New benchmarks for leisure and tourism
Hannover isn’t far from anywhere. It is located at the heart of Europe and is within easy, climate-friendly reach by train from all directions. It is a green city full of charm that already has a convincing approach to sustainability. Hannover is setting new national benchmarks for leisure and tourism, as revealed by new hotel concepts, popular “green” events, unique close proximity to nature and amazing “talent factories”.
One of Germany’s most attractive regions
The Region Hannover is ideally located in terms of transportation infrastructure. It is a growing advantage to be at the heart of Europe, particularly when it comes to mainline trains. People will increasingly travel by train, for climate-protection reasons alone. Hannover has therefore always been a travel hub. It is just four and a half hours by train to Hannover from Munich or Freiburg, about seven from Paris and Luxembourg and five from Amsterdam. Leipzig is just over three hours away, Frankfurt and Berlin two and a half, Hamburg and Bremen about one hour. It is also easy to get to Hannover by car on the A 7 and A 2 motorways, or by plane. The Region Hannover offers exemplary public transport as well as an excellent network of cycle paths in the surrounding countryside. Many places offer bikes for hire. Other simply unbeatable assets include one of the largest exhibition grounds, an excellent catering industry, 24 event centres and 570,000 square metres of conference space,
Hannover is green. Half of the region, that’s half of 2,291 square kilometres, consists of nature conservation and countryside protection areas. This makes it one of the greenest metropolitan areas in Europe. Hannover’s city forest Eilenriede is nearly twice as big as New York’s Central Park. Local recreation is one of the buzzwords, often accompanied by what experts call “open-space planning”. This is an integral part of overall spatial development: after all, there is a need to plan local recreation possibilities once roads and buildings start spreading dynamically. The planners in the Region Hannover quickly recognised the need for close links between living and recreation. Their successful achievements in this respect are today one of the main reasons why the state capital and its surrounding 20 towns and municipalities are seen to be so attractive compared to other places in Germany. The green countryside is close at hand. Up to now, 45,000 roadside trees grow throughout the city, providing shade and clean air. About 750 more trees are added every year. To counteract the increased rate of city-centre warming, there are ideas to have vegetation growing on large roof areas in Hannover city centre and to connect these areas with pedestrian bridges. Hannover has a long tradition of thinking creatively.
From green events to an award as the best streaming location
The city is also taking a new look at sustainability. The Region Hannover will be climate neutral by 2050 at the latest. Green electricity is already being fed into the grid today. Photovoltaic arrays and wind energy make a significant contribution in this respect and are currently going through further expansion in the Region Hannover. As a result, Hannover is already in a position to host green events. These are popular particularly for companies that like to offer climate-friendly rail travel for getting to the event, which itself should be based as far as possible on a sustainable concept. Everything from lighting to catering should be on an ecologically acceptable basis. The Expo Whale in the south of Hannover is just one small example of a special location with social, ecological and economic sustainability.
Sustainability is increasingly the standard for meetings of all kinds, whether product briefings or works meetings, talk shows or training courses. The Region Hannover also offers the best possible prerequisites for hybrid events that take place on site and are streamed online at the same time. The city recently received an award as the best streaming location and best hybrid event location.
Other first-rate features include one of the largest exhibition grounds in the world (with high tech and the spacey Convention Centre for hybrid events) and the red brick Eilers Classic hall (the dome for the planetarium in Rome was made here), as well as the (Conference) Palace Herrenhausen in the Large Garden. There is a choice of first-rate conference and congress facilities. Who else can offer their guests the historical cupola hall in Hannover Congress Centre or the magnificent Hall of the Maharajah at Hannover Adventure Zoo? The zoo itself is a nationwide highlight with its themed worlds, animal encounters, boat trips on the Zambezi or the underwater world with polar bears and seals.
Highly innovative hotel industry
It is therefore no great surprise that the number of overnight visitors increases from year to year, reaching more than 4.2 million in the entire Region Hannover in 2019. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the figures plummeted by half, as in most other places too. But the city will soon pick up where it left off: the potential is huge. The hoteliers are optimistic and highly innovative. Flexible catering concepts and co-working spaces are just two buzzwords.
Whether international chains such as Marriott, Sheraton, Hilton, Accor, Motel One, Best Western, NH, Lindner Hotels, Steigenberger or the city’s five-star superior hotel – the Kastens Hotel Luisenhof – they are all showing how creative they are. If the focus is on holding hybrid events, then they provide the necessary technical equipment. Many events hosted by the hotels take place live on site, whilst being streamed online to screens all over the world at the same time.
The trust placed in Hannover as a location is almost unsurpassed. The hotel business knows what advantages the region has to offer. The trust is underpinned particularly by the number of new hotels that are currently being opened.
Six hotel projects were completed in 2020 and 2021; another two are currently under construction with work beginning in 2022. These eight hotels altogether offer 1,300 rooms – what an impressive figure. In comparison, about 120 establishments offer accommodation in the city and around 300 in the whole region. Together, they offer around 28,000 beds. Plans are already underway for a further twelve hotels that could add up to 2,000 more beds in the next three to five years.
“Hafven” and other talent factories
Hannover has a tradition of being innovative, as illustrated nicely by the example of the “Hafvens” in the north of the city. The unusual building with an inner courtyard expresses the whole concept of young start-ups and their approach to co-working. On the one hand, office workplaces can be rented, whilst on the other hand companies give presentations. Catering is also provided. At the same time, a wood and metal workshop entices hobby artists and gives professionals an opportunity to fine-tune their prototypes. Start-up is booming in Hannover. All these aspects and more are handled by the economic development agencies in the state capital and surrounding region, together with hannoverimpuls. Further training, degree courses and dual training are more than just buzzwords; there is a focus on specific assistance, projects and successful achievements. Renowned companies and societies support the RFolg.com platform that facilitates regional company succession processes and covers several sectors, from roofers and plasterers through to IT consultants.
Hannover as a holiday region: hiking and cycling across hills, lakes and moors zu Bergen, Meer und Moor
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, people have had an even greater longing to be outside. It’s simply crucial to be outdoors, in the fresh air. People feel drawn to the Deister hills, Calenberger Land and Steinhuder Meer as ideal destinations for hiking and cycling. Anyone who looks on the internet for the 20 best hikes around Hannover finds tours through the Deister hills (easily reached with the rapid transit trains), or the geology trail in the Brelinger hills and through the Leinemasch. There are also surprisingly interesting tours through the city itself that include Eilenriede forest, Maschsee or Lindener Berg.
As far as cycling goes, the state capital wants to encourage more road users to try this form of mobility by 2025 and has created corresponding cycle routes. They connect various parts of the city and form a cycling network. The best thing is that the city already has simply idyllic cycle paths right across the city’s green belt. All routes of the CYCLING REGION start and end on the north banks of Maschsee. From this point, the trails radiate out into the region where they are joined together at the borders by the region ring. The CYCLING REGION also has two other projects that are national pioneers: the Grüner Ring (green ring) and Deister-Kreisel (Deister roundabout).
The Grüner Ring consists of a round trip covering 160 kilometres around the state capital through nine different countryside areas and ten towns and municipalities. The Deisterkreisel extends for about 100 kilometres around Germany‘s most northerly hills. All along the route there are idyllic villages, old monasteries and palaces, wide fields, luminous hilltops and rustling woods. Many of the sections can be tackled easily in combination with the local public transport network.
Hannover is also popular as an equestrian region. Going for a ride in the Wedemark to clear the mind, before returning to enjoy a night out in the city – that must be the best way to do leisure. The same can also be said of the many golf courses from Langenhagen to Gleidingen. Exercising outside in the fresh air, that is quality of life.
HMTG: driving force since 2008
It is quickly apparent that tourism plays a crucial role in the economic power of the region. Hannover Marketing & Tourismus GmbH (HMTG) with CEO Hans Christian Nolte is the city’s central service provider for regional and city marketing as well as promoting tourism. Renowned business companies and interest groups from the Region Hannover act as cooperation partners and shareholders to support HMTG that was founded in 2008. There is a wide range of focal points encompassing supra-regional initiatives to consolidate Hannover and further its developments as the ideal region and place for innovation.
HMTG’s aim is to enhance general identification with the entire REGION HANNOVER as a place for business and a place to live. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, tourism was one of the most significant economic factors in the Region Hannover, generating a net turnover of 2.3 billion Euro in the preceding twelve months. HMTG is making every effort to gain momentum again and continue where the 2019 figures left off.
Header picture: Mapics/stockAdobe.com
