With an annual gross value added of around 4.4 billion euros (in corona pandemic free years), the tourism industry is considered Hamburg’s second most important economic factor after the port industry. This important economic factor and its numerous companies and institutions active in tourism, including Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) Germany with the Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier, is represented among others by the tourism association Tourismusverband Hamburg e. V. (TVH). On the evening of 8 June 2022, Wolfgang Raike, Chairman of the Board at TVH, and Susanne Brennecke, Managing Director at TVH, together with Dirk Hünerbein, Director of Development Austria & Germany at URW, and other representatives of Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier, welcomed around 50 association members and guests to the showroom.
Tourismusverband Hamburg e. V. has around 1,100 members – including the major international hotel chains in the city, the airport and the trade fair company, theatres and museums or numerous gastronomic establishments. The networking event in the showroom of Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier mainly focused on learning more about the new flagship destination in HafenCity with its outstanding architecture and unique mix of uses with numerous tourist qualities. To kick off the evening, Wolfgang Raike and Dirk Hünerbein answered relevant questions about tourism in Hamburg – including questions about the importance of HafenCity for tourism in the Hanseatic city and retail for a metropolitan destination like Hamburg.
The many facets of Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier for tourism in Hamburg
Dirk Hünerbein used the detailed model of the mixed-use quarter in the showroom to explain the dimensions and at the same time the finer details of Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier. Particularly interesting in the tourist context were the previously known entertainment highlights such as Germany’s first digital art centre Port des Lumières, LEGOLAND Discovery Centre or the premium multiplex cinema by Kinopolis with a premiere hall that can hold almost 500 guests. Senior Leasing Manager Andreas Weigl, in turn, gave an update on the status of leasing and the strategy behind it in the retail and especially fashion sector. Because in addition to the anchor tenant Breuninger, the Spanish fashion label Zara has only recently announced its future presence with very extraordinary store concepts in Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier. Karen Mester-Lichtsinn, Senior Marketing Manager at Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier, gave an impression of how important Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier takes the topics of cultural sponsorship and support of the local community with the art project #UNUEBERSEEBAR.
Great commitment to Hamburg and the tourism industry
Karen Mester-Lichtsinn, who also represents Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier in Tourismusverband Hamburg e. V., summed up the evening as follows: “Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier will be an important component in the city’s tourism management once it is completed at the end of 2023. Accordingly, we take our commitment to Tourismusverband seriously and will try to ensure that our future presence in HafenCity brings added value to all Hamburg residents and especially to the people and institutions dependent on tourism. I am also personally pleased that we have been welcomed so warmly and with open arms into the circle of association members.”
