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Booming Berlin

15.02.2007

EuropeanCEO Jan. / Feb. 2007

The booming, buzzing city of Berlin is the heart of modern Germany. A potent and diverse mix of culture, architecture, fashion, design, music, politics and business, with an edgy glamour that has traditionally been present throughout the last century, says David Neville Williams.

It is difficult to believe that this dynamic capital city had such relatively modest beginnings as a trading centre in the 13th century, before growing into the European powerhouse that hogged centre stage throughout the turbulent 20th century. But then Berlin has always thrived on change and made a virtue of reinventing itself. Since reunification in 1990, it has evolved into a bohemian, artistic, creative and dynamic place with a surprising light heartedness that lurks beneath its apparently austere façade. There are grand public buildings, glorious museums and theatres, sophisticated restaurants, lively beer cellars and racy, raucous nightclubs. On the business front, it has developed into the number one city in Germany for top-flight conferences, exhibitions, meetings, incentive and conventions, offering the perfect stage for any demanding modern event. The growth in budget flights to Berlin in recent years has brought a boom in visitors from abroad enjoying weekend breaks in the city. Many come to appreciate the architecture and in this respect Berlin is an open book. The compelling history of the city is more clearly reflected in the cityscape here than in practically any other European city. If you want to discover the real Berlin and its history, there is no better way to do this than to take a walking tour. The chapters and pages of the book that is Berlin are the districts, squares, corners, streets and buildings that tell of Prussian splendour created by those great master builders Karl Schinkel and Friedrich Stuler, and of the buildings from the era of rapid industrial expansion at the end of the 19th century when Berlin grew in just a few years to become a city with a population of more than a million.

New Berlin: After reunification, the city seized the opportunity to reshape a city that had lost its centre through wartime devastation. Today, 17 years later, the German capital is still not completed but the ‘New Berlin’ is clearly emphasising the main points of the restructured Pariser Platz, the Potsdamer Platz, the Leipziger Platz and the revived Friedrichstrasse. Large projects continue to be completed and even more are planned, including the restructuring of the Alexanderplatz, the new Central Railway Station and the renovation of Museum Island. Trends are being set not just in Berlin’s architecture but also in the worlds of fashion and design. In January 2006, UNESCO selected Berlin as a ‘City Of Design’ and it is the only metropolis in Europe to have been be awarded this distinction. It subsequently received the additional accolade of being included in the global ‘Creative Cities Network’ of the United Nations organisation. The city’s continuing development has created a mood of euphoria and the constant changes seem to have become a source of inspiration. Forward-looking architectural designs interweave with functional residential blocks, industrial buildings rub shoulders with glitzy shopping centres. Throughout, the human element is also present, with about 350 of Europe’s top young designers and creators leading the advance in the music, media, art, fashion and design sectors. One of many highlights planned for 2007 is the Berlin International Design Festival to be held from May 12-20. It consists of exhibitions, workshops, discussion and showroom presentations and is attended every year by more than 100,000 collectors, journalists and people with an interest in design. The spectrum ranges from haute couture in individual pieces, small-scale runs and off-the-rack lines to urban and street wear. When it comes to shopping, Berlin’s vast range of retail outlets keep their doors open until late in the evening and on some Sundays, too.

International stature: In the world of art, Berlin has attracted the attention of artists from all over the globe. An indication of how the city has gained international stature is demonstrated by Art Forum Berlin, the international trade fair for contemporary art. Within the space of 10 years it has developed into one of the leading art fairs of Europe and in 2007 will be held for the twelfth time from September 29 to October 3 at the Berlin Exhibition Centre. Berlin has always had a well-deserved reputation for being a wonderful place to eat and drink. It now boasts 10 restaurants with a coveted Michelin star - one more than in 2005.
And Gault Millau have placed nine of Berlin’s restaurants in the German top league with three chef’s hats, more than any other German city. To sample the culinary genius of Germany’s Chef of the Year, Tim Raue, visitors need to make a reservation at the restaurant 44 in the Swissotel, at Augsburger Strasse.
Other eating establishments recognised as
the pick of the city include Vitrum, Facil, Fischers Fritz, Hugos, Margaux and Die Quadriga. For celebrity-spotting, the legendary Borchardt, in the Mitte district, is reckoned to
be the number one scene restaurant, with its specialities such as wiener schnitzel with warm potato salad. Berlin’s tourist chiefs see 2007 as
a year of great challenge and opportunity, building on recent successes with a large-scale
three-year marketing campaign. Not only has the German capital experienced annual double-digit rates of increase in the number of guests in recent years, it has also seen a growing demand for cultural tourism and great foreign attendance at its major cultural institutions. Areas the campaign will concentrate on include galleries,
fashion, contemporary music and the club
scene; entertainment in all its facets; opera and classical music; art museums and large-scale exhibition projects; and contemporary history.

Conference capital: It’s no wonder visitors are flocking to Berlin. The list of attractions is impressive and includes 170 museums, 135 theatres and three opera houses. This wealth and variety of attractions has also played a major part in making Berlin the conference capital of Germany. Sometimes the whole of the city seems like one big stage, where the unusual has become the norm. Railway stations are turned into museums, remnants of the Wall become open-air galleries and old factories are converted into multi-functional event locations. The significance of the business travel segment is revealed by the figures recently published for the first half of 2006, showing that 46,700 events took place. This is an increase of 7.1 percent compared with the previous 12 months. Another positive development was the growth in participant numbers, with 3.6 million
participating in meetings and congresses in the first half-year of 2006, compared to 3.3 million the previous year. Latest statistics from the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) place Berlin fourth in the world after Vienna, Singapore and Barcelona. The Meeting Place Berlin campaign was successfully launched in 2005 and last August the Berlin Convention Office (BCO) hosted a special edition of this event at the outstanding Axica congress centre next to the Brandenburg Gate. The next event for professional meeting planners will take place from June 14 – 18 2007. Thanks to new cheap flight connections, Berlin is very well connected to important business destinations, with the city served by 15 low-cost airlines, more than any other European airport. Three direct intercontinental connections, Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines to New York and Qatar Airways to Doha, Qatar, emphasise Berlin’s development in the world of international business.

Cultural institutions: The latest innovation from BCO is the CongressCard Berlin, which gives the holder easy access for up to 72 hours to all public transport in Berlin and Potsdam, plus concessions of up to 30 percent from participating city tour operators, car hire companies, shops and restaurant as well as museums and cultural institutions. It costs € 15 for 48 hours or € 21 for 72 hours and is distributed by BCO exclusively to meeting and convention organisers. A simplified reservation procedure for conventions has also been introduced by the Convention Office of Berlin Tourism Marketing (BTM). There is now just one contact for reservations, with co-operation between all the main hotels and agencies, no double bookings of available quotas and one-stop sourcing of all services including service providers such as public transport, theatres, bus and car shuttle services. Business visitors with a passion for art will be delighted by the big event on the 2007 calendar - ‘The Met In Berlin,’ when from June 2 to October 7 the New National Gallery Berlin at the Kulturforum on the Potsdamer Platz will present for the first time a comprehensive exhibition of 19th century French masterpieces from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Film scene:
Elsewhere, Berlin leads the way in trends involving the latest developments in the film and media sector. Major companies such as MTV and Universal have recently opened premises in the city, and Popkomm, one of the largest and most important trade shows for music and
entertainment in Europe, returned to Berlin from the rival city of Cologne in 2004. In 2007 it will once again be staged at the Berlin Exhibition Centre from September 19 to 21. Berlin also has a big stake in the film scene. Every February the city turns into the temporary capital of the international movie world with the Berlin International Film Festival. This year it is being held from February 8 to 18 around the Potsdamer Platz, when about 350 films, primarily world and European premieres, will be screened and compete for prizes. With more than 180,000 tickets sold and 19,000 visitors, including 3,800 journalists, coming from more than 120 nations this is a time when Berlin is right in the centre of the global showbiz spotlight. This glittering red-carpet occasion is just one small reminder of what a truly great, cosmopolitan city Berlin is. Glamour, panache, get-up-and-go, gravitas…Berlin has all of this -and more.

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