Cologne’s convention figures continue to climb

The year 2017 was the best in Cologne’s tourism history, with a total of 3.59m arriving guests and 6.24m overnight stays. According to official registration records, there were 7.3% more arrivals and 8.1% more overnight stays in hotels compared to the previous year. The increases for visitors from abroad were even greater, with an 8.9% increase of arrivals and a 9.2% increase of overnight stays. A new study published by the tourism consulting company dwif confirms the increased value creation that tourism brings to Cologne. “In Cologne, tourism is a strong cross-sectoral industry,” explains Elisabeth Thelen, chairwoman of the Supervisory Board of KölnTourismus GmbH, who adds: “It benefits not only related sectors such as hotels, restaurants and the retail trade but also numerous service providers and suppliers from a great variety of business areas.” In the past five years, the number of overnight stays by tourists in Cologne has increased by 23.2% — far more than the corresponding increase for tourists in Germany as a whole (11.2%) and the average increase in overnight stays in the ten biggest German cities (17.9 %). “The visitor figures, which have once again increased significantly, demonstrate that Cologne continues to be an attractive destination for business and leisure travellers from Germany and abroad,” says Josef Sommer, CEO of the Cologne Tourist Board. “The remarkable increase in visitors from abroad testifies to Cologne’s huge appeal as a travel destination,” says Sommer.

Furthermore, the event market in Cologne continues to develop with the convention market exceeding 4m participants for the first time in 2017. The convention statistics come from the TagungsBarometer (Conference Barometer) – a survey of convention centres, conference hotels and event locations conducted by the Cologne Convention Bureau (CCB) in co-operation with the Europäisches Institut für TagungWirtschaft (EITW). A total of 49,521 events (+1.8%) with 4.003m participants (+4.7%) were held last year. In addition, the number of event locations increased by five to 174; the new venues include a new conference hotel and four event locations. Ever since the market research regarding conventions began in 2009, the figures for events and participants have steadily grown. Back in 2009, the survey registered 41,500 events with 3.13m participants. By 2017, the number of participants had increased by almost 30%. Organisers of corporate events top the list of conventions and congresses. Conventions and congresses account for 71% of the events held in Cologne in 2017; other types of events account for the remaining 29%. Organisers of corporate events continue to top the list of conventions and congresses, and in the past year they further increased their share of the total, from 76% to 81%. Banks and insurance companies are still the most important sector in this category, followed by medicine and pharmaceuticals. The USA is gaining ground among the internationally sourced markets. Together with the UK, it now occupies first place among event organisers from abroad. The Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria follow after a considerable gap.