Thuringia’s tourism is still suffering from the consequences of the corona pandemic – now there are high inflation and energy prices. A new man should now ensure more vacationers as well as culture and city tourists.
Erfurt (dpa/th) – After the South Tyrolean Franz Hofmann, a native of Thuringia should now boost tourism in the Free State. Christoph Gösel, born in Nordhausen, will be the new managing director of Thüringer Tourismus GmbH (TTG) from January 2023, as the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced in Erfurt on Friday. He prevailed among around 70 applicants nationwide. His contract will initially run for three years.
The position has to be filled because Hoffmann had asked for his employment contract to be terminated prematurely at the end of the year for professional and private reasons. The tourism expert, lawyer and manager took over TTG in spring 2020. Actually, his contract would have run until mid-2023. There had been public criticism of the work of the TTG boss from members of the state parliament, including those from the Left and the CDU.
The supervisory board of the state-owned TTG had agreed on Gösel, most recently managing director of Kultourstadt Gotha GmbH and previously active in Arnstadt. He has held managerial positions in tourism marketing in Thuringia for around 20 years. Economics Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee (SPD), who is also the head of the TTG supervisory board, praised Gösel as an experienced tourism manager who “knows the country and its people and is very familiar with the advantages and special features of Thuringia”.
He should connect the state company more closely with the players in the regions and municipalities and authentically represent and sell Thuringia as a holiday destination. According to Tiefensee, tourism is operating in a difficult environment due to the corona and energy crises.
The tasks of the new TTG boss included increasing the quality of tourism offers and improving the clout and effectiveness of TTG. Gösel spoke of a voyage of discovery for him to network tourism in an entire federal state. Gösel was born in 1973. He studied business administration in Jena.
