Berlin, 4 November 2010 ”The decision provides the planning certainty we need for the Berlin convention business”, says Burkhard Kieker, CEO of visitBerlin. After the reconstruction of the congress and exhibition hall to be followed by the refurbishment of the ICC, the German capital will almost double its capacities! In this way we will be able to continue to play in the top five league of international convention cities.”

The Berlin Convention Office of visitBerlin, in charge of the acquisition of meetings and conventions, is now again able to offer customers throughout the world planning certainty.

The convention and meeting market is a significant economic factor for the German capital. It generates annual sales revenues of about EUR 1.53 billion and secures 29,600 jobs. During the first half-year 2010 alone 53,250 events of this kind took place in Berlin. Around 4.2 million participants travelled to Berlin to attend them.

The Berlin Senate decided on Thursday to tear down the Deutschlandhalle arena. A new two-storey arena will be built on this site by the end of 2013. It will temporarily replace the international congress and convention centre ICC Berlin which will be closed for refurbishment between 2014 and 2016. After the ICC re-opens, Messe Berlin will then have access to almost twice as much congress space.

(1,450 characters)