page_title: Tourism in Germany
section_title: Landmarks
hierarchical_section_title: Tourism in Germany / Most visited... / Landmarks
caption_attribution_description: English: Cologne Cathedral and the Hohenzollern Bridge
context_page_description: Germany is the eighth-most-visited country in the world, with a total of 407.26 million overnights during 2012. This number includes 68.83 million nights by foreign visitors, the majority of foreign tourists in 2009 coming from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. Additionally, more than 30% of Germans spend their holiday in their own country.
  According to Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Reports, Germany is ranked 3 out of 136 countries in the 2017 report, and is rated as one of the safest travel destinations worldwide.
  In 2012, over 30.4 million international tourists arrived in Germany, bringing over US$38 billion in international tourism receipts to the country. Domestic and international travel and tourism combined directly to contribute over EUR43.2 billion to the German GDP. Including indirect and induced impacts, the industry contributes 4.5% of German GDP and supports 2 million jobs. The ITB Berlin is the world's leading tourism trade fair.
  According to surveys, the top three reasons for tourists to come to Germany, are the German culture, outdoor activities and countryside, and the German cities.
context_section_description: The German Tourism Association (Deutscher Tourismusverband) irregularly publishes statistics on the most visited landmarks. With an average of over 6 million visitors entering Cologne Cathedral per year, the cathedral is Germany's most visited landmark. Second and third places go to the Reichstag building in Berlin and the Hofbräuhaus in Munich. Other much visited architectural landmarks include the Drosselgasse in Rüdesheim (3.0m), the medieval old towns of Rothenburg ob der Tauber (2.5m), Regensburg (2.0m), Frauenkirche in Dresden (2.5m), Bad Münstereifel (2m), the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and the Holsten Gate in Lübeck ¹.
  Note: This list only includes physical landmarks with 1.0 million visitors per year or more. This list may be incomplete.
  ¹ World Heritage Site in Germany
caption: The Cathedral of Cologne is Germany's most visited landmark
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 5D Mark II", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Aperture 3.1.2", "Image DateTime": "2011:07:15 22:34:30", "Image ExifOffset": "202", "EXIF ExposureTime": "15", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:07:15 22:34:30", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:07:15 22:34:30", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "Y", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "-4", "EXIF ApertureValue": "6", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "82", "EXIF SubSecTime": "87", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "87", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "87", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5467", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3644", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "200159/52", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "551048/141", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}