2011 was an extremely successful year indeed for KölnKongress, which again posted high occupancy at all venues.
It was with some pride that KölnKongress CEO Bernhard Conin announced on January 17 an 11 percent increase in earnings year-on-year. By this reckoning the company which, as a KölnMesse subsidiary, markets venues such as the Tanzbrunnen, Gürzenich, Flora (as from 2014 again following redevelopment), Bastei, Zoo, the exhibition company's congress centres and the Zeughaus mediaeval armoury in Cologne's city museum, notched up revenues of EUR 12.5 million, representing the best performance since its establishment.
"We succeeded in following on seamlessly from our good showing in 2010 and are extremely satisfied with the meetings year 2011," Bernhard Conin commented. The number of events at KölnKongress declined slightly in the absence of a large proportion of fringe events due to the cyclicity of KölnMesse's trade fair programme. Yet at the same time overall occupancy at the KölnKongress venues rose year on year. More than a million visitors attended 1,943 events. Conin quoted venue occupancy at 361; only on four days a year does nothing take place.
Overall, congresses and meetings are becoming increasingly important in KölnKongress' portfolio of events and for the city. 59 % of all KölnKongress events in 2011 were congresses and meetings alone. "We are therefore well positioned in this event category and can draw on years of congress-related expertise," Bernhard Conin added.
Highlights in last year's calendar of events include ZZ Top, Joe Cocker, Roxette with an audience topping the 10,000 mark, Clueso, Philipp Poisel and the Amphi-Festival, which attracted 16,000 guests a day. In its 22nd year the Absolventenkongress, a job fair for students and graduates, took place with 12,000 visitors on two days.
For this year KölnKongress has engaged, among others, Roger Hodgson, James Morrison, Tim Bendzko & Band, Runrig and a host of local performers fromCologneto play at the Tanzbrunnen. Among new meetings are, for instance, the annual conference of the DGNR German Society of Neuroradiology, the conference of the VDT association of German sound engineers and the Deutscher Archivtag, an assembly of German archivists.
A study by the Ifo Institute for Economic Research dating from 2008 confirms, in Conin's words, that congresses, meetings and events have a major economic impact on the region. According to the research, the direct and indirect effects of business activity by KölnKongress GmbH generate revenues Germany-wide of around EUR 386 million, of which roughly EUR 273 million alone are credited to Cologne's account. In other words every one euro of turnover at KölnKongress triggers expenditure of EUR 22.95 inCologne. The city ofCologneis entitled to levy direct taxes in the order of EUR 2.8 million on these earnings.
KölnKongress has commissioned a new Ifo study for 2012. The Institute for Economic Research atMunichUniversityhad already conducted the Ifo study for KölnKongress GmbH in 2003 and 2007, the results of which were published in the respective following year. The institute's mission is to analyse economic policy in the country. In the specific case of the company KölnKongress GmbH the aim is to review and document the economic significance of activities by KölnKongress for theCologneregion, for North Rhine-Westphalia – the German state in which it is located – and throughoutGermanyin comparison to the previous years. Then in an overall summary it is planed to trace and analyse KölnKongress' business development from 2003 through 2007 down to the present day. The Ifo study for 2012 is now in progress and is expected to be published this autumn.
