At the 2008 press conference on financial statements of Messe München GmbH, Managing Director Norbert Bargmann summed up the performance of the International Congress Centre Munich (ICM) in 2007 in the following words:
 
“In the 2007 business year the International Congress Centre Munich hosted 160 events, which attracted 136,000 visitors, thus further expanding the ICM´s leading position in the league of German congress centres. The guest congresses and events in 2007 generated sales of € 8.5 million for ICM (2006: 7.5 million). This level of sales is ranked all the higher, in view of the fact that alongside the national and international guest events, AGMs and corporate events in 2007, around 50 percent of capacity at the ICM was taken up by the congresses and programmes accompanying our own trade fairs and events, such as BAU, Systems and Laser."
 
Bargmann reported that many of ICM´s regular customers had again organised meetings at the centre in 2007. Renowned specialist medical societies, such as the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chirurgie, the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) and the International Society of Chemotherapy (ISC) were among those booking the ICM in 2007 as well as long-standing corporate customers, among them Münchener Rück, Linde, BMW and SAP, European Microwave, Medientage and the CSU.
 
In the profitable business area of annual general meetings, said Bargmann, the ICM had for the first time overtaken all other German congress centres last year. Twelve public companies had chosen the ICM as the venue for their shareholders’ meetings in 2007.
 
The start of business in 2008 had been equally successful: in the first half-year there had been an almost continuous programme, with one event following another – among them were OOP 08 and DATE 08. The Photovoltaic Technology Show 2008 Europe and the Annual Meeting of the Deutsche Diabetes Gesellschaft had also been held with great success in the ICM. Many AGMs had taken place in the ICM during the first six months, and also the WiMAX World 2008 (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), a renowned event in the field of high technology.
 
Norbert Bargmann went on to say that as well as the FISITA World Automotive Congress (2,000 delegates), the Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) at the start of September would be another important highlight in the second half of 2008. Over 30,000 delegates from all over the world are expected to come to this world-famous medical congress in Munich. It is followed, just four weeks later, by the international Annual Congress of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM) in the ICM – attracting 15,000 delegates.
 
Quoting the example of these two large-scale medical congresses, Bargmann pointed out what in the view of Messe München are the critical factors in international competition between congress destinations: More than ever, said Bargmann, it is the attractiveness of a location and its identity that determines whether an event is ultimately successful or not. The organisers of large-scale congresses look not only for a functional congress or exhibition centre and specialist services, but also in particular for easy reachability and excellent international transport connections, including flights. Organisers and visitors were now demanding ever higher standards from hotels and restaurants, and they preferred destinations with a wide range of leisure activities and cultural attractions.
 
Munich and the ICM had managed to position themselves most successfully in this international competition between locations, affirmed Bargmann. Only a few weeks ago the latest rankings of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) for 2007 had confirmed that Munich, and with it the ICM, had moved up along with Berlin into the group of absolute market leaders on an international comparison.
 
As an internationally highly regarded location for high technology and research, Munich had an excellent services infrastructure and served as an ideal platform for making new international business contacts. At the same time the Bavarian capital also succeeded in combining in an authentic way culture, tradition and hospitality – a mixture that attracts organisers and delegates alike from all over the world.
 
Bargmann emphasised therefore that those involved in the Munich congress sector should in future continue to combine their forces to promote, in cooperation with each other, the benefits of Munich as a congress destination, at an international level.
What is currently being copied by cities like Hamburg, Cologne and Stuttgart, has been an ongoing story of success since 2002 in Munich. The city and the city authorities, businesses and retailers, hotels and restaurants, Munich Airport and the ICM have for years been presenting themselves internationally as a strong alliance. It was because of this that the ICM had succeeded in attracting the ESC back to Munich for a second time.
 
Joint preparations for the ESC Congress in autumn 2008 had been in full swing now for months, said Bargmann. Everyone was keen to give another warm welcome to the cardiologists for their return visit to Munich. For this reason the flag of the European Society of Cardiology will be flying at key points around the city. For the duration of the congress taxis and buses would be sporting the logo of the renowned Society. And, in their hotel rooms, the international guests will find a shopping guide and a scented pillow in the shape of a heart.
 
This concerted effort and targeted way of conducting an integrated programme of city and location marketing was paying real dividends for the destination of Munich, revealed Bargmann: For the city and surrounding area, major international congresses and events are shown to bring in a significant influx of purchasing power – in the case of the ESC Congress, each delegate spends an average of € 657 per day (see also the 2008 report by the ifo Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung), a figure that represents a total influx of € 70 million.
 
In addition, continued Bargmann, a glance at the high overall economic impact of congresses on the one hand and the years of statistics for the ICM on the other, shows that Munich was only able to rise up into the premiere league in the international congress and conference market once the International Congress Centre was opened. Only since it began operations in autumn 1998 have major international trade congresses from all around the world been attracted to Munich. Scientific societies from around the globe had booked the ICM for their congresses over the last ten years. Commenting on the trends in visitor numbers at the ICM Bargmann said:
 
"If we look only at the statistics for visitors to the ICM, the number has more than tripled since the opening year in 1998, with 53,800 visitors, to an expected 170,000 by the end of this year."
 
In the coming year, too, the ICM events calendar features numerous highlights – among them the OOP in January 2009, the VDE World Congress and Medientage in autumn 2009.
 
Part of the success of the ICM on the international congress market, continued Bargmann, is its great importance for the Messe München Group. The ICM played a special role in hosting congresses accompanying MMG´s own trade fairs and events – examples he quoted here were the trade fairs Systems, Laser and ispo.
At the same time the ICM was expanding its leading position with an array of new guest events. Bargmann said:
 
"Last year, under the motto of 'New congresses, new events, new acquisitions' we started our innovations campaign 07/08. Since then, over the two years 2007 and 2008, we have managed to expand our portfolio by a total of 56 new guest events and three new own events."
 
Among the many new acquisitions were highly specialist trade fairs such as 'Aerospace Testing, Design & Manufacturing', for the aerospace industry, which this year in April attracted around 4,000 visitors to Munich, and GEPC – Internationale Fachmesse und Konferenz für Polizei- und Spezialausrüstung, an international trade fair and conference for police and specialist equipment, which attracted 15,000 registered trade visitors. 
 
Also taking place for the first time, in autumn 2008, at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre are the Euro Attractions Show (EAS), a meeting place for owners and operators of amusement parks and funpark rides and attractions, and the Millionaire Fair München, one of the world´s leading trade fairs for luxury goods.
 
With trade-fair and congress themes including, for example, the Photovoltaic Technology Show in the ICM, Intersolar, Automatica, Electronica and Productronica, Messe München covered the entire value-added chain in the area of renewable energy and solar technology – it is the only trade-fair location worldwide to do this.
 
This themes spectrum is supplemented by Solar Summits in Freiburg, which Messe München organises in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institut für Solarenergie and Freiburg Wirtschaft Touristik und Messe. This is the first instance of Messe München GmbH operating in Germany outside Munich as a PCO (professional congress organiser).
 
Summing up, Norbert Bargmann said:
 
"By covering important themes for the future like alternative energies and industrial production, Messe München is thus strengthening both its own position long-term as a leading international location for trade fairs, and at the same time the role of Munich and Bavaria as a business location of international status."
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