With more than 133 million foreign visitors (2008) Germany is ranked as the 7th most visited travel destination worldwide. A total of 27.2 billion Euros is spent on travel and tourism, this is equivalent to 3.2% of Germany's GNP. The capital city of Berlin is currently ranked as the 8th most visited city worldwide. Including camping sites and accommodation with 9 or more beds, a total of 369.6 million overnights were spent in Germany during 2008, this includes 56.5 million nights by foreign visitors. More than 30% of Germans spend their holiday in their own country. which shows that Germans love to travel within their own country.

The majority of foreign tourists came from the Netherlands with 9.69 million nights, the United States 4.45 million nights and the UK with 4.22 million nights.

The history of tourism in Germany traces back to cities and landscapes being visited for education and recreation. From the late 18th century onwards, cities like Dresden, Munich, Weimar and Berlin were major stops of a European Grand tour. Spas and resorts on North and Baltic Sea, as well as along the Rhine valley particularly developed during the 19th and early 20th century and since the end of World War II tourism has expanded greatly as many tourists visit Germany to experience a sense of European history. The countryside exhibits a pastoral aura, while its cities exhibit both a modern and classical feel. Some tourist towns in Germany include: Bamberg, Berlin, Hamburg, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Heidelberg, Würzburg, Munich, Tübingen, Calw, Goslar, Lübeck, Aachen, Schwangau, Dresden and Quedlinburg.

During 2008 the most visited federal states were:

• Bavaria with 76.91 million nights
• Baden-Württemberg 43.62 million nights
• Lower-Saxony with 41.52 million nights

Popular perceptions and reasons for holidaying in Germany are: culture (75%), outdoors/countryside (59%), cities (59%), cleanliness (47%), security (41%), modernity (36%), good hotels (35%), good gastronomy/cuisine (34%), good accessibility (30%), cosmopolitanism/hospitality (27%), good shopping opportunities (21%), exciting nightlife (17%) and good price/performance ratio (10%) (multiple answers were possible).

Forthcoming highlights for Germany are: 20 Years since the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the Passion Plays in Oberammergau (Bavaria) in 2010, Ruhr 2010 European capital of culture and the 2010 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships.

The official body for tourism in Germany is The German National Tourist Board, represented worldwide by local National Tourist Offices in 29 countries.

For the USA the official website for tourism to Germany is http://www.cometogermany.com and http://www.germany-tourism.co.uk for the UK. Both websites offer a variety of information services and a selection of free brochures.

Since the 2006 World Cup celebrations the internal and external perception of Germany's national image has changed. In annually conducted global surveys known as Nation Brands Index, Germany became significantly and repeatedly higher ranked after the tournament. People in 20 different states were asked to assess the country's reputation in terms of culture, politics, exports, its people and its attractiveness to tourists, immigrants and investments. Germany has been named the world's most valued nation among 50 countries in 2008. Another global opinion poll based on 13,575 responses in 21 countries for the BBC revealed that Germany is recognised for the most positive influence in the world in 2009, leading 16 investigated countries. A majority of 61% have a positive view of the country, while 15% have a negative view.

Germany is a legally and socially tolerant country towards homosexuals. Civil unions have been permitted since 2001. Gays and lesbians can legally adopt their partner's biological children (stepchild adoption). The Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and the mayors of the two largest German cities, Berlin and Hamburg, are openly gay.

During the last decade of the 20th century Germany has transformed its attitude towards immigrants considerably. Until the mid-nineties the opinion was widespread that Germany is not a country of immigration, even though about 10% of the population were of non-German origin. After the end of the influx of so-called Gastarbeiter (blue-collar guest-workers), refugees were a tolerated exception to this point of view. Today the government and German society are acknowledging the opinion that controlled immigration should be allowed based on the qualification of immigrants.

With an expenditure of 67 billion on international travel in 2008, Germans spent more money on travel than any other country. The most visited foreign destinations were Spain, Italy and Austria.

Germany has been the home of some of the most prominent researchers in various scientific fields. The Nobel Prize has been awarded to 103 German laureates. The work of Albert Einstein and Max Planck was crucial to the foundation of modern physics, which Werner Heisenberg and Max Born developed further. They were preceded by physicists such as Hermann von Helmholtz, Joseph von Fraunhofer, and Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays, which are called Röntgenstrahlen (Röntgen-rays) in German and many other languages. This accomplishment made him the first winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.

Aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun developed the first space rocket and later on was a prominent member of NASA and developed the Saturn V Moon rocket, which paved the way for the success of the US Apollo program. Heinrich Rudolf Hertz's work in the domain of electromagnetic radiation was pivotal to the development of modern telecommunication. Through his construction of the first laboratory at the University of Leipzig in 1879, Wilhelm Wundt is credited with the establishment of psychology as an independent empirical science. Alexander von Humboldt's work as a natural scientist and explorer was foundational to biogeography.

Numerous significant mathematicians were born in Germany, including Carl Friedrich Gauss, David Hilbert, Bernhard Riemann, Gottfried Leibniz, Karl Weierstrass and Hermann Weyl. Germany has been the home of many famous inventors and engineers, such as Johannes Gutenberg, who is credited with the invention of movable type printing in Europe; Hans Geiger, the creator of the Geiger counter; and Konrad Zuse, who built the first fully automatic digital computer. German inventors, engineers and industrialists such as Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, Otto Lilienthal, Gottlieb Daimler, Rudolf Diesel, Hugo Junkers and Karl Benz helped shape modern automotive and air transportation technology.

Important research institutions in Germany are the Max Planck Society, the Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft and the Fraunhofer Society. They are independently or externally connected to the university system and contribute to a considerable extent to the scientific output. The prestigious Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize is granted to ten scientists and academics every year. With a maximum of ?2.5 million per award it is one of highest endowed research prizes in the world.

Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the two historical duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. Its capital city is Kiel; other notable cities are Lübeck, Flensburg and Neumünster.

Schleswig-Holstein borders Denmark (Region Syddanmark) to the north, the North Sea to the west, the Baltic Sea to the east, and the German states of Lower Saxony, Hamburg, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to the south.

The former English name was Sleswick-Holsatia, the Danish name is Slesvig-Holsten, the Low German name is Sleswig-Holsteen, and the North Frisian name is Slaswik-Holstiinj. Historically, the name can also refer to a larger region, containing both present-day Schleswig-Holstein and the former South Jutland County (Northern Schleswig) in Denmark.

Culture
Schleswig-Holstein combines Danish and German aspects of culture. The castles and manors in the countryside are the best example for this tradition; some dishes like Rote Grütze are also shared.

The most important festivals are the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, an annual classic music festival all over the state, and the Nordische Filmtage, an annual film festival for movies from Scandinavian countries, held in Lübeck.

The annual Wacken Open Air festival is considered to be the largest heavy metal rock festival in the world.

The state's most important museum of cultural history is in Schloss Gottorf in Schleswig.

The old city of Lübeck is a world heritage site.

The Romantic Road is the term for a theme route coined by travel agents in the 1950s to describe the stretch of highway in southern Germany (in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg), between Würzburg and Füssen. This region is thought by many international travellers to possess "quintessentially" German scenery and culture, specifically in towns and cities such as Nördlingen, Dinkelsbühl and Rothenburg ob der Tauber. The route is also known for passing by the famous Neuschwanstein Castle.

Oktoberfest is a 16-day festival held each year in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, running from late September to early October. It is one of the most famous events in Germany and the world's largest fair, with some six million people attending every year, and is an important part of Bavarian culture. Other cities across the world also hold Oktoberfest celebrations, modeled after the Munich event.

The Munich Oktoberfest, traditionally, takes place during the sixteen days up to and including the first Sunday in October. In 1994, the schedule was modified in response to German reunification so that if the first Sunday in October falls on the 1st or 2nd, then the festival will go on until October 3 (German Unity Day). Thus, the festival is now 17 days when the 1st Sunday is October 2 and 18 days when it is October 1. The festival is held on an area named the Theresienwiese (field, or meadow, of Therese), often called d’ Wiesn for short.

Visitors also eat huge amounts of traditional hearty fare such as Hendl (chicken), Schweinsbraten (roast pork), Haxn (knuckle of pork), Steckerlfisch (grilled fish on a stick), Würstl (sausages) along with Brezn (Pretzel), Knödeln (potato or bread dumplings), Kaasspotzn (cheese noodles), Reiberdatschi (potato pancakes), Sauerkraut or Blaukraut (red cabbage) along with such Bavarian delicacies as Obatzda (a fatty, spiced cheese-butter concoction) and Weisswurst (a white sausage).

Neuschwanstein Castle is a 19th-century neo-romanticist palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as an homage to Richard Wagner.

The palace was intended as a personal refuge for the reclusive king, but it was opened to the paying public right after his death in 1886. Since that time over 60 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle. More than 1.3 million people visit annually, with up to 6,000 per day in the summer. The palace has appeared prominently in several movies and was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Funding
The king's wishes and demands expanded during the construction of Neuschwanstein, and so did the expenses. Drafts and estimated costs were revised repeatedly. Initially a modest study was planned instead of the great throne hall, and projected guest rooms were struck from the drafts to make place for a Moorish Hall, which eventually could not be realised due to continued lack of resources. Completion was originally projected for 1872, but deferred repeatedly.

Neuschwanstein, the symbolic medieval knight's castle, was not Ludwig II's only huge construction project. It was followed by the rococo style Lustschloss of Linderhof Palace and the baroque palace of Herrenchiemsee, a monument for the era of absolutism. Linderhof, the smallest of the projects, was finished in 1886; the other two remain incomplete. All three projects together drained his resources enormously. The king paid for his construction projects by private means and from his civil list income. Contrary to frequently heard claims, the Bavarian treasury was not directly burdened by his buildings. From 1871 Ludwig had an additional secret income in return for a political favor given to Otto von Bismarck.

The construction costs of Neuschwanstein to the king's lifetime amounted to 6.2 million mark, almost twice the initial cost estimate of 3.2 million mark. As his private means were insufficient for his increasingly escalating construction projects, the king continuously took up new credits. In 1876, a court counselor was replaced after pointing out the danger of insolvency. By 1883 he already owed 7 million mark, and in spring 1884 and August 1885 debt conversions of 7½ million mark and 6½ million mark, respectively, became necessary.

Even after his debts had reached 14 million mark, Ludwig insisted on continuation of his architectural projects; he threatened to commit suicide if his creditors would take hold of his palaces. In early 1886 Ludwig asked his cabinet for a credit of 6 million mark, which was denied. In April he followed Bismarck's advice to apply for the money to his parliament. In June, the Bavarian government decided to depose the king, who was living at Neuschwanstein at the time. On June 9th he was incapacitated, and on June 10th he had the deposition commission arrested in the Gatehouse. In expectation of the commission he had alarmed the gendarmerie and fire brigades of surrounding places for his protection. A second commission headed by Bernhard von Gudden arrived on the next day, and the king was forced to leave the palace in the same night. Ludwig was put under the supervision of von Gudden. On June 13th both died under mysterious circumstances in the shallow shore water of Lake Starnberg near Castle Berg.

Accept
ATB
Hans Albers
Thomas Anders
Amon Düül
Wolf Biermann (born 1936), singer-songwriter and East German dissident
Böhse Onkelz
Bushido
Rolf Köhler
Fritz Busch (1890–1951), conductor
Sarah Connor, pop/soul singer
Michael and Sandra Cretu, founder-performers of Enigma (musical project) and Sandra (group)
DJ Tomekk
Frank Farian
Wilhelm Furtwängler (1886–1954), conductor and composer
Herbert Grönemeyer (born 1956)
Heino, popular singer
LaFee
Reinhard Mey (born 1942)
Marius Müller-Westernhagen
Anne-Sophie Mutter (born 1963), violinist
Karl Münchinger, conductor
Xavier Naidoo
Nena (born 1960)
Meshell Ndegeocello (born 1969)American parents not German.
Klaus Nomi (1944–1983)
Kool Savas, half German, half Turkish
Lisa Otto, opera singer
Michael Schenker (born 1955), guitar player of UFO and solo career
Sandra
Scooter
SASH!
Rammstein
Paffendorf
Sido (rapper)
Tokio Hotel
Hannes Wader
Bruno Walter (1876–1962), conductor and composer
Konstantin Wecker
Paul Van Dyk
Willy Hess, violinist
Yvonne Catterfeld
Dieter Bohlen (born 1954), music-producer

Forms of German-language music include Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW), Krautrock, Hamburger Schule, Volksmusik, German hip hop, trance, Schlager and multiple varieties of folk music. Classical composers include Richard Wagner and Johann Sebastian Bach, while Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was among many opera composers who created the field of German opera.

The beginning of what is now considered German music could be traced back to the 12th century compositions of mystic abbess Hildegard of Bingen, who wrote a variety of hymns and other kinds of Christian music.

Minnesingers and Meistersingers
After Latin-language religious music had dominated for centuries, in the 12th century to the 14th centuries, minnesingers (love poets), singing in German, spread across Germany. Minnesingers were aristocrats traveling from court to court who had become musicians, and their work left behind a vast body of literature, Minnelieder. The following two centuries saw the minnesingers replaced by middle-class meistersingers, who were often master craftsmen in their main profession, whose music (meistergesang) was much more formalized and rule-based than that of the minnesingers. Minnesingers and meistersingers could be considered parallels of French troubadours and trouvère.

Among the minnesingers, Hermann, a monk from Salzburg, deserves special note. He incorporated folk styles from the Alpine regions in his compositions. He made some primitive forays into polyphony as well. Walther von der Vogelweide and Reinmar von Hagenau are probably the most famous minnesingers from this period.

Classical music: sixteenth century to the present
Germans have played a leading role in the development of classical music. Many of the best classical musicians such as Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Handel, Brahms or Mahler were ethnically German. At the beginning of the fifteenth century, German classical music was revolutionized by Oswald von Wolkenstein, who travelled across Europe learning about classical traditions, spending time in countries like France and Italy. He brought back some techniques and styles to his homeland, and within a hundred years, Germany had begun producing composers renowned across the continent. Among the first of these composers was the organist Conrad Paumann.

Folk music
Germany has many unique regions with their own folk traditions of music and dance. Much of the 20th century saw German culture appropriated for the ruling powers (who fought "foreign" music at the same time), and thus it remained decidedly unpopular until later in the century. Most recently, the East German regime promoted folk music as long as it was what they saw as an expression of pure German tradition, and a tool for spreading party propaganda.

In both East and West Germany, folk songs called volkslieder were taught to children; these were popular, sunny and optimistic, and had little relation to authentic German folk traditions. Inspired by American and English roots revivals, Germany underwent many of the same changes following the 1968 student revolution in West Germany, and new songs, featuring political activism and realistic joy, sadness and passion, were written and performed on the burgeoning folk scene. In East Germany, the same process did not begin until the mid-70s, when folk musicians began incorporating revolutionary ideas in coded songs.

Popular folk songs included emigration songs from the 19th century, work songs and songs of apprentices, as well as democracy-oriented folk songs collected in the 1950s by Wolfgang Steinitz. Beginning in 1970, the Festival des politischen Liedes, an East German festival focusing on political songs, was held annually and organized (until 1980) by the FDJ (East German youth association). Musicians from up to thirty countries would participate, and, for many East Germans, it was the only exposure possible to foreign music. Among foreign musicians at the festival, some were quite renowned, including Inti Illimani (Chile), Billy Bragg (England), Dick Gaughan (Scotland), Mercedes Sosa (Argentina) and Pete Seeger (United States), while German performers included, from both East and West, Oktoberclub, Wacholder and Hannes Wader.

Germany's television market is the largest in Europe, with some 34 million TV households. The many regional and national public broadcasters are organised in line with the federal political structure. Around 90% of German households have cable or satellite TV, and viewers can choose from a variety of free-to-view public and commercial channels. Pay-TV services have not become popular or successful while public TV broadcasters ZDF and ARD offer a range of digital-only channels.

Germany is home to some of the world's largest media conglomerates, including Bertelsmann and the Axel Springer AG. Some of Germany's top free-to-air commercial TV networks are owned by ProSiebenSat1.

The German book market produces around 60,000 new publications every year. It represents 18% of all the books published worldwide and puts Germany in third place among the world’s book producers. The Frankfurt Book Fair is considered to be the most important book fair in the world for international deals and trading and has a tradition that spans over 500 years.

The country's news is provided for English speakers by news magazine Der Spiegel, state broadcaster Deutsche Welle and news site The Local.

In December 2008 the top visited websites by German internet users were Google.de, Google.com, YouTube, eBay, Wikipedia, Yahoo, Amazon.de and gmx.net.