Interview with Ralf Ostendorf, Director Market Management of visitBerlin: The Fragrant Hills Summit Is a Very Good Opportunity to Promote a City

Berlin is a vice-chairman city of WTCF. During the Summit, Ralf Ostendorf, Director Market Management of visitBerlin, was interviewed by the media from China and abroad. He answered questions about shared economy’s influence on Berlin, future tourism development of Berlin and so on.

Release time : 2016-10-24 17:39:41

source : WTCF

Berlin is a vice-chairman city of WTCF. During the Summit, Ralf Ostendorf, Director Market Management of visitBerlin, was interviewed by the media from China and abroad. He answered questions about shared economy’s influence on Berlin, future tourism development of Berlin and so on.

Mr. Ostendorf said, shared economy today has influenced world tourism cities greatly, especially Berlin. As the capital of Germany, this fashionable and modern city has adapted to shared economy quickly and it is a necessary part of local life now. Shared economy is always something that benefits the locals and that’s why it has always been created but defiantly has an effect on tourism. It has created a lot of change in the accommodation industry and for the tourists. “On the one hand, it has a lot of benefits because you can find excellent accommodation all over the world and get a unique local experience from the destination where you are. On the other hand, of course it’s a threat to the traditional hotel industry and especially in Berlin. I can say many traditional tourism participants, even some residents, don’t like Apps like Airbnb.”

Mr. Ostendorf believed, you may reject shared economy, but that does no good to healthy development of tourism industry. It’s a free world and also for the hotel industry they just have to find new ways to be more competitive. They should improve service and products and that is something an apartment can’t provide. On the other hand, Apps like Airbnb have the right to develop and meet demands of different group. Under a good regulation system, they can bring diversification and abundance to the tourism experience. “It may be profitable to rent private houses or apartments, but not every neighbor can accept that, because people do not want to see strange neighbors every once in a while. The strangers with different habits from different countries will surely influence, even disturb life of

local residents. Therefore, for this emerging industry, there will be many problems and there is a long way to go. ”

When talking about tourism of Berlin, Mr. Ostendorf said Berlin is totally different from any other German city. “I’ve been living in Berlin for 18 years and I’d have to say the city changes every day and every day is different.” Berlin is a melting pot for really creative professional designers, arts, musicians, and so on. Berlin is a big magnet and a shining star in Europe right now because it’s always reinventing itself every day. “Beijing is our sister city, and we also have good tourism links with Shanghai and Guangzhou. These are the main three cities of tourist resource but of course we will be going more into the smaller cities and second tier cities. The Chongqing Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit is a good chance for us to communicate. ”

Mr. Ostendorf said he had attended the Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit for several times. The Summit is getting bigger and more professional year by year. “It’s always nice to meet people, and that is because WTCF is still a very young organization, which means the number of members is still growing. Each year I can meet different representatives of various cities and it is always good to exchange information aside from the official topics that we have at the summit. I talk with colleagues from other parts of the world and exchange views on certain topics issues. It always gives you some additional value of course. So, it is a very good opportunity to just meet, talk and become successful. ”

“WTCF has done much to do promotion in China for us. We want to bring tourism resources and latest tourism news to Chinese. It will be very important that our new airport is open next year and that we can show Berlin in a way we want. I believe more and more people will come to Berlin. Defiantly one day, maybe within the next five years, we will apply

to hold the WTCF summit. After all, it will benefit promotion of our tourism greatly to hold such a summit.”