"The Fascination of Water – The Sea, Rivers and Lakes in Germany“ will be the central theme underpinning the international marketing activity of the German National Tourist Board in 2004. The campaign reflects and caters for the growing worldwide popularity of the countryside and nature, and activity holidays on and around the water.

As a theme year, "The Fascination of Water – The Sea, Rivers and Lakes in Germany“ provides the perfect opportunity to market Germany more intensively abroad and draw attention to the wide variety of attractive water-based amenities and natural resources the country has to offer. Eight of Germany's thirteen national parks are either on the coast or encompass large areas of water, including the Lower Saxony Wattenmeer Hamburg Wattenmeer, Schleswig-Holstein Wattenmeer and Müritz national parks. The Hanseatic towns and cities on the North Sea and Baltic coasts offer a number of holidays by the water as well as an extensive range of cultural attractions. The Kiel Festival, Hanse-Sail Rostock, Windsurfing World Cup Sylt, Lake Constance Festival and the "Rhine in Flames“ are just a few examples of the breadth of events on and around the water in Germany. The Starnberger Five Lakes Region at the heart of Bavaria is one example of water-based recreation within easy reach of an industrialised conurbation.

With a 10,000 km network of waterways, more than 23,000 square kilometres of waterways for seagoing vessels, approximately 2,400 km of coastline and 18 islands, as well as a number of charming lakes in the foothills of the Alps, the central highlands and the North German lowland plain, Germany has some of the largest, most varied and attractive water recreation facilities in Europe. There are more than 800 passenger boats with a total capacity of 200,000 places and around 750,000 sports and leisure boats waiting to take water enthusiasts on a journey of discovery through Germany.

50 package holidays are specifically on the theme of water. There are around 30 packages on the English-language website. The range extends from water sports, beach and family holidays, to cultural and city breaks right through to "Wellness by the water". The information and package brochure for consumers will be published in six languages in autumn 2003.

The German National Tourist Board foreign representative offices are already hard at work informing the international travel industry about the products and services offered in connection with this theme year. The new German National Tourist Board sales guide, which contains some great offers on every aspect of water-based holidays in Germany, was published at the beginning of the year as a tool to help canvas new partners.