Tourism in Austria

             Tourism is an important part of Austria's services sector. In 1991 foreign tourists accounted for earnings of S192.4 billion, almost offsetting the negative trade balance and deficits in services or other accounts. Tourism is a principal industry and source of foreign exchange. In fact, Austria's per capita tourist revenue is the highest in the world. Foreign overnight stays in Austria have risen consistently since World War II, from 50 million in 1950, to 59 million in 1970, and to 95 million in 1990. With 20 million visitors in 1990, Austria was fifth in the world in tourist revenues, surpassed only by the United States, France, Italy, and Spain. Most tourists come from European countries. Almost two-thirds come from Germany, followed by the Netherlands (10 percent) and Britain (5 percent).

         Austria's largest tourist attraction has long been the Alps-- for skiing in the winter and for hiking and camping in the summer. For this reason, the mountainous provinces of Tirol, Carinthia, and Vorarlberg produce the greatest tourist revenues. Salzburg is an important tourist attraction in the summer. Vienna remains a tourist center all year but does not generate as much tourist revenue as the mountain areas.

            Austria has 20,000 hotels and pensions, as well as an additional 50,000 private rooms available to house tourists. In addition, there are thousands of simpler accommodations, such as youth hostels, mountain huts, and campsites.

           Austria has also made significant progress in becoming an international conference center. The so-called United Nations City, located outside Vienna, contains the headquarters of a number of major United Nations (UN) organizations. Vienna also has an international conference center. Taking advantage of Austria's neutral status, Vienna has hosted numerous East-West negotiations and is the permanent seat not only of such longestablished organizations as the International Atomic Energy Agency but also of the newer Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. The opening of Eastern Europe is likely to make Vienna an even more important center for East-West travel.

Tourism in Belgium

          Tourism in Belgium is one of Belgium's industries, and its accessibility from elsewhere in Europe still makes it a popular tourist destination. The tourist industry generates 2.8% of Belgium's Gross Domestic Product and employs 3.3% of the working population (142,000 people). 6.7 million people travelled to Belgium in 2005. Two thirds of them come from the larger nearby countries - France, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany.

           In 1993, 2% of the total workforce was employed in tourism, less than in many neighbouring countries. Much of the tourism industry is located either at the heavily developed coastline or in the Ardennes. Brussels and the Flemish cities of Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp attract many cultural tourists.

          Belgium ranked 21st on the World Economic Forum's 2007 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, lower than all the neighbouring countries. Although the country scored highly for 'natural and cultural resources', it was ranked only 114th in the world for both 'price competitiveness' and 'availability of qualified labor'. In recent years the number of international tourists has stayed relatively stable, but the income they generate has increased to 9.863 billion US Dollars in 2005.

Facts about Italy Tourism & Information on Tourist Destinations

           Italy travel guide - Ultimate Italy is a resource to discover "about Italy" focusing on everything about the "best of Italy"; the cities, Italian piazzas, the latest picks of restaurants, pizzerias, bars and caffes, italian lifestyle, the nature from Italian national parks, Alps to the breathtaking Islands. You can find not only Italy travel & tourism information but an insight into the famous people of Italy, Italian fashion,the culture, history and arts.

           Italy's flourishing tourist trade has been truly rewarded by its panoramic natural resources "the majestic Alps in the north, the soft and green hills of Tuscany & Umbria, the romantically rugged landscape of the S Apennines and the Bay of Naples, dominated by Mt. Vesuvius, is one of the world's most famous sights."

Ultimate Italy incorporates Italian tourist information, Italy travel destinations and unusual itineraries.

          Italy & Tourism are synomonous as Italy is a history lover's paradise with more than 3000 museums, churches and archeological sites dating back to Roman and Greek times. There are hundreds of the world heritage protected UNESCO assets and locations now open to tourism. The islands of Italy have been enjoyed for hundreds of years like Capri, famous for it's style and romanticism or 'Ischia' known for its natural thermal spas.

          The movement and influence of the Renaissance art and culture can be relived today as the piazzas and the cities sit uneffected by the centuries of change. There are many things about italy that make it a marvellous place to visit and with lots of tourist information available you can be assured of an interesting, unique and memorable stay. There are countless of things to do and see , you can admire the stylish Italians and enjoy the 'MODA', the uncompared italian design reflected in the italian cars, the beautiful people or experience the pulsating beat of life with it's noisy street markets and swarms of people buzzing around on Vespas. For those who want to relax and enjoy the 'cafe culture', the wine and food and 'people watch' then travel to Italy is also for you!.

          Disclaimer: Ultimate Italy is an "as is" Italy Travel Guide and we have tried to make the information on this web site as accurate as possible. We accept no responsibility for any loss, injury or inconvenience sustained by anyone resulting from this information. You should verify critical information like visas, health and safety, customs, and transportation) with the relevant authorities before you travel.

Naples, Italy

         Naples is raucous, polluted, anarchic, deafening, crumbling and grubby. But like other cities which fit the description, it also a lot of fun. Positioned on a bay, Naples has a little - and often a lot - of everything. It pulsates with noisy street markets and swarms of people buzzing around on Vespas with no regard for traffic rules.

Lecce, Italy

         Lecce Italy Travel Guide - Find the best travel tip, history, tourist attractions, famous churches, travel information, and an exclusive guide to shopping, food & drink and nightlife in Lecce, Italy. This city of Lecce, Italy is a dream for people who love Baroque architecture.

Parma, Italy

          The name conjures up many different things for different people, all pleasurable. For the artist, it brings to mind Corregio and Parmigianino, the musician recalls Verdi and Toscanini, the archaeologist thinks of rich castles, cathedrals and fortresses, for the fashion-conscious it spells style and elegance, and for the gourmand, it means cheese and ham.

Venice, Italy

           Vibrant, vivid and vivacious, Venice, La Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic holds a mystical aura of a city of canals and palaces. Achingly beautiful, Venice holds sway as one of the most enchanting places in the world. With canals, bridges and islands, Venice boasts of myriad magic festivals, exotic cuisine and magnificent architecture.

Trento, Italy

         Few countries in the world can compare to Italy. It is a country where you can find a mix of history, art, architecture, gastronomy, fashion and natural beauty. Italy is divided into 20 regions. Each region is divided into Provinces, and each province is divided into municipalities. The Italian regions are important in that many customs and cuisines are regional in their diversity.

Palermo, Italy

          Covered in orange groves, Palermo is the capital of Sicily. Situated in the northern part of the island, it is also the biggest city in Sicily with one of the best harbours in the world. The city is divided into the Old City and the New City. Getting around the city even with a map in hand is sometimes difficult especially in the city center.

Verona, Italy

“Romeo! Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?”

Perhaps the most famous line from the most famous love story in the English Language. But amidst the passion, the true love and the heart wrenching tragedy one seldom pays any attention to the city where the drama unfolds.

Rome, Italy

       In Rome do as the Roman does, all the paths leads to Rome, Rome wasn’t build in a day etc are not just proverbs profoundly used in literature but definitely the silent authentication of the fact that once the most famous city of the world is still sprinkling the golden dust of its glorious past in the present world and that time cannot erase the name once the mark of society, civilization, art, culture and humanity.

Ravenna, Italy

         “Ravenna, the capital of the province of the same name in north-eastern Italy, has a history stretching into the misty past. It was originally situated on coastal lagoons, which later silted up. It is now a low-lying plain near the confluence of the Ronco and Montone rivers, and has to rely on a canal to link it to the Adriatic Sea 10 km away.

Perugia, Italy

        City of chocolates, churches and music, Perugia is a splendid mix of the old and the new, the spiritual and the carnal, of tradition and modernity.

Erice, Italy

          Legend, history, beauty, culture, castles, churches, stunning views and the latest in science and technology- all this and more is at your disposal when you travel to and spend some time at the beautiful city of Erice in Sicily.

Tourism in Germany

           According to Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Reports, Germany is rated as one of the safest travel destinations worldwide. Germany is also the third most visited country in Europe, with a total of 369.6 million overnights during 2008. This number includes 56.5 million nights by foreign visitors, the majority of foreign tourists in 2009 coming from the Netherlands, the United States and Switzerland (see table).

            The official body for tourism in Germany is the German National Tourist Board (GNTB), represented worldwide by National Tourist Offices in 29 countries. Surveys by the GNTB include perceptions and reasons for holidaying in Germany, which are as follows: culture (75%), outdoors/countryside (59%), cities (59%), cleanliness (47%), security (41%), modernity (36%), good hotels (35%), good gastronomy/cuisine (34%), good accessibility (30%), cosmopolitanism/hospitality (27%), good shopping opportunities (21%), exciting nightlife (17%) and good price/performance ratio (10%) (multiple answers were possible).

History

         The history of tourism in Germany goes back to cities and landscapes being visited for education and recreation. From the late 18th century onwards, cities like Dresden, Munich, Weimar and Berlin were major stops on a European Grand tour. Spas and resorts on the North and Baltic Seas and along the Rhine valley particularly developed during the 19th and early 20th century and since the end of World War II tourism has expanded greatly, as many tourists visit Germany to experience a sense of European history. The countryside has a pastoral aura, while the cities exhibit both a modern and classical feel.

Statistics

         The table below shows the distribution of national and international visitor nights spent in each of the sixteen states of Germany in 2008. With 76.91 million nights spent in hotels, hostels or clinics, Bavaria has the most visitors, with 14.300 nights per 1,000 population; Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has the highest density of tourists.

           Forthcoming highlights in Germany are: 20 Years since the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the Oberammergau Passion Play (Bavaria) in 2010, Ruhr 2010 European capital of culture, the 2010 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships and the Finals of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011.

Countryside

Health

              About 242 million nights, or ⅔ of all nights spent in hotels in Germany, are spent in spa towns. Germany is well known for health tourism, with many of the numerous spa towns having been established at a hot spring, offering convalescence (German: Kur) or preventive care by means of mineral water and/or other spa treatment. Spa towns and seaside resorts carry official designations such as Mineral and mud spas (Mineral- und Moorbäder), Healthy climate resorts (Heilklimatische Kurorte), Kneipp cure resorts (Kneippkurorte = water therapy resorts), Seaside resorts (Seebäder), Climatic resorts (Luftkurorte), and Recreation resorts (Erholungsorte). The largest and most well known resorts also have casinos, most notably at Bad Wiessee, Baden-Baden (Kurhaus), Wiesbaden (Kurhaus), Aachen, Travemünde and Westerland (Kurhaus).

Regions

         The most visited tourist regions in Germany are the East Frisian and North Frisian Islands, the Baltic Sea coasts of Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, the Bavarian and Black Forest, and the Bavarian Alps.

  Theme routes

     Since the 1930s, local and regional governments have set up various theme routes, to help visitors get to know a specific region and its cultural or scenic qualities. The table below shows some of the most prominent theme routes. Other popular German theme routes include parts of the European Route of Brick Gothic and European Route of Industrial Heritage, the Harz-Heide Road, Bertha Benz Memorial Route and Bergstrasse.

  Winter sport

         The main winter sport regions in Germany are the Northern Limestone Alps and Ore Mountains, Harz, Fichtelgebirge and Bayerischer Wald of the Central Uplands (Mittelgebirge). First class winter sport infrastructure is available for alpine skiing and snowboarding, bobsledding and cross-country skiing.

          In most regions, winter sports are limited to the winter months November to February. During the Advent season, many German towns and cities host Christmas markets.

Cities

        In terms of numbers of overnight stays, travel to the twelve largest cities in Germany more than doubled between 1995 and 2005, the largest increase of any travel destination. This increase mainly arises from growth of cultural tourism, often in conjunction with educational or business travel. Consequently, the provision and supply of more and higher standards of cultural, entertainment, hospitality, gastronomic, and retail services also attract more international guests.

         The table below shows the ten most visited cities in Germany in 2009, and a comparison with 2008. Other cities and towns with over 1 million nights per year are Hanover, Rostock, Bremen, Cuxhaven, Bonn, Freiburg im Breisgau, Münster, Lübeck and Essen.

       In Germany can be found all kind of natural scenes, from the majesty of the Black Forest to the rustic beauty of the North coasts. And as for its cities, centre of the culture and the German life, mixture of the modernity of the skyscrapers and the tradition of cuckoo clocks and löden coats, everything with frothy beer.

Berlin 
            The force and the success of Prussia are shown in Berlin, one of the most fascinating cities of the world, which has lived many conflicts throughout history. Since the strategic importance that it acquired in the 13th century, when a bridge was constructed on the Spree River, Berlin didn’t have as much attention as during the 20th century. It is the heart of Germany, and its importance is reflected in its public buildings, museums and theaters, as well as in its restaurants and elegant nightclubs. The Berliner cultural life enjoys a matchless vitality and prestige, by its modern and numerous constructions, festivals, celebrations and outdoors concerts. At the present time, the city is the epicenter of the transcendental project of reunification.  
Munich

          Beyond the beer and sausages, Munich appears like a cosmopolitan city, characteristic of the European continent. Its inhabitants can enjoy different attractions, from the vertiginous elegance of its great boulevards to the traditional dances, such as the oompah. This city has an intoxicating mixture of glamour and abandonment; it has multiple theaters, good museums and numerous gardens, and naturally, countless breweries. 
         It is recommendable to visit the Deutsches Museum, where the main sample of science and technology of the world is shown, with interactive activities and attractive demonstrations of the human inventions, from the mining to the observation of stars. The Englischer Garten is one of the biggest urban parks of Europe; it is possible to walk by its footpaths, enjoy the streams, cross its bridges and delight with the swans.  
         From Munich many other trips can be made: for example, to the Bavarian Alps, very attractive if the day is clear; or to the Romantic highway, that connects typical towns of the western zone of Bavaria. Munich constitutes an important axis of transports and it is communicated regularly with the rest of Germany and Prague, to the Northeast, and Rome, to the South.

Frankfurt 
          Frankfurt on the Main, so called to distinguish it of Frankfurt an der Oder, has become the financial and geographic centre of West Germany. One big part of the country’s wealth comes from its inhabitants, and near 10% of the taxes of the city is destined to culture. It is a city full of museums. The Städel Museum lodges a magnificent work collection from the Renaissance to the 20th century; between the great Old Masters, the visitor can enjoys Dürer, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Monet, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Picasso, Matisse, Bacon, Baselitz and Serra. The Museum of Modern Art offers an interesting selection of Pop Art pieces, with works of Lichtenstein, Warhol and Wesselmann, among others, pieces of contemporary art –belonging to veteran and new creators–, as well as artists who have followed the project during many years, like Gerhard Richter, Bernd and Hilla Becher and On Kawara. The musical panorama of Frankfurt is very animated, and jazz outstands by its quality. The local drink, denominated Ebbelweï, is an extremely strong sort of cider, very well-known everywhere in the world. By this metropolis pass about 1.500 trains per day, what makes possible the communication with any point of the country. 
        One hour away from the north of the city the charming city of Marburg rises, an animated university population where diverse cafeterias have been open and follow the present tendencies. Also a lot of pubs located in the admirable spotted streets.  
Heidelberg

              Tourist city par excellence, Heidelberg has a magnificent castle of gothic-Renaissance style. This beautiful city receives four million visitors per year in spite of its lack of cheap lodgings and the high prices of its restaurants. It is inevitable to feel the romantic attraction of the castle, and it is possible to ran away from the hordes of tourists walking by some of the footpaths that cross hills of the environs and enjoying its landscape. If one takes a walk by the streets of the suburbs it is possible to run into with some place where to pass hours in a cafeteria next to poets and other 
personalities. Heidelberg benefits from the frequent railway connections with Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich, and other destinies. 
Lübeck