| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 14/08/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 30 |
| Copyright: Other |
City promotion by brian richards
Gateway Berlin turns capital into hub
Neighbouring cities to benefit from promotion
Promotion of Berlin as a hub for visiting a combination of central Europe’s key cities is about to take off with the launch of the German capital’s Gateway Berlin scheme.It encourages people to fly to Berlin and travel overland to Dresden, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest and Vienna. If successful, the scheme will probably be extended to the UK.
Berlin Tourismus Marketing chief executive Hanns Peter Nerger said: “Some 18 US operators have already shown interest in the Gateway Berlin scheme. We plan to trial it there for three years. The scheme encourages people to take in more than one country on their visit to Central Europe. If there’s a good response, I see no reason why it shouldn’t be extended to the UK. One of our marketing priorities is to ensure continued growth in the proportion of foreign visitors to the overall volume of tourists to Berlin,” he added.
Since the Wall came down a decade ago, Berlin has made plans for a new international airport and new main railway station. Both are seen as playing a key role in Gateway Berlin.
The new airport – Berlin-Brandenburg International – will be developed from the existing Schonefeld airport that served the eastern part of the formerly divided city.
With a capacity of 30 million passengers a year, it will handle traffic that now uses three Berlin airports – Schonefeld, the former West Berlin airport of Tegel and smaller Tempelhof. Together they processed over 12 million passengers last year.
Berlin is also building a new main railway station – Berlin Central, close to the Reichstag building – which will open in 2002 and become the city’s new international rail terminal. The Reichstag, remodelled by British architect Sir Norman Foster and since last summer the seat of the German Federal Parliament, has become one of the city’s leading tourist attractions.
Long queues form throughout the day for the elevator ride to roof level, from where you access Foster’s controversial glass dome overlooking the debating chamber far below.
On one side of the Reichstag, giant cranes still surmount the Spreebogen, the new riverside development housing ministries, offices and apartments of the parliament.
To the south, the giant Potsdamer Platz development is at last nearing completion with this year’s opening of the £500m Sony section.
The new development has its own Arkaden shopping centre with 115 outlets, complementing the city’s other big shopping areas, including the long-established Ku’damm in the western city centre and fast-rising Friedrichstrasse in the eastern part.
With a 10.2% share, the UK represents Berlin’s biggest market. In the first four months of this year, the city hosted 32,305 UK arrivals, an increase of 27% over the same period last year.
Art of the city: a metal sculpture
On a growth curve: sights like Berlin’s Reichstag Dome prompt large numbers of Britons to visit the city