Thuringia, one of Germany's 16 states, has obtained additional EU funding to increase its advertising budget. It aims to attract more foreign tourists to the region.

The Thuringia tourism marketing organization will receive the equivalent of over a million dollars to promote the region abroad, instead of the initially planned 200,000 euros (about $227,000), announced Wolfgang Tiefensee, Germany's minister for economic affairs, on Monday (02.02.2015).

According to the federal statistics office, six percent more foreign tourists came to the region in 2014 than in the previous year. A total of 564,000 guests spent at least one night in the central German region, but they only make up six percent of all visitors. Thuringia therefore aims to raise its profile abroad. Most foreign tourists come from Denmark, the United States, Switzerland, and Holland.

The region will primarily promote its three major Cranach exhibitions, held in Wartburg, Gotha and Weimar. Thuringia will also host its first international tourism trade event in April, the "Germany Travel Mart 2015." Nearly 1,000 tour operators and journalists from all over the world are expected, making it an opportunity for Thuringia to further promote itself.

Popular destinations are the Wartburg castle in the town of Eisenach and the city of Weimar, well known for its large cultural heritage. It features the Bauhaus Museum as well as museums devoted to the German poets Goethe and Schiller, key figures of the Weimar Classicism literary movement.

ey/at/kbm (mdr)