Month: November 2012

Le Meridien Parkhotel in Frankfurt will start offering free WIFI in the lobby starting in 2013. This is a fantastic development for this hotel, as most European properties charge for WiFi. With 12 meeting spaces and 297 bedrooms this hotel offers a beautiful, central setting for any conference or event and now, with the benefit of complimentary WiFi, there is no reason not to give it a try!

Sheraton Frankfurt Airport Hotel just finished a Summer-long renovation of the bar areas and are now looking forward to welcoming guests in Lemons & Limes (Main Bar) plus the new La Cubano Bar (the first smoking bar at the airport). They are also in the process of soft-renovating the guestroom hallways. The Sheraton is the largest of the Starwood conference hotels in Germany for any functions from 2 to 1200 people – and all covering the Pharma Code as a non-rated hotel.

The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) has launched their Top 100 mobile app to help tourists discover the country’s most popular tourist attractions. The GNTB’s first mobile app for Android and iOS devices includes a brief description of each attraction, along with photos and information on opening times, admission prices and directions. The Top 100 was determined by an online survey that attracted over 5,500 respondents and will be repeated annually to keep the list as updated as possible. Users can see the rankings of the attractions as they change in real time, and can also post comments and recommendations. The app can be downloaded for free at www.germany.travel/top100

Air traffic in and out of Frankfurt airport, Europe’s third busiest, struggled to normalise on at the beginning of the month after hundreds of flights were cancelled due to a Lufthansa cabin crew strike. The effects were felt throughout Europe. The Lufthansa strike affected about 900 flights and caused disruption chaos for thousands of passengers. A Lufthansa spokesman said: “On average there are 1,800 Lufthansa flights during a normal day, around half of these took place.” All German regions and all types of flights have been affected, said the spokesman, including long-haul.

 

Thousands of passengers faced disruption as the strike – called by the UFO union – affected Germany’s six main airports including Frankfurt, Berlin and Munich. Frankfurt airport was “strongly affected”, the airline said. UFO is seeking a 5% pay increase for cabin crew and assurances on jobs.

 

The union, which represents about two-thirds of Lufthansa’s 19,000 cabin crew, argues that its members have had no pay rise for three years. The airline has now resumed normal flights and the UFO union representing cabin staff and Lufthansa has now agreed to enter formal mediation talks to resolve the dispute over pay and conditions. Lufthansa has also made concessions on the use of temporary workers

Germany has again defended its position as one of the leading global destinations for meetings and conventions. For the eighth year in succession, the study conducted by the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) showed that Germany is the top location in Europe for association meetings. Globally, Germany occupies second place. According to the rankings, only the USA has more international conventions.

 

In 2011, the experts counted a total of 577 international association meetings in Germany – an increase of 35 over the previous year – and considerably more than second-placed Spain, which hosted 463 conventions. The United Kingdom follows in third place with 434 events. Evaluations conducted by the GCB offer an insight into the sectors principally involved in the association meetings included in the ICCA study for Germany in 2011. Technology and innovation accounted for more than one quarter of the international conventions in Germany while around 20 percent of the association meetings considered were in the medical and healthcare sectors.

The International Astronomical Union, which unites researchers in the field of astronomy / astrophysics from more than 70 nations, will be holding its 2018 general assembly in Vienna. The event will last more than two weeks and generate some 30,000 bednights for the city.

 

The prestigious general assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) is held every three years together with the world’s largest international astrophysics conference. In August 2018, this event will see over 3,000 of the world’s leading scientists in the field of astronomy and astrophysics convening in Vienna. Altogether this event consisting of numerous symposiums and workshops over several days will last more than two weeks. The decision to hold the assembly in Vienna was taken at this year’s general assembly in Beijing. The event was also attended by Gerhard Hensler, Austria’s national representative, professor of theoretical astronomy and dean of the University of Vienna’s Faculty of Earth Sciences, Geography and Astronomy and vice president of OeGAA, the Austrian Society for Astronomy and Astrophysics. He had prepared the application in collaboration the Vienna Tourist Board’s Vienna Convention Bureau, and presented the official application book together with a PowerPoint presentation on Vienna. These made a deep impression on the executive committee of the IAU and convinced the national representatives that Vienna was clearly preferable to other destinations.

 

 

With the choice of Vienna as a venue, in 2018 Europe will once again be in the limelight of international astronomy after assemblies in Sydney (2003), Prague (2006), Rio de Janeiro (2009), Beijing (2012) and Hawaii (2015). Local organization will be carried out by OeGAA – which made the application – together with the Austrian Academy of Sciences as the Austrian association belonging to the IAU, whilst organizational support will be provided by the University of Vienna. According to Christian Mutschlechner, Director of the Vienna Convention Bureau, this congress will mean about 30,000 bednights for Vienna and contribute some 12 million euros to GDP. However, hosting the IAU’s general assembly in 2018 is not just an achievement for the congress city Vienna, but also for Austrian astronomy, which celebrates the 10th anniversary of its membership of ESO, the European Southern Observatory the same year

Hotel van Oranje has won a major industry award, and is now officially Green Hotel of Europe for 2012/2013.