Brand Image and Business Events in Hamburg. A Critical Evaluation

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Overview of the Business Events Sector and its Contribution to the Economy of Hamburg
a. Hamburg´s Business Events Sector
b. Conference Industry
c. Exhibitions/Trade Fairs
d. Incentive Travel
e. Corporate Hospitality
f. Business Tourism Trends and Statistics

3. Critical Evaluation of Hamburg regarding the Attractiveness as a Business Tourism Destination
a. Evaluation of Hankinson´s Model
b. Physical Environment
c. Economic Activity
d. Business Tourism Facilities
e. Accessibility
f. Social Facilities
g. Strength of Reputation
h. People Characteristics
i. Destination Size

4. Impact of “Sustainable Tourism” and Management Implications for Professionals
a. Sustainable Tourism
b. Impact on Hamburg
c. Management Implications

5. Conclusion

6. References

1. Introduction

The purpose of this report is to show the economic importance and recent development of the business events sector in the Free and Hanseatic city of Hamburg. The metropolis is the second largest city of Germany with a multicultural population, economic growth and huge impact on the whole country. Its exceptional flair is closely linked to the historic Hanseatic League and the city´s autonomous status to this day. The port city offers business visitors a wide range of venues, culture and leisure opportunities and will therefore be subject of this report.

First, the report provides a general overview of the business events sector. Thereafter, the city is critically analysed and evaluated regarding its popularity as a business tourism destination by means of the brand image attributes introduced by Hankinson (2005). Furthermore, it provides a prospect of how the emerging trend “sustainable tourism” is affecting the business events sector and its impact on Hamburg resulting in management implications for professionals in the industry.

2. Overview of the Business Events Sector and its Contribution to the Economy of Hamburg

a. Hamburg´s Business Events Sector

The business tourism sub-sector as part of the tourism industry consists of the conference industry, exhibitions and trade fairs, incentive travel and corporate hospitality (Rogers, 2013). The segment is rapidly growing and therefore a crucial driver for job creation (Beyond Summits, 2016). The MICE sector of Hamburg contributes not only monetary value, but additionally increases business development, applied research and leisure quality to the city (Čad, 2017). Hamburg ranks third in the most popular city destinations of Germany (Chamber of Commerce, 2020). Most guests arrive from the United States, Great Britain, Scandinavia and Switzerland (Hamburg Convention Bureau, 2017). In comparison to the capital Berlin, Hamburg lags behind in the number of international guests and is yet perceived as a domestic market (Page, 2007). However, Hamburg still ranks third in Germany´s top-ten cities by overnight stays in 2018 (Germany Trade & Invest, 2020). The business partner for organising MICE events is the “Hamburg Convention Bureau” which is marketing the city as a globally recognised business tourism location (Hamburg Convention Bureau, 2020a).

b. Conference Industry

One important field of business events is the conference industry. Conferences are bringing people together to exchange ideas and to network. At conferences problems can be negotiated to encourage the performance of an organisation and its individuals (Rogers, 2013). In 2016 Hamburg welcomed over 3 million conference and convention delegates (European Life, 2017). The conference industry contributes significantly to the city´s success in the international competition. Due to its location, the maritime flair and the broad variety of conference hotels or gastronomic venues Hamburg stands out as a prime location for conferences (New European Economy, 2018). In 2017 the port city even hosted the G20 summit with the theme “Shaping an interconnected world” (European Union, 2017).

c. Exhibitions/Trade Fairs

At exhibitions and trade fairs all varieties of consumer and industrial goods are being displayed. They can be open to the public and business visitors with international or regional background (UNCTAD/WTO and UNESCO, 2001). Hamburg is a well-established destination for exhibitions. The “Messehallen Exhibition Center” with almost 100,000 square metres space and eleven exhibition halls hosts the majority of events (Hamburg.com, 2020a). Over 40 trade fairs and other events take place there yearly (Hamburg Messe + Congress, 2020). One successful example is the INTERNORGA, the leading international trade fair for restaurants and hotels, hosting around 1,300 international exhibitors of the catering and hotel industry (Hamburg.com 2020b).

d. Incentive Travel

Incentive travel is a form of reward for extraordinary efforts achieved for a company in terms of business objectives and goals. This motivational measure is stimulating the intrinsic motivation of the employee by rewarding with experiences rather than material gifts (Bhatia, 2007). Incentive programmes include the features uniqueness, exotic experience, exclusivity and activity (Davidson and Cope, 2003). Hamburg and its neighbourhood offer a variety of cultural, historic or creative events, which can build a flexible incentive programme. Depending on the requirements more relaxed or rather exciting activities are available: The choices range from cooking events to climbing the masts of the “Cap San Diego” museum ship (Hamburg Convention Bureau 2020b). With these programmes Hamburg thrives as an outstanding destination for incentive travel.

e. Corporate Hospitality

Corporate Hospitality is the entertainment of important clients at a public event free of charge to improve business relations. It focuses on delivering an unforgettable experience including a high prestige event, catering and VIP-areas (Bladen et al., 2012). The most prominent corporate hospitality programme in Hamburg is the reservation of business seats in the VIP-area of the “Millerntor” stadium at the “FC St. Pauli” football club. When renting a whole lodge the enterprise can even adapt the decoration for marketing purposes (Detjen and Schreiber, 2010). Hamburg offers a variety of choices, which can be tailored to the particular needs of the customer.

f. Business Tourism Trends and Statistics

Tourism as an economic factor generated an annual turnover of 290 billion euros in 2015 with about 37 million tourists visiting Germany (Deutschland.de, 2018). Germany has an above average share of the international business travel market with a total volume of 12.9 million trips in 2017. 28% of all trips to Germany from overseas were business trips. The largest growing sector is the incentive travel with an increase of 33% in comparison to the previous year (German National Tourist Board, 2017). The business travel sector reached a market value of 53.5 billion euros in 2018 (Germany Trade & Invest, 2020). These figures show the economic importance of the business tourism sector and indicate further growth in this field.

Regarding the city of Hamburg, more than 706.5 million euros of potential monetary gross value was created by MICE guests (Hamburg Convention Bureau, 2017). Over the last 25 years the accommodation sector received a massive growth with thrice as much overnight stays (Chamber of Commerce, 2020). In total Hamburg generated 3.4 million overnight stays of foreign visitors in 2017 (German National Tourist Board, 2017). Furthermore, hotel chain openings are keeping rates low and provide additional future accommodation availability (Global Business Consulting, 2018).

3. Critical Evaluation of Hamburg regarding the Attractiveness as a Business Tourism Destination

a. Evaluation of Hankinson´s Model

The Hankinson model of destination brand image consists of eight key attributes: physical environment, economic activity, business tourism facilities, accessibility, social facilities, strength of reputation, people characteristics and destination size. Hankinson´s model is helpful in determining the attractiveness as a business tourism destination because of the clear structure it is providing (Hankinson, 2005). The clusters simplify the analysis of a destination by considering all relevant perspectives to business tourism.

Echtner and Ritchie (1993) developed a conceptual framework for destination image consisting of the three following continuums: attribute-holistic, functional-psychological and common-unique. The brand image attributes resulting from data collection were sorted into the respective continuum (Echtner and Ritchie, 1993). The continuums were illustrated in a graph allowing a simple overview of the destination brand images. However, the attributes discovered in the study were very specific concerning the particular destination leaving only the continuums to be generalised for other destination analysis. In contrast Hankinson (2005) incorporates the general ideas behind the continuums in the underlying dimensions of his model while developing universal destination brand image attributes. The eight attributes are more tangible and facilitate the evaluation of a destination.

b. Physical Environment

Hamburg is a historic port city located in the North of Germany intersected by the two rivers “Alster” and “Elbe” (WTCF, 2014). In total, the city offers more than 1,460 park areas. One of the most beautiful is the “Alsterpark” situated by the artificial lakes “Binnen”- and “Außenalster” (Hamburg Tourism, 2020a and WTCF, 2014). Hamburg´s architecture is on the one hand influenced by industrial port structures combined with sustainable urban development and on the other hand features many historic buildings in Gothic-clinker style and in the unique brick-expressionism (HafenCity Hamburg, 2020 and Hamburg Tourism, 2020b). Hamburg´s physical environment enhances the attractiveness as a business tourism destination by accentuating the maritime flair which distinguishes the city from other German metropolises.

c. Economic Activity

Historically Hamburg gained its prosperity as a city port on the river “Elbe” with direct access to the North Sea. Currently the trade of tea, coffee, spices and oriental carpets continues in the worldwide largest self-contained warehouse district (BBC, 2014). The port of Hamburg is one of the most flexible and high-performance ports worldwide and Europe´s third largest container port generating over 136 million tons of cargo turnover in 2019 (Port of Hamburg, 2020). Hamburg´s major economic sectors are the maritime industry, aviation, media and biotechnologies (Hamburg.com, 2020c). The Metropolitan Region surrounding Hamburg specialises in renewable energies primarily in wind energy plants (OECD, 2019). Even today Hamburg is known as one of the wealthiest cities with the highest GDP per capita in PPS standards in Germany and inhabits around 40,000 millionaires (European Commission, 2020 and Hamburg Marketing, 2018).

d. Business Tourism Facilities

Hamburg offers an abundance of venues ranging from modern conference hotels to privately-owned established Hanseatic facilities and designer hotels. Furthermore Germany´s first convention centre, the “Congress Center Hamburg” (CCH), is the best site for big conferences with numerous visitors. The facility is close to the railway station, the main exhibition grounds, near to hotels and shopping centres and next to the popular “Planten un Blomen” park (New European Economy, 2018). One of the most famous hotels is the exclusive “Vier Jahreszeiten” situated west of the “Binnenalster”. It is known for its luxurious ambience, excellent service and custom-made approaches to its guests (Hoffmann, 2017).

e. Accessibility

Easy travel and fast connections are prioritised in Hamburg as it is reachable by all means of transport including by air, rail, road and even ferry. In addition the public transport system is excellent with its numerous bus connections, S-Bahn lines and underground lines. There are special transport offers for business events, for instance the “Hamburg CARD” that includes free public transport and further discounts on tourist attractions (Hamburg Convention Bureau 2020c). The port city continually invests in making activities and transportation wheelchair-accessible (Hamburg Tourism, 2020c). Despite its size Hamburg is still compact enough: all the different districts can be reached on foot (Hamburg Marketing, 2018).

f. Social Facilities

In Hamburg the social facilities point out the city´s cultural diversity and present the city from different perspectives. The service providers assemble individualistic activities like speedboat trips, treasure hunts through the city or a visit to one of Hamburg´s renowned musicals (Hamburg Convention Bureau 2020b). Hamburg offers numerous tourist attractions reaching from the historic warehouse district to the modern “HafenCity” with the signature “Elbphilharmonie” concert hall and the famous live music on the “Reeperbahn”, where the Beatles started to perform (Chamber of Commerce, 2020). The variety of social facilities is a key factor to the destination´s attractiveness.

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