The Germany National Tourist Board held a reception Monday night in Toronto, celebrating the country’s culinary offerings. Almost 80 members of the industry and media attended the evening that was a joint partnership with Lufthansa and Wines of Germany.

The German National Tourist Office in Canada’s Julia Dywelski welcomed Ricarda Lindner, Regional Manager for the Americas of the German National Tourist Board, who oversees the US, Toronto, Brazil, Argentina and Israel offices. Also attending were the German Consul General Thomas Schultze and his wife Katja Heusel, and the vice president of Operations of the German Chamber of Commerce, Yvonne Denz and the director of the Goethe Institute Toronto, Uwe Rau.

Dywelski told the crowd that travel to Germany continues to grow at a healthy pace. In 2017, there were almost 84 million overnight stays from international visitors, resulting in a plus of 3.6 %.

Travel from Canada is up as well, with the country seeing an increase of overnights of 3.3% for the months of January through September.

And with the strong months around the German Christmas markets, a plus of 4% for the year of 2018 is forecasted.

Looking ahead, Germany is getting bold for 2030, with an expected 121.5 million overnight stays by foreign travelers. The longterm forecast for the Canadian market is also ambitious. By 2030 the tourism board predicts one million overnight stays from Canadian visitors.

2019 will be an exciting year for Germany, Dywelski explains, as they celebrate 100 years of Bauhaus, the architecture movement that started in Weimar, went to Dessau and ended in Berlin.

“Several Bauhaus buildings were actually added to the UNESCO World Heritage list last year. There will be a new museum in Weimar in the spring as well as several events happening throughout the year.”

The country is also looking forward to 2020 with a performance of The Passion Play in Oberammergau which takes place every 10 years in the small Bavarian town. The play was first performed almost 400 years ago after the villagers were spared from the Black Death.