Hamburg Tourism Day

The Hamburg Tourism Day 2007

1. Introduction

The Hamburg Tourism Day is held annually in regular intervals by the tourism organizations of the city of Hamburg in the Chamber of Commerce to deepen business contacts and inform about networking possibilities in marketing the city as a tourist destination. The organizers include the German Hotel and Restaurant Association DEHOGA Hamburg, the Hamburg Tourism Corporation, the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, the Tourism Hamburg Membership Corporation as well as the Hamburg Office of Economic Affairs and Employment (Pilgrim, 2007).

2. Event Analysis

2.1 Purpose

The topic of this year's Hamburg Tourism Day was "Collectively successful through intelligent co-operations and strategic networking" (Pilgrim, 2007). This heading already gives a very good impression of the purpose of the event. By attending the Hamburg Tourism Day 2007, firms could learn for example about current trends in the Germany tourism, how they could profit as allied firm of the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) and which potential lies within the tourism market research.

Of course the purpose was to acquire new members who also pay the annual member fee, but the whole idea was presented as a mutually beneficent relationship.

2.2 Size

According to the registration list, which all participants received in their information package, 290 people from 215 different firms attended the Hamburg Tourism Day 2007. Among them were representatives of firms such as the Hamburg Fair and Congress Corporation and the Airport Hamburg Corporation as well as several well-established hotels like the Le Meridien Hamburg, the InterContinental Hamburg and the Hotel Louis C. Jacob.

2.3 Location

The major part of the event took place in the Albert-SchÐ'fer-Hall, which is the big boardroom of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce. It offers seating for approximately 220 people, as well as 10 seats on the podium. The location is fully equipped with the latest conference technique including beamers, microphones, interpreter booths etc. The participants could follow the six different speeches while being seated in comfortable, wide chairs. Therefore the three hours of sitting and listening were neither too long, nor too uncomfortable.

The Albert-SchÐ'fer-Hall also features a foyer, which provides a bar and a cloakroom for 250 coats. In the foyer, the GNTB and Hamburg Tourism each had a stand where they presented themselves and where participants could take along bags filled with information including the latest German tourism report, information on possible co-operations with the tourism organizations as well as press releases and the like.

In the wide corridor to each side of the Albert-SchÐ'fer-Hall the different tourism organizations and departments each had a small stand and were at the participants' disposal if they had further questions on cooperating or other queries. Furthermore a bar with a variety of juices and wines as well as two buffets with a luncheon were arranged to each side.

The Albert-SchÐ'fer-Hall can be rented for Ђ 700 plus VAT per day, but as the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce functions as one of the hosts of the Hamburg Tourism Day, the rent of course did not have to be paid (MÐ'lzer, 2007).

2.4 Planning Efforts and Organizational Structure

This year the Hamburg Tourism Days was held for the 6th time. According to Mr. Dorigoni (2007), all of the in the beginning mentioned six host organizations participate in the organization of the event and compartmentalize