The seven tourist information centers in the Ammertal are working at full speed despite the lockdown.
But the guests miss personal contact.
Ammertal
- Tourism is resting.
Must rest.
But that doesn't mean that the seven tourist information centers in the Ammertal have come to a standstill.
But on the contrary.
Even in this time of crisis, people are busy working behind the closed doors, explains Managing Director Florian Hoffrohne at the presentation of the 2020 tourism balance sheet. As the figures show, vacationers can hardly wait for the gates to open again.
In the past year alone, personal contact with employees between the lockdown phases has assumed impressive proportions. There were demonstrably more than 63,315 guest contacts. Anyone who visits or contacts a tourist information office in person is noted. For Hoffrohne, this shows one thing above all: Despite internet-enabled smartphones and tablets, guests are still looking for personal conversations on site or by phone. For comparison: In the record year 2019 there were 83,483 contacts. So only slightly more, if you consider that the branches were open for twelve months before the Corona crisis. And the months of January and February 2020 "were already record-breaking," says Hoffrohne. If Corona had not come, 2020 would have been an exceptional year - not least because of the passion.But from March onwards, the tourist information staff only had one task for three months: processing cancellations.
Young families primarily visit the tourist information centers
But who actually visits the tourist information, although the online offer is now quite sophisticated and progressive?
Anyone who thinks of clichés, for example sprightly gentlemen with a hiking map, horn-rimmed glasses and white socks in Birkenstock sandals, is wrong.
"It is primarily young families," says Hoffrohne, "who want to know where to eat well, which hiking trails are suitable for children or where to find out more about the local history." The statistics also show that most of them are women who inquire personally.
Hoffrohne smiles.
"Apparently they are not as 'shy' as us men and are simply more sociable."
Classic printed brochures are also still being picked up.
9293 pieces have been issued by post.
"The total of the brochures sent out weighs 857 kilograms," says Hoffrohne.
There is also the nature park magazine.
“Due to the situation, there was only one edition in 2020,” explains Hoffrohne.
This was designed from June 2020 to April 2021 with a circulation of 15,000 copies, distributed among others to 2,500 Ammergau households.
70 percent of employees are on short-time work
But lockdown rules apply again, the tourist information centers have closed.
70 percent of employees are currently on short-time work.
"We make sure that everyone has the chance to work in the office at least once a week," says Hoffrohne.
Even if personal contact is currently not possible, the phones ring frequently.
It is already busy booking for the summer.
The inquiries for the coming passion year are also increasing.
The team notices that slowly but surely there is a spirit of optimism.
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Florian Hoffrohne is optimistic about the future.
© Thomas Sehr
The tourist information serves as an important hub for arranging guest beds - now also in the online area. On the homepage of the Ammergau Alps alone, over 236 267 clicks on the service providers, i.e. the landlords, were made in 2020. The homepage was redirected to the host's website over 26,370 times, the corresponding telephone numbers were clicked 6450 times and emails from the digital booking system were sent directly to the hosts 2676 times. Exactly 1232 guests booked via the online system, which corresponds to an average of 3.37 reservations per day. There are also 505 direct bookings via the partner HRS Destination Solution. However, what Hoffrohne has to consider with these figures: "How many guests have forwarded to homepages and ultimately booked there,is not even included in this number. ”Overall, the booking offers made by the Ammergau Alps employees rose by 2899 - an increase of nine percent compared to the corona-free previous year 2019.“ Each individual offer includes up to six hosts. "
All of them are quite dry figures, but they make one thing clear: a lot has happened in the online marketing of the Ammer Valley.
Almost 1.9 million people accessed the homepage in 2020.
The websites of the individual locations total around 3.2 million times.
The added value of tourism in 2020 amounted to a gross turnover of over 101.6 million euros (2019: 173 million euros).
The advertising campaign also contributed to this.
The association supervised and organized eleven press trips.
This resulted in 422 print articles with a circulation of 33 million, which reached over 108 million people.
"That corresponds to an advertising volume of 7.5 million euros."
