Messe Friedrichshafen improves show access and accommodations

Four top priorities have been identified for the town of Friedrichshafen, it’s surrounding region and its trade fairgrounds: expand hotel accommodation within the city, secure additional routes to Friedrichshafen Airport, provide better access to Zurich’s international hub airport, and improve transportation links within the city and surrounding region.

“As a key business centre in the (German-Swiss-Austrian) border triangle region with global companies such as ZF, Tognum/MTU, EADS, Wolford and the Friedrichshafen trade fairground, we will be very significantly enhancing the state of hotel accommodation and
transportation for the entire Lake Constance region,” declares Josef Büchelmeier, Mayor of Friedrichshafen.

Büchelmeier has called on all pertinent authorities, departments and agencies, such as the regional council, the district administrator’s office, the chamber of commerce and the police to join him in a renewed plan to improve Friedrichshafen’s role as an industrial and trade fair centre, as well as its transportation infrastructure. Traffic management specialists from Dornier Consulting are already working on a comprehensive solution of great significance for the entire business community in the German-Swiss-Austrian border triangle region.

“We live in an extraordinarily beautiful and hospitable part of the world, and we are home to a number of large industrial companies and an international trade fair business,” said Büchelmeier. “The goal is now to enhance overall capacity and efficiency.”

New hotel accommodation

Future trade fair visitors will have additional accommodation at their disposal. Three new hotels are being planned. A combined four-star and business-class hotel with 180 suites is currently scheduled to open by summer 2009 at a site within walking distance of the Friedrichshafen trade fairgrounds. Construction of the new 120-suite Airport-Hotel, located right at the Friedrichshafen Airport is about to begin. A concrete proposal is also in place to build Hotel “Am Kaiserstrand” in the town of Lochau, located in the neighbouring Austrian state of Vorarlberg. In addition, a number of existing hotels in and around Friedrichshafen are currently expanding their capacities. A reservation and travel service has been set up to cater to the needs of international trade fair customers.

New air routes

Commencing with its 2008 summer flight schedule, Friedrichshafen Airport will introduce more direct routes and more frequent flights. Austrian carrier Intersky will increase its flights from Friedrichshafen to Cologne and Berlin to three daily, and add routes to Hamburg and Vienna. This will complement its other current six weekly flights to Graz and Dresden. New, already operating routes from Friedrichshafen Airport include those to Paris and Münster/Osnabrück, with Nice to be added in the summer. The airport in neighbouring Memmingen also offers key international as well as domestic routes within Germany. Low-cost carrier TUIfly offers connections to and from Naples, Rome and Valencia, as well as Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg. Arriving visitors to large-scale trade fairs can take a free shuttle bus to the Messe Friedrichshafen trade fairgrounds.

Zurich’s international hub airport

For travellers to the Lake Constance region arriving from other European points or from overseas, Zurich Airport is a key destination. Those attending large trade fairs in Friedrichshafen can take advantage of complimentary direct shuttle bus service. As a quick and pleasant sight-seeing alternative, visitors can first take a train to Lake Constance, and then either a ferry or a catamaran across to Friedrichshafen and the trade fairgrounds.

A control centre for trade fair traffic

Special, new measures are in store to coordinate and direct trade fair traffic operations. A transportation task force is already in place, and a control centre will manage future transportation streams. Visitors and exhibitors making their way to the trade fairgrounds will be informed and directed in a timely manner according to traffic conditions and on-site or nearby parking availability. The opening of certain otherwise closed roads during peak periods will significantly relieve traffic congestion. “The new timing-related measures will need to be implemented quickly and without complications,” stressed Mayor Büchelmeier. The transportation task force, composed of traffic management specialists from the municipality and the police, has already addressed critical issues.

More on-site parking

In conjunction with its project to expand exhibition space, Messe Friedrichshafen has also made provisions for more on-site parking facilities. In fact, additional parking spaces in the fairground’s immediate vicinity are already in place for the upcoming OutDoor, Eurobike and Fakuma 2008. Once exhibition space expansion is complete, a further 1,000 on-site parking spaces will be added. In 2009, road access to and from the trade fairgrounds will also be improved. A added roadway and roundabout will feed traffic at the new east fairground entrance northward toward Ravensburg and Ulm.

Fairground expansion

Construction of the two new trade fair halls and the east entrance foyer building along with its conference and convention halls is now well underway. By July 2009, all of these new facilities will be at the disposal of trade fair organizers. The business and industry centre of Friedrichshafen will home to a trade fairgrounds comprising 12 halls with a combined exhibition space of 85,000 square metres, or nearly 1 million square feet.

Success through competence

Annually hosting more than 20 international trade fairs and exhibitions led by Eurobike and OutDoor, Messe Friedrichshafen has achieved great success and extraordinary growth. Each year, the Lake Constance area attracts as many as 600,000 trade fair visitors, 6,500 exhibitors and 4,200 accredited journalists. The special hospitality and idyllic surroundings of the Lake Constance region together with modern, high-capacity trade fair facilities and a friendly, competent team of employees will continue to ensure future success. An improved transportation and accommodation infrastructure will be a further boost to the region’s flourishing economy.