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Dusseldorf’s popularity as a convention location is on the rise

Dusseldorf Convention succeeds Convention Bureau Dusseldorf.

The conference and convention market of Düsseldorf continued its positive development in 2016, as confirmed by the Meeting & EventBarometer Düsseldorf 2016 which provides a detailed analysis of market events in the NRW state capital for the third time. 45,317 events took place here last year attended by a total of 3.81 million people. This represents an increase of 1.1 per cent for events and as much as 5.9 per cent for participants in year-on-year comparison. Düsseldorf Convention is aiming to further boost this development in the coming years. As a new unit of Düsseldorf Marketing GmbH, Düsseldorf Convention now takes over from the convention bureau DÜSSELDORF with the aim of expanding convention business even more intensively in future, whereby Düsseldorf Congress Sport & Events (DCSE) will remain an indispensable strategic partner.

“Growth in the event and participant figures revealed by the Meeting & EventBarometer for 2016 confirms the importance of the convention and conference industry for Düsseldorf. It is a real economic factor and, because of the millions of participants who come to the city, an important building block of city marketing. The logical consequence of this situation analysis was to integrate the convention bureau into Düsseldorf Marketing GmbH and rename it Düsseldorf Convention,” says Düsseldorf Marketing Managing Director Frank Schrader. He is also the Managing Director of Düsseldorf Tourismus GmbH with which Düsseldorf Convention is working very closely and whose expertise will be providing important support, particularly during the start-up phase.

Düsseldorf Convention has been headed since August by Christian Ortlepp who has taken up the newly created position of Director. The industry expert had most recently worked with Messe Berlin whom he joined in 2010. Together with Frank Schrader he will now be driving MICE business. “Düsseldorf Convention will be meticulously analysing the market so that it can become even more active in the strategic acquisition of national and international conventions. This business has a long run-up which means that right now we are already working on the years after 2019,” Ortlepp explains. An important step in this connection was Düsseldorf Convention’s membership of the ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association), an important platform for the industry and key for the acquisition of international association conventions.

DCSE is a strategic partner of Düsseldorf Convention
DCSE is a crucial strategic partner of Düsseldorf Convention. The convention bureau DÜSSELDORF was developed by DCSE in conjunction with Düsseldorf Tourismus and run as their joint project. Up to 2019 the CCD Congress Center Düsseldorf will be extensively upgraded, further strengthening the quality of this location. Against this backdrop, Düsseldorf Convention is playing a central role in marketing the convention destination. “The Congress Center is preparing itself to even better meet the requirements of large-scale conventions and corporate events with greater capacity and newly designed facilities. We see continuous growth and long-term prospects for Düsseldorf as a conference and convention location,” says Hilmar Guckert, management spokesman for Düsseldorf Congress Sport & Event.

Meeting & EventBarometer shows trend to internationalisation
Even though in 2016 the majority (44.2 per cent) of conference and convention organisers came from the Düsseldorf region, the increasing internationalisation of these organisers has become apparent. Last year 9.4 per cent of organisers were from outside Germany. This corresponds with a year-on-year increase of 3.3 per cent. The increasing number of international organisers is mirrored by the growing numbers of international participants. They accounted for 8.9 per cent of total participants – an increase of 2.3 per cent on 2015. The most important source market was the United Kingdom (UK) followed by France, Spain and the USA. A parallel development can be seen with regard to total overnight stays by foreign guests in 2016: here too, the UK led with 203,000 overnight stays. If one considers the average duration of events in Düsseldorf – 1.6 days – their importance for the hotel industry also becomes apparent.

Growing share of IT and telecommunications events
Organisers from the business world accounted for 76.2 per cent of Düsseldorf’s overall market. A look at the various sectors shows that the banking and insurance industry continues to hold its lead. For the first time the IT and telecommunications industry has moved into second place, ahead of the chemical and pharmaceuticals industry in third place. 23.8 per cent of events are staged by non-profit organisations. Associations are the most important organisers in this segment.

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Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.

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