Yet another record year for tourism in Bavaria: "2015 is the best year for tourism in Bavaria ever", Minister Ilse Aigner (CSU) said on Friday in Munich.

"Never before have so many guests come to Bavaria, and there have never been so many overnight stays." A total of 34.2 million visitors means that arrivals are up 5.4 per cent compared to 2014 and the more than 88 million overnight stays represent a plus 3.4 per cent plus. For 2016 Aigner has set out the 90 million mark to crack. Is noteworthy, however, that the number of Russian guests slumped dramatically: in 2015 there were only some 208 000 arrivals, a third less than in 2014 when nearly 315 000 arrivals were counted. The number of overnight stays by Russian citizens decreased from nearly 785 000 to only 508 000.

Tourism is a key economic factor for Bavaria. It conveys identity and is central to employment and business, serves as an advertising medium and represents a multi-disciplinary sector with diverse cultural and social interrelations. Bavaria is among the leading year-round destinations in Europe and is the number 1 tourism destination in Germany. The video below shows some of the reasons why.