Urban Tourism in Hamburg and the World Cup

by: Kristin Klingner

SS 2006

Content

1. Introduction 3

2. Urban Tourism 3

3. Hamburg – Musical metropolis, City of Sports and “Gateway to the world” 5

3.1. General facts 5
3.2. Hamburg’s attractions 6

4. Sporting events in Urban Tourism 10

5. The FIFA World Cup 2006 as a major sporting event In Hamburg 12

6. Conclusion 15

7. Sources 16
 

1. Introduction

The World Tourism Organisation defines the word “Tourist” as someone who moves away from home on a temporary or short term basis for at least 24 hours, weather travelling in his own country or abroad¹. But many argue, that day trippers should be included, as high quality short term city trips have a great potential in the future. There is an obvious tendency among travellers of the 21st century to experience more in fewer days, as reflected in the trend for active short holiday trips, mainly to large cities. They offer an experience orientated connection of culture, events, shopping and catering. Major events are very important to attract tourists to come to a city. FIFA World Cup 2006 is a great chance for German metropolis’ to gain more international prestige. All major cities are getting prepared for millions of guests from all around the world, who come to support their team or just to enjoy the atmosphere of the event.

This paper will focus on the tourism of Germany’s fastest growing and changing city at the river “Elbe”: Hamburg. It will give an overview on what exactly this harbour city has to offer and what influence FIFA World Cup 2006 has. It reflects the motivation for coming to the city and the touristy institution they are going to sightsee.

2. Urban Tourism

Since its renewed interest in the 1980’s, Urban Tourism (defined as a set of tourist resources or activities located in towns and cities and offered to visitors from elsewhere²) is a major tourist destination across the world. As already mentioned, the fact that people are taking shorter holiday, plus the general increase of Mobility, makes urban tourism a big market. City Tourism can be seen as a political instrument, as it combines the competitive supply able to meet visitors’ expectations with the positive development of a city and the well being of their residents³. A basic question to be asked is why people visit cities. Primary travel motivations could be business, including conferences and exhibitions, visiting friends and relatives, other personal reasons or simply pleasure⁴. City visitors look for excitement, something unique and interesting, popular, entertaining and cultural. A combination of all these features is what a city should be able to offer to attract guests. A survey from the Denver Convention and Visitor Bureau showed that the urban tourist wants a city to be interesting and unique in the first place (lots to sightsee, unique vacation experience), secondly entertaining (nightlife, shopping, music, arts and theatre, festival and events), thirdly culturally interesting and attractive (architecture, history, popular landmarks, interesting locals, different culture and traditions) and last but not least rich in culinary variety (sophisticated restaurants, unique cooking, first class hotels). It should also have a good family atmosphere and be popular. Taking all the above mentioned factors into account, Hamburg has a lot to offer and this is why it is one of the most attractive cities for tourism in Germany.

3. Hamburg – Musical metropolis, City of Sports and “gateway to the world”

3.1 General facts

Hamburg has a population of 1, 7 Million and maintains a leading position for urban tourism in Germany. Within a comparison of the biggest cities in Germany, Hamburg is on third place, as to accommodations behind Berlin and Munich, with 18,6 Million stays in 2005⁵, either in hotels or private (annual growth rate of 8,2%)⁶. Furthermore Hamburg hosts 105, 5 Million day guests in 2005. A total of 124, 1 Million stayover’s (21 % guests from abroad) make a gross turnover of 5, 72 Billion Euro. This means Hamburg welcomes 340 000 guests every day, which make a gross turnover of 15, 7 Million Euro⁷. In addition the tourism sector secures 140 000 jobs (full-time and parttime), which is an increase of 8 percent compared to 2004.⁸

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1 C.M.Law, „Urban Tourism, Attracting visitors to large cities“, Mansell, 1993

2 http://www.culture-routes.lu/picture/glossaire_list.php3, 21.06.2006

3 http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/services/tourism/tourism-publications/documents/1999_1530_EN.pdf, 21.06.2006

4 Acc. „Classification of travellers“ after Chadwick, 1987

5 Hamburg Tourismus GmbH, eigene Berechnungen, dwif 2006

6 http://www.hamburg-tourism.de/Magic_Cities.1287.0.html?, 20.06.2006

7 Hamburg Tourismus GmbH, eigene Berechnungen, dwif 2006

8 http://www.hamburg-tourismus.de/fileadmin/files/B2B/Presse/News/Texte/PM_060531_Tagesg_ste_2005.pdf, 21.06.2006