Well over 200 media around the world await Swiss vacationers

Germans, Austrians and Swiss are world vacation champions. Wherever they go on vacation and spend money, their language is also very popular. There are German courses or German-language tourism courses for prospective hotel employees and special newspapers or magazines in German for vacation guests. Of the more than 2,000 German-language publications outside the German-speaking area, more than 180 are mainly aimed at German, Austrian and Swiss holidaymakers. In addition, there are around 35 radio programs and two smaller television offerings for travelers. In addition to these specialized media, there are of course many more in German that report in a more general way, but occasionally also offer articles and sections for tourists.

Björn Akstinat, Head of IMH: "The most vacation media, namely around 100 publications and radio programs, are understandably to be found in Spain. This is followed at some distance by the Czech Republic, Poland, Thailand, Italy, Portugal, the United States and Turkey. But countries such as Costa Rica, Iceland, Namibia and Cyprus also offer German-language tourist media. Even Tunisia broadcasts a daily radio program especially for guests from the north."

The best-known foreign newspapers are undoubtedly Mallorca-Magazin, founded in 1971, and Mallorca-Zeitung, founded in 2000. They have both been on the market for a very long time because they are backed by major Spanish publishers. They are read by short-term tourists and "permanent vacationers" who are already registered on Mallorca. Around 30,000 German speakers now live on the island permanently. Some of them were born there. Slowly but surely, a new minority of Germans, Swiss and Austrians is emerging in the Mediterranean with its own culture and infrastructure.

Most media are managed by native or German-born editors-in-chief. But Swiss people have also ventured into self-employment abroad. These include Joe Schacher from Canaren-Express in Tenerife and Martin Rüegsegger from the Thai magazine Der Farang. Under his leadership, Rüegsegger's magazine has achieved an impressive circulation of around 7,000 copies.

Florida was the birthplace of around ten new German-language vacation publications in the 1990s. Of these, only the magazine "Florida Sun", which can also be bought at newsstands in Europe, has survived to this day. However, it is not without competition, as a new newspaper was recently launched in German: The SunState Post.

The magazine Scotland from Edinburgh is also new. It was founded by Nicola de Paoli, a former employee of the Financial Times Deutschland, who moved to the capital of the "breakaway" region of Great Britain for family reasons. Her magazine is the first major printed source of information and guidance for travelers to Scotland. The summer issue includes a report on the "Harry Potter" railroad in the Highlands, tips on emigrating and a richly illustrated story on old smugglers' trails through the Speyside whisky region.

The most distant tourist publication is the newspaper New Zealand News on the other side of the world. It has been published by Gerhard Uster for almost 20 years and is Kiwiland's most important news and advertising medium in German. Uster explains: "New Zealand is becoming increasingly popular as a travel destination and the Swiss can of course find information much more easily and quickly via our newspaper and our internet portal than via foreign-language media."

Newspapers, magazines and radio programs aimed primarily at tourists are the most booming sector of the German-language media scene abroad. The number of tourist media is constantly increasing. Even though some are disappearing, the total number is increasing due to numerous new start-ups. If you want to know which publication or radio program is published or broadcast near your vacation destination, you can get free information around the clock at [email protected].

The Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internationale Medienhilfe (IMH) is the association of German-language newspapers, magazines, radio and television programs abroad. For over 20 years, it has been advising media makers, supporting media start-ups and placing Swiss students as interns with its member media. The internship placement program set up by the IMH is now the largest in the media sector.