Manager Klaus Krumrey assessed the previous fiscal year as having been “generally satisfactory” for the Science and Conference Center darmstadtium. The number of events increased to 256 (previous year: 239). 145,000 visitors (previous year: 160,000) attended trade fairs, conferences and cultural events in the largest convention center of southern Hessen.
“Especially in the second half of the year the events were significantly smaller than originally planned,” said Krumrey. "If the development from July to December had been similar to the first half of the year we would have surpassed the previous year.” In the first half of 2009 90.000 visitors attended the darmstadtium. “The economic crisis but a spoke in our wheel,” said Hildegard Schoger, deputy manager of the darmstadtium. “On the positive side: The international demand has increased considerably over the past year. Around ten percent of the events came from European countries and overseas. In 2011, we are aiming at an international utilization of 20 percent.”
Krumrey and Schoger look optimistically to the new fiscal year. Krumrey called the booking situation “very good”, for the first time there is a waiting list during the peak utilization period.
Krumrey, whose contract expires at the end of 2010, calls for the construction of another three or four-star hotel in the city of science. “We are getting reports from a lot of organizers that the bed capacity in the upper segment is still too low. The positive trend in visitor numbers and overnight stay figures has already been illustrated by the Wissenschaftsstadt Darmstadt Marketing GmbH. According to preliminary statistics the number of overnight stays in Darmstadt has increased by 5,000 to about 231,000. “All in all our guests bring an annual influx of 20 million Euros purchasing power. The subsidies from the city of Darmstadt toward the operational costs of the darmstadtium, that amounted to approximately 1.7 million Euros in 2009, and the planned 1.3 million Euros for 2010 are therefore money well spent,” says Krumrey.
“We want increase our efforts of attracting new customers this year,” says Krumrey. Planned events include a road show, where event planners and other potential customers can acquire information in Berlin, Cologne / Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Munich, as well as participating in a “Convention Sales Office”. CEO Krumrey continues to value service orientation as the quality characteristic toward customers: “There are only three important values for the darmstadtium: service - service - service.” The commitment of staff team confirms the organizer. In a customer satisfaction survey 74 percent rated the service as “very good”. The verdict of the visitors for the building was even better. 90 percent gave the house the top score.
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