Press release: GNTB promotes Chemnitz worldwide as the 2025 European Capital of Culture

Frankfurt, 31 October 2024 – Chemnitz is the European Capital of Culture for 2025. After West Berlin in 1988, Weimar in 1999 and the Ruhr metropolitan region in 2010, the industrial city of Chemnitz in Saxony will be the fourth German destination to be designated a European Capital of Culture. On the basis of a cooperation agreement with Chemnitzer Tourismus und Marketing GmbH (CTM), the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) has already embarked on marketing activities in international source markets, promoting visits to the various Capital of Culture-related activities that showcase the transformation of this former industrial heartland into a region of culture.

Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive Officer of the GNTB, explains: “Of the 173 million outbound cultural trips made by Europeans in 2023, 18.7 million were to Germany. An impressive figure that once again underlines our position as the number one cultural travel and city break destination for Europeans. According to the latest research by IPK International, the number of city breaks in Germany taken by Europeans rose by a further 10 per cent in the first eight months of 2024. In this context, the naming of Chemnitz as the 2025 European Capital of Culture provides even more reasons to explore the arts scene and cultural landscape of this region of Germany.”

Andrea Pier, CEO of Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH: “Chemnitz and the Capital of Culture region offer a multilayered programme of more than 1,000 events under the banner ‘C the unseen’ that will put previously less well-known people, places and activities more firmly on the tourist map. It explores more than 800 years of mining, features established, internationally renowned cultural highlights such as theatres, museums and industrial heritage, and showcases projects created to mark the region’s year as the Capital of Culture. The residents of Chemnitz and the entire region are looking forward to welcoming visitors from Germany and abroad to the European Capital of Culture.”

Alongside the city of Chemnitz, the region bearing the title of European Capital of Culture encompasses a further 38 towns and municipalities in Central Saxony, the Zwickauer Land district and the Erzgebirge mountains. Over the course of the year, organisers are expecting around two million international visitors to enjoy a diverse programme of art, exhibitions, and festivals large and small. The year of the European Capital of Culture will begin on 18 January 2025. The full programme is available at chemnitz2025.de/en/.

GNTB activities to promote the European Capital of Culture internationally
Working in partnership with Kulturhauptstadt Europas Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH, Tourismusmarketing Gesellschaft Sachsen, Chemnitz Tourismus Marketing (CTM) and Tourismusverband Chemnitz Zwickau Region e.V., the GNTB is launching the year of the European Capital of Culture with a Welcome Tour featuring networking events for tourism partners and media in three source markets. The GNTB and its partners will be presenting the recently published programme for the year in the following locations: on 31 October 2024 in ‘Kraftwerk’ in Zurich, on 7 November in ‘Palais Niederösterreich’ in Vienna and on 14 November in ‘Spoika’ in Prague.

The Welcome Tour is part of the cooperation agreement between the GNTB and CTM to promote the region’s year as European Capital of Culture. Joint activities cover SEA and marketing on social media and in newsletters in the GNTB’s channels for the travel trade, the media and end consumers. A microsite on the GNTB’s website will act as the central information point. It showcases itineraries and events that connect Chemnitz with 38 participating communities across the region and offer authentic experiences of culture and tradition from the past to the present. The events calendar on the Visit Chemnitz website is linked to the GNTB microsite.

The GNTB has been integrating the theme into its global media work and showcasing Chemnitz as the Capital of Culture to key accounts in the international travel industry since the start of 2024. It held the Germany Travel Mart, the leading sales event for inbound tourism to Germany, in Chemnitz in anticipation of the year ahead. The GTM gave 225 trade representatives and over 100 journalists the opportunity to explore the region and its wide-ranging offering in person. The international press conference during the GTM also focused on the concept and programme for the region’s year as the 2025 European Capital of Culture. International media work was complemented by press highlight tours.

In its cooperation agreement with CTM, the GNTB defined Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Poland, the Netherlands and Denmark as core markets. Furthermore, all of the GNTB’s foreign representative offices are running marketing and sales activities focused on Chemnitz as the 2025 European Capital of Culture.