The International Congress Center Berlin (ICC Berlin) is the winner of yet another major international award…
The International Congress Center Berlin (ICC Berlin) is the winner of yet another major international award. Europe’s largest conference venue was voted the “World’s Leading Conference & Convention Centre 2004”. Over 230,000 tourism experts from travel agencies, hotels, airlines, tourism centres and other organisations around the world cast their vote. Major contenders which the ICC Berlin saw off included the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, the International Conference Center Chicago, the ExCeL London, the Las Vegas Convention Center and the World Trade Centre Dubai.
This is the 11th occasion that the London-based media organisation World Travel Awards Ltd. has presented the prize. Last year the ICC Berlin took second place. Completed in 1979, it acquired a dominant market role even in its early years. In 1984, 1985 and 1986 readers of Conferences & Exhibitions International, then a leading British journal, voted it “the best congress centre in the world”.
According to Raimund Hosch, CEO Messe Berlin GmbH, receiving this prestigious award is confirmation of the company’s successful business strategies, which in particular focus on large-scale international congresses. “With visitors spending 120 million euros every year, such mega-sized conferences substantially boost consumer purchasing power in the city, a considerable part of which converts into direct tax income for Berlin. Even if the upkeep of the ICC is a costly affair, the overall economic impact on the city is reason enough to keep this venue in business”, commented Raimund Hosch. What is more, he said, is that the ICC Berlin is indispensable for holding congresses accompanying trade fairs, which generate publicity on a global scale and significantly bolster Berlin’s role as a centre for business and science.
Congresses are responsible for a considerable share of business travel, an important market segment of the entire tourism industry. In 2004 the success of the ICC Berlin also contributed to a resurgence of the tourism industry’s fortunes in Berlin. In the same year the ICC Berlin registered a total of 585 conferences and more than 174,000 participants. 50 per cent of visitors (100,000) came from outside Berlin.
Attendance figures highest in the world
Thriving business at the ICC Berlin has a decisive impact on how Berlin ranks alongside other cities competing internationally to host conference venues. According to a recent survey by the Amsterdam-based International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA), Berlin tops the list for attendance at 90,000, followed by Paris and Vienna, each with 80,000 visitors to their events. Berlin took sixth place for the number of conferences overall in 2003.
Worldwide market leader for large-scale medical congresses
The area of science that most frequently hosts conferences is medicine. According to an ICCA DATA bulletin, in cases where large-scale medical congresses attended by over 4,000 participants were being held, Berlin’s conference centre was already ahead of its international competitors as the most in-demand venue in 1996. In recent years the ICC Berlin has vindicated its market standing by repeatedly organising and holding further “congress marathons” in the medical sector. These have included the European Congress of Pulmonary Experts 2001, attended by 15,000 specialists, the European Cardiology Congress 2002 (26,000 specialists), the European Nephrology Congress 2003 (10,000 specialists), and the EULAR Congress 2004 attended by 12,000 experts specialising in medical problems of the liver.
This trend towards large-scale congresses will continue. Bookings up to 2014 are already in for 250 top events with over one million participants from around the world. Some 20 per cent of these conferences will be attended by over 5,000 participants coming to visit Berlin.
“These figures are proof that the city can afford to keep a venue such as the ICC Berlin, along with its attendant costs”, emphasised CEO Raimund Hosch. Historically this seventies structure was a period example of high-tech architecture, its most famous representative being the Centre Pompidou in Paris. At the time of its opening the unique and unmistakeable features of the ICC Berlin led many to regard it as one of the most outstanding buildings of the post-war era. “With a history of 13,000 congress events to its name, the building’s multi-purpose nature and features have impressively withstood the test of time”, commented Raimund Hosch.
New salons, extra equipment
This past year considerable amounts have been invested in new rooms and additional equipment, further ensuring highest technical standards and the latest in room equipment for events of all kinds in the ICC. In order to meet rising demand existing space has been converted into two new salons on the same floor as the Pullman restaurant, each offering seating for 70. Two salons adding the same amount of space in the ICC yet again will be ready for the IFA as of September 2005. These bear the names of famous specialists from the medical profession, such as Virchow, Langenbeck, Koch and Sauerbruch.
Technical innovations are also much in evidence in the ICC Berlin. In Halls 1 (seating 5,000), 2 (up to 3,000) and 3 (800), and in the roof garden foyer, directional lighting systems have been replaced by state-of-the-art illumination. Throughout the building, new in-house TV circuits now transmit on two channels, enabling audiences to listen to speakers in two languages, for example.
Two new large-scale screens measuring 8 by 22 metres have now replaced those previously mounted on the sound curtains in Halls 1 and 2, resulting in even better and clearer acoustics during events, and improved sound effects from the various screenings taking place.
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