What’s New for Meetings and Events in Germany

The German Convention Bureau (GCB) represents Germany globally as a business events destination. It supports its members and partners in marketing their meetings-related products and services and produces research on the future of business events.

According to the most recent analysis of the German congress and event market, 2.15 million events were held in Germany in 2023, attracting 310.8 million attendees. Projections for 2024 show a significant increase. Germany currently offers a total of 7,635 venues for events, including 3.373 conference hotels.

Below is a compilation of updates on bid funds, campaigns, venues, hotels and flight connectivity updates for Germany.

This destination update is based on the Skift Meetings What’s New in Meetings and Incentive Travel 2024 report. The full report features 800+ updates on 200+ destinations. Download it here.

Berlin

• In support of hosting sustainable meetings and events, the State of Berlin launched the Congress Fund for Sustainable Meetings initiative with the goal of Berlin reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. The fund only supports events with a proven record of producing sustainable events. Funding is available for business events and training for volunteers with 50 or more attendees, German government organizations, events held at a venue in Berlin that is subject to a fee, or events that last more than four hours per day, excluding break periods. Basic funding includes $27.00 per every in-person attendee per day.
• Estrel Tower in Berlin is scheduled to open by the end of 2024 and will combine a hotel, event space, coworking space, restaurants, and bars within the city’s tallest skyscraper. The new venue will feature 525 guest rooms and an over 10,700 sq. ft. event space at the tower’s base. The property will also have an additional 8,611 sq. ft. of breakout space on the first and second floors and private meeting rooms on the 43rd and 44th floors. 
• The Gasometer Schöenberg at EUREF-Campus is slated for completion by June of this year. The new event space will be quartered within the telescopic structure once used as a low-pressure gas tank and will feature over 301,000 sq. ft. of event space. The space redesign began in August of 2021 costing $216.6 million. 

Cologne

• Two hotel openings recently around Cologne added capacity to the city’s outskirts. The MEININGER Hotel Cologne West added 209 rooms in the Braunsfeld neighborhood, and the Leonardo Royal Hotel Cologne Bonn Airport offers 250 rooms and almost 6,000 sq. ft. of meeting space at the city’s airport.

Düsseldorf

• The RheinRiff is said to be the world’s largest indoor surfing hall. It includes 64,500 sq. ft. of indoor event space, a 21.500 sq. ft. outdoor conference area for up to 150, and a speaker area for up to 500.
• The Merkur Spiel-Arena features innovative meeting spaces, including two caves and a glass-enclosed player tunnel have been added. In the area where Fortuna stars usually enter the pitch and where performers present their hits, the caves provide space for meetings and conferences.
• EUREF-Campus Düsseldorf, a European energy forum focused on mobility and the shift to renewable energy, is the brainchild of  Reinhard Müller, architect and CEO of EUREF AG. The construction of two buildings with approximately 80,000 square meters of rentable space is planned. In addition, the EUREF-Dome, which previously topped the Gasometer in Berlin, has been relocated across Germany to the EUREF-Campus Düsseldorf and will be transformed into part of an events space available for events starting next spring.

Frankfurt

• Messe Frankfurt has passed the audit for the internationally recognized environmental management system Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) developed by the European Union. Messe Frankfurt’s goal is to be climate-neutral by 2040 at the latest. The company plans to attain greenhouse gas neutrality and establish a sustainable water management system.
• The NH Hotel Frankfurt City is now the Avani Frankfurt City Hotel, a hotel spread over seven floors and featuring 256 guest rooms.
• Frankfurt Airport’s new VIP Terminal is a two-level facility mainly used to welcome arriving and departing VIP passengers. It can also host up to 100 guests for exclusive events, even if the guests have not booked flights. There are also three private suites here, along with two conference rooms. Other highlights include a gaming lounge, cigar lounge, greeters’ suite, and chauffeurs’ area. 
• Frankfurt’s airport (FRA), Germany’s largest airport, is also one of the best connected in the world. It has direct flights to 283 destinations in 90 countries, with two new routes added recently: Raleigh-Durham (RDU) and San Antonio (SAT).

Hamburg

• REVERB Hamburg is slated to open in early April of 2024 and will be housed within Hamburg’s flack tower in Heiligengeistfeld, a former military installation constructed during World War II. The hotel is the first REVERB hotel in Europe, a brand of Hard Rock Hotels. It will have 134 guest rooms, a meeting space, a concert hall, restaurants, and a garden area housed within a facility that blends modern luxury with a minimalist aesthetic. 
• Villa Viva is a hotel built and run by “Viva con Agua de Sankt Pauli,“ a non-profit company known to many by the mineral water of the same name. Behind it is a global project campaigning for clean drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene. The Villa Viva is a “house that builds wells,” one of four Viva con Agua ecosystem social businesses. A guesthouse with 12 floors and 140 beds is being built in the center of Hamburg. Every guest who stays there supports Viva con Agua’s WASH projects with a share of their room rate.
• Hamburg Airport (HAM) has new routes to Erbil (EBL), and flights to Doha (DOH) start in July.

Munich

• A five-year Bavarian Congress Fund with a funding volume of approximately $27 million (€25 million) has been instituted. It was initiated with Tourismusinitative München e.V. (TIM) and Munich Tourism, Events, and Hospitality of the City of Munich. The fund is intended to support the common goal of Bavarian destinations and their partners to position Bavaria as a location for congresses and conferences.
• In the center of Munich’s old town, Rosewood Munich opened its doors to guests in October 2023, becoming Germany’s first Rosewood Hotel & Resorts property. The hotel is quartered in the former headquarters of the Bavarian State Bank, which spans two buildings and includes six event venues consisting of 6,500 sq. ft. with 73 guestrooms and 59 suites. 
• Also recently opened in Munich’s Westen is the Munich Marriott Hotel City West, featuring 398 rooms and 18 event spaces spanning over 17,000 sq. ft., with the largest ballroom boasting 9,687 sq. ft.
• Munich Airport (MUC) has new direct flights to Seattle (SEA), Johannesburg (JNB), Hanoi (HAN) and Ho Chi Minh City (SG).

Elsewhere in Germany

• Dresden: Hotel Taschenbergpalais Kempinski Dresden reopened in February 2024 after a year of renovation. The 18th-century building offers 180 rooms and 31 suites along with 16,146 sq. ft. of meeting space across ten rooms, including a private chapel.
• Ingolstadt: Maritim Hotel and Congress Centre Ingolstadt opened in June 2023 and offers 223 rooms. The hotel is connected to the newly built congress center, which has 44,800 sq. ft. of meeting space.
• Stuttgart: Leonardo Hotel Esslingen opened in January 2024, offering 150 guest rooms and 3,500 sq. ft. of meeting space across five rooms. The hotel is close to the “Neckar Forum”, a conference and events center that can accommodate over 1,000. Radisson Blu Hotel at Porsche Design Tower Stuttgart opened in November 2023, featuring 168 guest rooms seven meeting rooms and two boardrooms, each named after iconic Porsche models totaling 5,921 sq. ft. of meeting space for up to 250 participants.