In 2014, business trips from Europe to German congresses and conferences increased by 5 percent, proving to be the strongest segment in the business travel sector. Germany is in the lead amongst the business destinations of the Europeans: in 2014, a total of 12.4 million business trips were based in Germany.
Petra Hedorfer, chairwoman of the German National Tourism Board (DZT) states: “Particularly the 6.9 million business trips to fairs, meetings, incentives, congresses and events were a very important and stable factor for the development of business travel from Europe, considering that they constituted 56 percent and showed a small growth (1 percent more compared to the year before). 3.7 million (30 percent) of all business trips are for conferences and congresses, which is a growth of 5 percent in this segment in comparison to the year before.
As such, the business travel to conferences and congresses balance out the 3 percent decrease in the fair and exhibition segment. Thanks to a reduction of traditional business trips of 3 percent, the European business travel to Germany showed a small minus of 1 percent in 2014.
Matthias Schultze, CEO of the GCB German Convention Bureau says: “For the past five years, the segment of business travel to conventions and congresses has shown a continuous increase: from 2.3 million in 2009 to 3.7 million in 2014.”
“This success is based on several reasons”, continues Schultze. “Besides the excellent infrastructure and the very good price-performance relationship, some of the most important criteria for event planners are the competence of German cities and regions in important areas of the economy and science, as well as Germany’s image as a leading place in innovation and sustainability.”