Record numbers of tourists are expected to visit the Berlin city during November weekend to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Berlin Wall's fall. According to Burkhard Kieker, CEO of VisitBerlin, tourists would like to have a first-hand account as to how Berliners have utilized the opportunity that was presented to them two-and-half decades ago. VisitBerlin, in association with Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH and the Berlin Senate, is launching domestic as well as international campaigns to market the activities that have been charted out to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall.
As part of the 25th anniversary celebrations, lights will be installed along the course where the wall existed earlier, cutting across city center. The images of these lights will not only draw the attention of the media from around the world, but also serve to remind the events that marked the end of the Cold War. VisitBerlin is extending invitations to many special guests and journalists for their participation in the anniversary.
Daily updates as regards the events scheduled for the anniversary celebrations are being provided at wall.visitBerlin.com. The website also provides names of places where tourists can get an understanding of the Wall’s history.
The tourism statistics for Berlin broke records for the 10th time in a row in 2013 with as many as 26.94 million overnight stays, an increase of 8.2 percent over the previous year. The overnight stays threshold of 25 million was breached for the first time in December 2013. The total number of tourist arrivals was 11.32 million, up 4.4% over that of the prior year. A major part of the tourists came from USA, UK, Italy, Netherlands and several other European countries.
Russian tourists recorded 506,100 overnight stays in 2013, an increase of 21.5 percent over 2012. Iceland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Malta and Gulf States also recorded an increase in overnight stays. Domestic tourism also grew with 15 million overnight stays recorded by German travelers.
Cornelia Yzer, Senator for Economics, commented that Berlin, undoubtedly, is the fastest growing tourist destinations in the world. It is one of the top three European destinations and is also a leading destination for conferences and conventions. In Berlin’s economic success, tourism has a key role to play.