financial excesses

a variety of competent fullservice
arrangements. The
DMT team headed by Andrea
Baule is available to assist
organizers with selecting
meeting venues, for
booking hotel rooms or organization
of social programs.
In addition to special brochures,
e.g. the Location-
Guide, the convention bureau
Düsseldorf has also installed
a website at
www.convention-duesseldorf.com
featuring compre-
Hilmar Guckert on international conference
delegates’ willingness to spend and the repercussions
of the economic crisis on the
Congress Center Düsseldorf (CCD).
TW: Taking Düsseldorf as an
illustration, a report by the
Munich-based Ifo Institute
for Economic Research revealed
that for every euro of
turnover in the congress
centre almost another 17 euros
are spent on hotels, luxury
boutiques or air fares. In
Hamburg the ratio is just 1
to 14. Is Düsseldorf so much
more expensive, or are customers
there simply better
off?
Guckert: Well, the Ifo study
examined the CCD and not
congress and conference
guests in Düsseldorf. One
explanation may therefore be
that our visitors are slightly
more international. Experience,
and our earlier statistics,
indicate that the more
international the event, the
The multifunctional room „Beijing“
at Düsseldorf China Center.
hensive information about
the city of Düsseldorf. Event
planners may activate a virtual
LocationFinder tool to
rapidly and conveniently find
a venue meeting their specific
needs and requirements.
More information
about convention bureau
Düsseldorf is available at
www.convention-duesseldorf.com.
KA
“Palpable recovery”
higher the turnover. At a congress
with 1,000 participants,
400 of whom come from other
European countries or are
intercontinental travellers,
the delegate spend is higher
than when there are only 100
international attendees. Besides
which, international
conventions last a little longer.
And people staying three
days in a city have more opportunities
to spend money
than if they are only there for
a day and a half, during which
the programme schedule is
so tight that they may not
have a chance to go shopping
at all.
TW: What areas, industries
and countries do the CCD’s
clients come from?
Guckert: Corporate business
accounts for roughly 60
2/2010 41
CCD
DÜSSELDORF