The annual report of WICM GmbH provides facts and figures on the development of tourism in Wiesbaden and gives an overview of its own events in the outdoor sector, marketing activities and events in the three buildings RheinMain CongressCenter, Kurhaus Wiesbaden and Jagdschloss Platte.
Annual Report 2024
The annual report, which is published every year in the first quarter for the previous year's period - now for 2024 - provides information on overnight stays, guest arrivals and insights into the congress and event industry.
In 2024, the state capital of Wiesbaden welcomed 1,344,735 overnight guests. This once again exceeded the record set in 2023 by 0.5 percent. In particular, an increase of 21,000 overnight stays from Germany contributed to this. In particular, the numerous successful trade fairs and congresses in the event centers in Wiesbaden have contributed significantly to attracting more visitors from all over Germany to our city
Wiesbaden has also established itself nationally as a destination for leisure tourism city trips. Numerous festivals and events in the city played a major role in this. The Sternschnuppen Markt was part of one of the numerous campaigns of the Wiesbaden Partner Network - a strong alliance of municipal stakeholders and tourism service providers who are working together to further raise the profile of the Wiesbaden "brand" in city tourism and events.
Also in close cooperation with strong partners from the hotel, gastronomy and culture sectors, the destination WIESBADEN RHEINGAU received its successful initial certification from "TourCert" - an important step on the way to becoming a "sustainable destination".
Wiesbaden achieved a very successful increase in tourism in 2023: With 1.337 million overnight stays, the city broke its own record from 2019, the year before the pandemic, and the number of overnight stays increased by 20.5% compared to 2022. A total of almost 585,800 guests visited the city in 2023, an increase of more than 18% compared to the previous year.
The city's numerous festivals and events, which also attract a great deal of interest from visitors from outside Wiesbaden, have the effect of stimulating trade in the city center. At the same time, they make a significant contribution to the positive result in the number of guests and overnight stays. The occupancy rate of the two large event venues RMCC and Kurhaus Wiesbaden also proved to be an important driver of the number of overnight stays.
Tourism in Wiesbaden developed positively in 2022 after the majority of pandemic-related restrictions were lifted. The number of guest arrivals and overnight stays in Wiesbaden is encouraging: with more than 495,000 guests, the state capital recorded an increase of 88.5 percent, while the number of overnight stays rose from around 672,000 in the pandemic year 2021 to 1,110,254 million (up 65.3 percent) in 2022.
Numerous festivals were also held again in 2022, which - such as the Sternschnuppenmarkt - play an important role in promoting Wiesbaden's retail sector and revitalizing the city centre.
The number of overnight stays in the state capital of Wiesbaden recovered slightly in 2021 compared to the first year of the pandemic, with almost 263,000 more guests registered in Wiesbaden than in 2020. In addition, the cooperation agreement signed in December 2021 by the state capital of Wiesbaden and the Rheingau for the new destination WIESBADEN RHEINGAU is an important step towards greater visibility in the highly competitive market for day and city tourism.
The travel and residence restrictions associated with the coronavirus pandemic have caused a massive slump in the tourism industry worldwide. Wiesbaden was no exception. In 2020, around 256,000 guests visited Wiesbaden and booked 654,564 overnight stays. The coronavirus pandemic contributed significantly to the acceleration of digitalization in 2020. The Convention Sales & Marketing department has positioned itself in the market accordingly with a focus on "alternative and digital event formats". Event venues were able to respond to requests for the digital implementation of events and conferences.
The Hessian state capital shines with a record number of overnight stays and events. For 2019, the tourism report of the state capital Wiesbaden shows almost 592,000 guests and a total of almost 1,279,000 overnight stays. With a total of 7,102 events, around 100 more than in the previous year, Wiesbaden Congress & Marketing GmbH reports a positive development for Wiesbaden as a conference and congress location. The total number of event participants in 2019 was 693,552, 3.0 percent higher than the previous year 2018 with 672,795 participants.
