One of Magdeburg’s main attractions: the pink-coloured Green Citadel.

Though global tourism growth forecasts remain positive, there is concern about security and economic challenges, and Germany for one, prefers to be cautious, forecasting an increase of between one and three per cent.

“We are expecting the upward trend to continue in 2016. However, because of various elements of uncertainty, including the security situation in Europe and around the world, the difficult conditions in parts of the global economy and the refugee crisis, our forecast is for a slightly slower growth rate of about one to three per cent,” Petra Hedorfer, CEO of the German National Tourist Board told an international press conference in Magdeburg.

Moreover, the German tourism authorities adopts this cautious approach notwithstanding reporting another record year in performance for the sixth year running.

Ms Hedorfer announced at this year’s Germany Travel Mart that inbound tourism to Germany last year reached 79.7 million overnight stays. This meant such stays by visitiors from abroad in accommodation establishments with at least 10 beds grew by 4.1 million year-on-year, up 5.4 per cent.

Notwithstanding the prudent approach in terms of forecast, Germany has already posted a six per cent growth in overnight stays by international visitors in the first two months of this year.

“The figures for 2015 exceed our own expectations and the UNWTO [United Nations World Tourism Organisation] forecasts, which assumed a global increase in tourism traffic of about three to four per cent,” Ms Hedorfer said. “Germany is proving to be an engine of growth even in comparison to those countires in Europe that have traditionally been major tourist destinations”, she proudly added. The big bulk of overnight stays in Germany – 73.4 per cent – were made by visitors coming from European countries. This represented an increase of 2.1 million overnight stays, or 50 per cent of absolute growth. The biggest market in terms of growth was Spain, followed by Switzerland, the UK and the Netherlands.

Even Malta contributed to the increase in overnight stays. In December, overnight stays by Maltese visitors numbered 8,369, up 48.5 per cent over the same period in 2014.

For the whole of 2015, travellers originating from Malta registered 55,880 overnight stays, an increase of 13.5 per cent.

Nine of the top 10 source markets for inbound tourism to Germany are European. The Netherlands lead, followed by Switzerland, the US and the UK.

Further afield, China appears to have the potential to enter the list of the top 10 markets for Germany. Indeed, it already tops the ranking of high-growth overseas markets, registering an increase of 505,000 overnight stays over the previous year.

Germany’s strong performance becomes even more evident when considering that it attracted 59 million of the 573 million trips made to Europe last year. Global outbound trips in 2015 are estimated to have exceeded one billion. With a 56 per cent share of the market, holidays make up the biggest segment in travel from Europe to Germany. This represented an increase of five per cent, to a total of 29 million. Germany remains the number one city-break destination for Europeans.

Travellers from Europe spent a staggering €31.9 billion on trips to Germany last year, up eight per cent.