jonam
11 Aug 2004, 07:53 AM
WC 2006: A roof for the world
(Guido) 2 years prior to the world cup in Germany, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) intensify preparations for FIFA-WC 2006 and develop a corporate marketing strategy. Working title: “NRW – im Westen treffen sich die Besten” (“NRW – the best meet in the west”). To cope with the expected masses of visitors during the world cup at Rhine and Ruhr, an internet-based “bed-exchange” by fans for fans will be presented, which should impressively underline the WC-motto “A time to make friends”. Of course schwatzgelb.de will support this campaign and talked to Dortmund WC-appointee Gerd Kolbe.
Easy to predict: The number of hotel beds in NRW won’t suffice to accommodate the fans from all over the world between Dortmund and Cologne. And as the time till the opening match isn’t as long as the WC-organisers would like, they are heavily working on solutions. Regarding state-wide solutions there is a task force called “tourism and location marketing”, which is part of the “NRW-team WC 2006” of the state government. 6 matches in Westfalenstadion and 5 in Gelsenkirchen and 5 in Cologne means that Germany’s west is the epicentre of the world cup. Dortmund reckon that 250.000 WC-tourists plus 7.000 journalists, who report from the media centre Dortmund, will pour into the city. No wonder that in the conurbation Dortmund alone a total of 28 cities and communities – everything from Castrop-Rauxel to Bochum is involved – get together to master the masses of visitors. Because the Dortmund hotel association have by far not enough beds. “Above all this tournament is like a jackpot for the whole region”, says Eckhart Sulk, spokesman of the district of Unna, who took command of the newly founded working party “WC regional”.
Time to make friends
The plan of the working party is to create a bed-exchange on the internet, in which German hosts offer foreign fans accommodations to celebrate the world cup together and in peace. That perfectly fits to the WC-slogan “time to make friends”, but causes much work for the organisers. That is the point were schwatzgelb.de is glad to give our support. Among our 20.000 visitors, that surf schwatzgelb.de each day, we hope to find as many WC-enthusiastic people as possible, who would like to accommodate some Italian tifosi or offer their garden for Dutch caravans to park. In talk with schwatzgelb.de even a police officer told us that he will accommodate some foreign colleagues during world cup. Of course the procurement will be handled in co-operation with the WC-committee. Eckhart Sulk on this topic: “I think that we are open-minded and have enough enthusiasm. And those who want to take part in this program can be sure that we are reliable partners.” Interested are of course also the tourism associations, which support this campaign: “In Germany, and exceptionally in NRW, the world cup fever should infect the whole population”, says Dr Robert Datzer, chair man of North Rhine-Westphalia tourism e.V..
Schwatzgelb.de support the campaign
As for many fans the Ruhr Valley area looks like one big city and most of the foreign football-crazed people think of Schalke as a Dortmund suburb (in case they even know it), the bed-exchange on the internet will be set up not for Dortmund only but for the whole state. By end of the year the technical framework will be ready and then the search-engines will be fed. From that moment on…it is your turn!
Gerd Kolbe: Even youth villages are planned
Gerd Kolbe, Dortmunds WC-organiser, in talk with schwatzgelb.de on the NRW-wide accommodation search-engine: “That will be a search-engine not only for private offers, also the hotel industry will be included. But we also think about lots for caravans, youth villages etc.. And of course not only for Dortmund but also for Gelsenkirchen, Cologne and even Leverkusen, where the national team will have its training camp during the world cup. At the moment we are in negotiations with many co-operations partners, though the main response will still the state-government of NRW have.”
Now online on http://www.schwatzgelb.com (http://www.schwatzgelb.com/) !
(Guido) 2 years prior to the world cup in Germany, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) intensify preparations for FIFA-WC 2006 and develop a corporate marketing strategy. Working title: “NRW – im Westen treffen sich die Besten” (“NRW – the best meet in the west”). To cope with the expected masses of visitors during the world cup at Rhine and Ruhr, an internet-based “bed-exchange” by fans for fans will be presented, which should impressively underline the WC-motto “A time to make friends”. Of course schwatzgelb.de will support this campaign and talked to Dortmund WC-appointee Gerd Kolbe.
Easy to predict: The number of hotel beds in NRW won’t suffice to accommodate the fans from all over the world between Dortmund and Cologne. And as the time till the opening match isn’t as long as the WC-organisers would like, they are heavily working on solutions. Regarding state-wide solutions there is a task force called “tourism and location marketing”, which is part of the “NRW-team WC 2006” of the state government. 6 matches in Westfalenstadion and 5 in Gelsenkirchen and 5 in Cologne means that Germany’s west is the epicentre of the world cup. Dortmund reckon that 250.000 WC-tourists plus 7.000 journalists, who report from the media centre Dortmund, will pour into the city. No wonder that in the conurbation Dortmund alone a total of 28 cities and communities – everything from Castrop-Rauxel to Bochum is involved – get together to master the masses of visitors. Because the Dortmund hotel association have by far not enough beds. “Above all this tournament is like a jackpot for the whole region”, says Eckhart Sulk, spokesman of the district of Unna, who took command of the newly founded working party “WC regional”.
Time to make friends
The plan of the working party is to create a bed-exchange on the internet, in which German hosts offer foreign fans accommodations to celebrate the world cup together and in peace. That perfectly fits to the WC-slogan “time to make friends”, but causes much work for the organisers. That is the point were schwatzgelb.de is glad to give our support. Among our 20.000 visitors, that surf schwatzgelb.de each day, we hope to find as many WC-enthusiastic people as possible, who would like to accommodate some Italian tifosi or offer their garden for Dutch caravans to park. In talk with schwatzgelb.de even a police officer told us that he will accommodate some foreign colleagues during world cup. Of course the procurement will be handled in co-operation with the WC-committee. Eckhart Sulk on this topic: “I think that we are open-minded and have enough enthusiasm. And those who want to take part in this program can be sure that we are reliable partners.” Interested are of course also the tourism associations, which support this campaign: “In Germany, and exceptionally in NRW, the world cup fever should infect the whole population”, says Dr Robert Datzer, chair man of North Rhine-Westphalia tourism e.V..
Schwatzgelb.de support the campaign
As for many fans the Ruhr Valley area looks like one big city and most of the foreign football-crazed people think of Schalke as a Dortmund suburb (in case they even know it), the bed-exchange on the internet will be set up not for Dortmund only but for the whole state. By end of the year the technical framework will be ready and then the search-engines will be fed. From that moment on…it is your turn!
Gerd Kolbe: Even youth villages are planned
Gerd Kolbe, Dortmunds WC-organiser, in talk with schwatzgelb.de on the NRW-wide accommodation search-engine: “That will be a search-engine not only for private offers, also the hotel industry will be included. But we also think about lots for caravans, youth villages etc.. And of course not only for Dortmund but also for Gelsenkirchen, Cologne and even Leverkusen, where the national team will have its training camp during the world cup. At the moment we are in negotiations with many co-operations partners, though the main response will still the state-government of NRW have.”
Now online on http://www.schwatzgelb.com (http://www.schwatzgelb.com/) !