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.

Hamburg is the second-largest city in Germany (second to Berlin) and the eleventh-largest city in the European Union. The city is home to over 1.8 million people, while the Hamburg Metropolitan Region (including parts of the neighboring Federal States of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein) has more than 4.3 million inhabitants. The port of Hamburg is the second-largest port in Europe (second to Rotterdam), and the ninth largest in the world.

Hamburg's official name is the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (German: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg). It makes reference to Hamburg's history as a member of the medieval Hanseatic League, as a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire, and also to the fact that Hamburg was a city-state and one of the sixteen States of Germany.

Hamburg is a major transportation hub in Northern Germany. It has become a media and industrial center, with factories such as Airbus, Blohm + Voss and Aurubis. The radio and television broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk and publishers such as Gruner + Jahr and Spiegel-Verlag represent the important media industry in Hamburg. In total there are more than 120,000 enterprises. The city is a major tourist destination both for domestic and overseas visitors, receiving about 7.7 million overnight stays in 2008.

Hamburg offers more than 40 theatres, 60 museums and 100 music venues and clubs. In 2005, more than 18 million people visited concerts, exhibitions, theatres, cinemas, museums, and other performances of cultural achievement. More than 8,552 taxable companies – the average size was 3.16 employees – were engaged in culture like music, performing arts and literature. There are 5 companies in the creative sector per thousand residents (Berlin 3, London 37).

Theaters
The state-owned Deutsches Schauspielhaus, the Thalia Theater, and the Kampnagel are well-known theatres in Germany and abroad. The English Theatre near U3 Mundsburg station was established in 1976 and is the oldest professional English speaking theatre in Germany having exclusively English native speaking actors in its staff.

Museums
Hamburg possesses several big museums and galleries showing classical and contemporary art, as for example the Kunsthalle Hamburg with its contemporary art gallery (Galerie der Gegenwart), the Museum for Art and Industry (Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe) and the Deichtorhallen/House of Photography. In 2008, the Internationales Maritimes Museum Hamburg opened in the HafenCity quarter. Moreover, there are various specialised Museums in Hamburg, like the Museum of Labour (Museum der Arbeit), and several museums of local history, for example the Kiekeberg Open Air Museum (Freilichtmuseum am Kiekeberg). Two museum ships near Landungsbrücken bear witness to the freight ship (Cap San Diego) and cargo sailing ship era (Rickmer Rickmers). In Hamburg situated one of the world largest model railway museum Miniatur Wunderland with 12 km (7.46 mi) total railway length.

Museum BallinStadt Emigration City reminds of the vast streams of European people emigrating from those mass accommodation halls between 1850 and 1939 to North and South America. Visitors stemming from overseas emigrants may search for their ancestors in data banks.