25 years of visitBerlin
- In 1993, Berlin founded its own tourism and city marketing agency, today visitBerlin
- visitBerlin is a successful public-private partnership model in tourism and city marketing
- The visitBerlinBerlin Convention Office has been active in congress marketing for the city since 2001
- 13 million visitors to Berlin generate annual sales of € 11.6 billion
Berlin, April 23, 2018 25 years ago in April 1993, visitBerlin, at the time Berlin Tourismus Marketing GmbH, was founded as the first German public-private partnership in tourism. Thus 25 years ago, a trend-setting company model was developed to the city's advantage: Today Berlin is known worldwide as a top European destination and ranks third in Europe after London and Paris. With an annual turnover of 11.6 billion euros, tourism and congresses are one of the biggest economic factors in Berlin.
Ramona Pop, Berlin's Senator for Economics, Energy and Business: "I congratulate visitBerlin heartily on its anniversary. It was a good, future-oriented decision that Berlin founded an independent company for capital city marketing in 1993 together with partners from Berlin's business community. The professional tourism marketing of visitBerlin has contributed significantly to the fact that the attractiveness of our city is reflected in a constantly growing number of visitors from Germany and all over the world".
Oliver Schumacher, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of visitBerlin: "I thank my colleagues at visitBerlin, who are networked throughout the city and travel around the world for Berlin. Thanks also go to the many partners and institutions with whom visitBerlin has been working together for years - a cooperation that contributes a lot".
"visitBerlin is a little puzzle piece", says visitBerlin Managing Director Burkhard Kieker. "Our job is to pull the curtain aside and inspire the world with Berlin's people, atmosphere, and culture."
Visitor development from 1993 up to today
At the beginning of 1993, statistics counted around three million visitors and 7.3 million overnight stays in Berlin. Now, around 13 million guests spend the night in the city over 31 million times a year. Berlin is also very popular as a convention destination. For more than ten years, the German capital has been ranked among the top 5 metropolises for international conventions.
Tourism marketing at visitBerlin has been supplemented with additional tasks in recent years. The sustainable development and management of tourism have also come into focus. In exchange with other metropolises, visitBerlin has contributed significantly to further developing this issue. The insights gained in this way led to a study that forms the basis for the current tourism concept of the Berlin Senate.
The visitBerlin company
Get the world excited about Berlin - visitBerlin is now advertising in over 50 countries with this mission. More than 200 employees work in the capital as well as on all continents in order to position Berlin as a tourism and congress metropolis. Hundreds of events worldwide use visitBerlin for Berlin advertising and numerous international journalists and bloggers are supported by visitBerlin on their research trips to the city. In addition, the Berlin Convention Office, founded in 2001, acquires visitBerlin conferences, trade fairs, and congresses for the German capital.
visitBerlin is also active as a tour operator and thus generates a large part of its budget itself. The company operates seven Berlin Tourist Information centres and is responsible for Berlin's official travel website, visitBerlin.de.
More information on 25 years of development in Berlin tourism can be found in our press news or on Twitter (@visitBerlinnews).
To find out more about visitBerlin, go to about.visitBerlin.de
More about the anniversary: about.visitBerlin.de/25-Jahre-visitBerlin
