Germany is regarded as the best event destination throughout Europe; worldwide it is ranked in second place behind the USA – according to the results of the “Meeting & EventBarometer 2008“. This study, which the European Institute for the Meetings Industry (EITW) conducted on behalf of the German National Tourist Board (GNTB), the GCB German Convention Bureau and the European Association of Events Centers (EVVC), was presented at IMEX 2008.

Special accolades for infrastructure and quality of events facilities

In comparison with the previous year, Germany succeeded in achieving further improvements with regard to international flight connections. The quality of the events facilities was evaluated as extremely positive across the board: event locations and convention centres in particular achieved substantial improvements in this regard in comparison with the previous year. To an increasing extent, experts and organisers perceive Germany as a reliable, professional, environmentally friendly and service-oriented event destination.

Ranking of federal states and regions

Organisers and experts rank Berlin and Bavaria in first place among the most popular federal states. Nevertheless, the study reveals perceptible differences in the assessments in this area. For example, Hamburg and Baden-Wurttemberg scored more points with the experts than in the previous year; the organisers perceived substantial growth of potential in North-Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse.

In the opinion of the experts, large cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants are the most popular localities for events, followed by historical towns, which can enrich the actual event with added tourism value by means of their townscapes and many sightseeing features. The experts that were surveyed rank economic regions in third place  – there is an upward tendency in this regard: 23.4 percent of the polled experts mentioned this type of network of various large cities as the most popular localities for events, which is 2.7 percent more than in the previous year.

15.9 percent of all respondents preferred natural landscapes as attractive localities for events. Among these, the most well-regarded event regions are the Baltic Sea, the Bavarian Forest and Lake Constance, whereby the latter region achieved a very substantial improvement in comparison with the previous year. The Erzgebirge mountain region also improved its image in the event industry: it is now in third place among the low mountain range zones.