Berlin continues to flourish as a successful convention destination

To ensure Berlin’s continued success as a convention destination in the long-term, the visitBerlin Berlin Convention Office (BCO) held “Meeting Place Berlin”. From 2–6 July, the BCO and its partners showed more than 130 national and international event planners the wide range of hotels, venues, and convention centres available in the city. The participants gave a consistently positive feedback. The BCO event was designed to help increase the number of multi-day conferences with more than 100 attendees in the capital.

Burkhard Kieker, CEO of visitBerlin comments: “Never before has the interest of international convention customers in Berlin been as high as it is now. Two-thirds of all attendees came from abroad. Meeting Place Berlin is the most important marketing activity for ensuring the success of Berlin as a convention metropolis well into the future.”

Enthusiastic attendees

Meeting Place Berlin made a good impression on the guests. Attendee Chunghee Yogi, Hana Travels Ltd., tour operator based in Mumbai, summarised: “Thank you for inviting me to Meeting Place Berlin. It was a wonderful event and an amazing experience to explore this beautiful city. I appreciate your team‘s efforts to making it a success. Surely I will come back with my clients very soon.”

“The Meeting Place Berlin was a great opportunity to get in contact with many suppliers. The organisation of the event was very professional, everything was planned exactly for my business”, explains attendee Chiara Dionisi Vici of the agency The Next World Incentive & Convention, Rome.

Ulrike Gro?bauer of the travel agency Kuoni Interactive, Vienna, says: “I am in Berlin regularly, but the city is changing very quickly. Meeting Place Berlin was the ideal opportunity to learn about new hotels and locations. The input during the guided tours of Berlin was especially good. I recommend Meeting Place Berlin to everyone.”

The USA is top international market

132 national and international customers from 30 countries attended Meeting Place Berlin. The biggest international markets included the USA, the UK, India, Italy, and France. There were even guests from Venezuela, Singapore, and Indonesia. Meeting Place Berlin was in especially high demand with convention agencies (74？% of attendees), followed by international associations (15 %), and companies (11 %). Represented industries were for example science, information technology and the luxury travel sector. There were more than 540 registrations.

Comprehensive supporting programme: tours introduced new locations and hotels

Meeting PlaceBerlin was held at the new Westhafen Event & Convention Center, amongst other places. Guided tours introduced classics as well as newcomers to the Berlin location and hotel landscape. These included the Bolle Eventlocation, the Estrel Convention Center, 25hours Bikini Berlin, and the Steigenberger Hotel am Kanzleramt. Additional tours included well-known attractions and walks through the city’s districts.

Berlin – successful convention destination

In 2014, Berlin looked back on its most successful convention year to date: according to current convention statistics from the visitBerlin Berlin Convention Office, in the past year about 11 million people (+3% in comparison to the previous year) attended more than 131,000 events (+4%) in the German capital. Berlin is also one of the leading locations internationally: currently it is ranked fourth among the world’s top convention destinations. The German capital is especially attractive due to its diverse hotel landscape and large selection of locations.