The Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf hosts one of the country's over 80 opera houses. JENS WEGENER/GERMAN NATIONAL TOURIST BOARD

About 12 percent of the nearly 184 million tourists who traveled to Europe for its culture in 2018 visited Germany, official data show. Chinese registered over 2.5 million overnight stays in the country between January and October of last year.

"Music has no boundaries. As one of the composers who is most frequently played worldwide, Beethoven is a cultural ambassador who belongs not only to Germany but also to the whole world," says Ralf Birkner, managing director of the Beethoven Jubilaeums Gesellschaft mbH(Beethoven Anniversary Society).

The government founded the society to coordinate the 2020 celebrations.

"Beethoven's great works have opened doors to our lives," Birkner says.

"And his utopian thought and liberal spirit have inspired us to understand the world deeply. We hope that people from all over the world can understand him from different perspectives via the events of the jubilee."