbers (80% recovery), we are extremely happy about the surge in the passenger traffic. This displays that travel and tourism are back with a bang and that people are eager to explore regionally as well as internationally. We are happy to welcome everybody in Frankfurt to show them what the city has to offer.

Travel And Tour World: Frankfurt Airport (FRA) is offering flights to 242 destinations in 94 countries this winter. Do you think it will contribute to your economy with a further boost to tourism?

Leona Flach: Frankfurt Airport is the biggest airport in Germany, and a hub not only for passengers but also for cargo. It is very important to the city due to its massive worldwide flight connectivity.The travellers find it easy to arrive and depart from Frankfurt. We see this as a great opportunity for the travelers to explore Frankfurt city before continuing their journey ahead. They can discover Frankfurt’s charming New Old Town, be mesmerized bythe city’s gorgeous skyline from the observation decks or take a river cruise on the Main River. For the lovers of art and culture, we have a wide variety of museums- many of them perfectly located on the bank of the Main River itself!

Travel And Tour World: Tell us something about your hospitality scene in terms of overnight stays, staycations, annual footfall, number of events secured etc.

Leona Flach: Overnight stays are growing again and 2023 has been a great year so far! While we have not hit the numbers from 2019, we have come very close. Many new hotels have opened in the past couple years and thus we have plenty of room to accommodate more travellers coming to Frankfurt. We recorded around 5 million overnight stays in the first half of 2023 (5,803,831, 31% more to first half 2022). Out of which, nearly 55,000 overnight stays belonged to the Indian travelers (54,635, 60.1% higher than first half 2022).

Travel And Tour World: According to IMEX Frankfurt post show report, Frankfurt has adopted a number of marketing policies to promote tourism in Dubai, Great Britain and other destinations. What are you other focus markets?

Leona Flach: The US market is biggest overseas market for Frankfurt and continues to be our focus market. We also intend to focus on China, our second biggest market pre-covid, as it continues to slowly recover. Apart from these two we are keen to promote Frankfurt tourism in India, Middle East, Great Britan, other German speaking markets (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) as well as other countries adjoining to Germany. New focus is on Scandinavian countries as well as Brazil, which has seen a great recovery since Covid.

Travel And Tour World: Frankfurt has always been one of the most sought-after tourist destinations for travellers across the world. In that regard, what are your most recommended tourist attractions?

Leona Flach: For most travellers, the skyline is an important tourist attraction. People love taking pictures of the skyline from the iron bridge (Eiserner Steg) or viewthe entirety of Frankfurt city from the famous observation deck at the top of the Main tower. Also, as many rooftop bars have opened in the last couple of months/years, you get to see different views of the city from different angles. Frankfurt is the only city in Germany with a modern city skyline and thus is very unique for the German and European travellers. Besides this, the Römer and our New Old Town are also highlight attractions in Frankfurt. Tourists can enjoy a guided tour of the city while walking on the cobbled streets of Frankfurt city and marveling at its unique history and architecture.

Travel And Tour World: Do you have plans to reinstate sustainable tourism in your destination in future? Please share your opinion in about 350-400 words.

Leona Flach: Sustainability plays a very important role in all of our lives now to secure the future of our planet. Especially for the tourism sector, it is important to improve sustainability in the destination.We work closely with all our partners in Frankfurt to offer the city as a sustainable destination. Frankfurt is a very green city. 50% of the city is covered with parks, gardens and green landscapes. You can easily visit the RhineMain region to explore even more green scenery. This is ideally a starting point for sustainable tourism.

Travel And Tour World: As for MICE, what are your plans for congress marketing to promote business travel?

Leona Flach: Located in the heart of Europe, Frankfurt is considered an international transport hub. Due to its easy accessibility, big companies, associations and networks from various sectors have settled in Frankfurt RheinMain region in recent years. Hardly anywhere else will you find such high density of headquarters of such a wide variety of companies. The metropolitan region is also very popular in the start-up scene.We will still focus on the same major factors that our city has to offer and try to convince more congresses to move to Frankfurt for further business. Frankfurt is one of the leading destinations for business travel. This is also due to the trade fair and our airport.

Travel And Tour World: Frankfurt is now the first European airport which offers passengers contactless check-in and boarding. How do you feel about such big accomplishment?

Leona Flach: We think this is a great accomplishment! It makes travel easier and accessible. The travellers can move faster and our airport staff will be less burdened during peak season which will lead to the travellers receiving the best possible service. Due to the technological growth and progress in the past few years, it is time for everyone to be up to date and to adapt to the current requirements.

Travel And Tour World: Where do you wish to see Frankfurt’s travel industry in the next five years?

Leona Flach: 2019 was a record-breaking year for our overnight stays and we are definitely hoping to get back to those numbers. We are on our way in 2023 and hope to break our old records in 2024.There is so much potential in Frankfurt, and we hope to welcome more guests in the future to show them our beautiful city and everything that we have to offer (unique experiences, events, festivals, and so on).Our goal is to host around 15 million overnight staysby 2030 (2019 was 10 million).

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