“The past ten years have arguably been the most successful in
Hamburg’s trade fair industry. We will continue this course.”
o hear mostly English being
spoken in restaurants, shops
and kiosks on the trade fair
grounds or at the Dammtor, to
see taxis waiting for passengers in rows
of three below the television tower and
to find out that the city’s hotels have
good occupancy rates is undoubtedly
an exhilarating sensation. What this
makes abundantly clear is that trade
fairs and conventions never stand alone
– they radiate into the city, a city that is
becoming increasingly popular among
exhibitors, visitors and the organis-
ers of major exhibitions and events. In
addition to the trade fairs we organise
ourselves, a steadily growing number
of prestigious national and international
guest events and conventions regularly
take place in Hamburg including high-
profile events like the Chaos Commu-
nication Congress at the CCH and the
conferring of the GOLDEN CAMERA
awards on the exhibition grounds,
which benefit from top-class servic-
es and a flexible infrastructure at the
heart of the Hanseatic city. However,
with more than one million visitors on
average per year, HMC is much more
than just an exhibition and conference
venue. It is a promoter of trade and in-
dustry, an ambassador and a partner
to this city. In this capacity, as one of
the city’s largest sporting venues, we
were also ready in 2015 to make it pos-
sible for Hamburg to host the Olympic
Games and willing to provide tempo-
rary assistance to the city in an emer-
gency situation to cope with the influx
of refugees. As you know, Hamburg’s
bid for the Olympic Games was un-
successful, but a wonderful private
initiative was started on the exhibition
grounds in the form of the “Kleiderkam-
mer Messehalle”, a clothing store for
refugees, sending a much-publicised
positive image of Hamburg around the
world. These things are also part of our
mission, yet our primary goal is to make
T
trade fairs and conventions in Ham-
burg experiences with a high economic
benefit for our exhibitors and visitors.
CONTINUING OUR SUCCESS STORY
We are working every day to ensure
that our customers feel comfortable
and are eager to return. HMC achieves
this with steadily increasing success.
After all, in the 650 years that have
passed since the city was granted the
right to hold fairs, the last ten years
have arguably been the most success-
ful in Hamburg’s trade fair industry.
Continuing this course is the stated
goal of all employees of Hamburg
Messe und Congress.”
05
HAMBURG MESSE UND CONGRESS Annual Report 2015