KölnTourismus carried out a knowledge exchange with organizers from all over Germany as well as Cologne partners, at which future visions for Cologne were discussed. At the hybrid event, the participants discussed issues and challenges for Cologne in the field of business travel.
With the event at KOMED in the Mediapark, another step was taken to develop the Cologne Convention Bureau into an information platform. Under the catchphrase “Future Hospitality”, important future topics for Cologne were identified. The beginning was a keynote lecture by trend researcher Christiane Varga, in which she gave insights into the trends and mega-trends in the industry: “Dealing with the future means questioning old thought patterns, looking openly at new things, but also the value of the to be aware of one’s own traditions. The Cologne Convention Bureau of KölnTourismus GmbH has created the framework for this with this event, ”says Christiane Varga.
The knowledge was deepened in a subsequent panel discussion. Experts from the respective area discussed four selected mega-trends: mobility & infrastructure, sustainability, destination and transformation.
“The past few months acted as a catalyst for the future development of the tourism industry. We want to look to the future and localize which trends are influencing our industry. With the exchange of knowledge, we brought event customers and the actors of the Cologne MICE industry together for the first time – with the aim of jointly using this fundamental phase of change. Strengthening the local network is an important opportunity to create new interfaces and, together as an alliance, to tackle the important issues of the future, ”summarizes Dr. Jürgen Amann, managing director of KölnTourismus GmbH.
