financial excesses

mark is being raised. The International
Monetary Fund
(IMF) has mooted an inflation
target of four percent. Kenneth
Rogoff, Harvard professor
and former IMF chief
economist, came out in favour
of six percent last year
Taxes and
contributions
already to “ameliorate the
debt bomb and help us work
through the deleveraging
process”.
The pleasant side effects of
inflation are that taxes and
contributions need not be put
up quite as much and public
belt-tightening need not be
quite as stringent. But more
than public sector debt is at
stake here. In many countries
CCH – Congress Center Hamburg
Turning Ideas into Success
the private household sector
is also deeply in debt – if not,
indeed, already out of its
depth. Slightly higher inflation
offers a chance of lightening
this debt load and quickly putting
in place the conditions for
new economic growth.
On the other hand, companies
would presumably immediately
have to pay more
to borrow funds because
lenders would instantly demand
higher rates of interest.
Real interest rates would
climb, with the possible danger
of choking off investment
in machinery and equipment.
At the same time the development
in sales prices would
be difficult to predict – not a
pleasant situation for businesses.
Faced with the alternative
of a potentially long period
of economic stagnation,
10,000 sq.m. of exhibition space plus
additional seating for a total of 12,500 persons
New multifunctional exhibition hall
Spectator events for up to 6,000 persons
Prize-winning, state-of-the-art audio and event technology
Optimal city-centre location adjoining trade fair grounds
ICE high-speed train station Hamburg-Dammtor on the doorstep
however, this may be by all
means acceptable. And even
for indebted countries, investing
in convention centres
and the meetings infrastructure
still makes sense. After
all, the indirect returns, i.e.
the benefits accruing to municipalities
and regions from
the extra visitor spend on taxis,
hotels and restaurants, are
extremely profitable at congresses
and events.
Taking Düsseldorf as an illustration,
a study by the Ifo Institute
for Economic Research
in Munich demonstrated
that for every euro of
revenues notched up by an
exhibition company more
than six euros are spent on
services outside the actual
trade fair. In the case of conference
delegates the ratio is
yet more attractive still: every
SPOTLIGHT
euro collected by the conference
centre compares with
almost 17 euros of additional
expenditure on hotels, upmarket
boutiques and airlines,
for example. The lead in
terms of total turnover is
equally great:conferencegoers
in Germany alone
spend altogether roughly
EUR 22.4 billion, almost
twice as much as trade fair
attendees and exhibitors together.
Delegates at international
conventions and congresses
are prepared to shell out almost
EUR 500 a day. Each
year the World Cardiology
Congress, for instance, channels
revenues of more than
EUR 80 million into the host
city’s tills during the four-day
gathering for its roughly
30,000 heart specialists. DM
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