ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the specific problems associated with the marketing of inbound tourism, and approaches cross-border tourism from the point of view of the hosting destination. It presents an overview of the current research on inbound tourism in Germany, and it explains why that research has been unsatisfactory. The low level of research compared to research on domestic tourism is disconcerting given that knowledge about differences of tourism behaviour of different target groups is essential for successful international tourism marketing. The chapter proposes an integral and systematic approach of analyzing inbound tourism and its international components to fill the research gap. It summarizes existing data on the inbound tourism in Germany and on the inbound tourism from two important generating countries into Germany. The chapter also points out the great differences in the tourist behaviour between tourists from different countries as the Netherlands and the United States.
