Since its founding in 1975, the German Fairy Tale Route has rapidly become one of the few German holiday routes that are actually known worldwide and attract guests from all over the world. This success is rooted in the well-known Children's and Household Tales compiled by the Brothers Grimm. For more than two hundred years, these stories have fascinated people all over the world and of all ages, creating in their minds a romantic image of Germany, characterised by castles and palaces, half-timbered houses and dense forests. The success is not measurable in the strictest sense. But it is exemplarily visible in the "European Chinese Tourists Welcoming Award" presented in 2006, in the fact that it has been ranked among the "TOP 100 Sights of Germany" five times so far, in countless press publications with headlines such as "Germany's Dream Routes" (HÖRZU, May 26, 2017), or in the fact that at least 80 tour operators offer trips along the German Fairy Tale Route. This also shows that the German Fairy Tale Route is not "just" a holiday route; it is also a network and brand of its own. The German Fairy Tale Route is supported and designed in the three dimensions mentioned by the registered association of the same name; operational control and day-to-day business are the responsibility of the full-time office.

As part of a comprehensive process to further concentrate the German Fairy Tale Route brand, objectives and self-image have recently been updated and specified in the following vision: “The German Fairy Tale Route is a dynamic and professionally coordinated network of places and players that enrich, help shape and benefit from the German Fairy Tale Route. In the preparation of the Grimm fairy tales and legends for tourism, the German Fairy Tale Route assumes the leading position and is permanently among the top 3 holiday routes in Germany. For its guests, the German Fairy Tale Route offers a year-round experience of fairytale themes through value-conforming, unique offerings for individual travellers and groups."