Q: How would you describe Graz to somebody who has never heard about the city?
Graz is a cosy, old city located between mountains to the north and a wine-growing region to the south. It is the ideal size for pleasant living and offers a lot for its size: an abundance of cultural events, numerous sights, four universities, a wide range of modern architecture and design as well as industry and business. The historic city centre of Graz is listed as UNESCO World Heritage.
Q: What can Graz offer to congress guests that no other city can offer?
Graz offers 60 different venues in different styles to suit every taste, most of them in the old town and many of them in the pedestrian zone. As most of them are within walking distance of the hotels, transfer is hardly necessary. Furthermore, Graz is still a little bit of an insiders’ tip and congress guests like to discover new places.
“Our goal is to make Graz even more attractive for events with more than 1000 participants.”
Q: What are the strategic and developmental goals for your city for 2019?
We will try to attract bigger and more international conferences and events.
Our goal is to make Graz even more attractive for events with more than 1000 participants.
The infrastructure of the meeting rooms and congress centres is available and the hotel capacities have constantly expanded in recent years.
And of course, we will support all congresses in Graz in the best possible way in 2019. Service is also marketing for us!
Q: Every city has a certain vibe—what would you say is the vibe of Graz? And how would you describe the people of Graz?
Graz offers a certain southern flair and a mild climate in which fruit, vegetables and wine thrive. The people here are laidback and fond of culinary pleasures, we simply love to eat and drink. Several farmers’ markets offer seasonal products throughout the year. Graz is Austria’s Capital of Delight with good reason. With its four universities, research centres, colleges and various clusters, Graz is also a city of knowledge and in many areas a very innovative city. And the more than 60,000 students are the perfect ingredient for a youthful and exciting nightlife!
“My personal goal is to maintain the high standard of service of my department.”
Q: Why did you incorporate content marketing into your marketing strategy? How do you see the impacts of content on achieving your goals?
We want to convince our customers with messages from the city of Graz. Unfortunately, Graz is still not sufficiently well-known. We need to enhance our popularity with stories and information about the city.
Especially in the MICE business, organisers often need a good reason or a relationship with the city they choose for an event. If we publish the various aspects of Graz in various media, we will reach different target groups and thus organisers of conferences, seminars, incentives and those kinds of events.
Q: And about you… what are your personal goals for 2019? What will be your personal driver in the upcoming year?
I have been the head of the Graz Convention Bureau since 2003 and first and foremost my personal goal is to maintain the high standard of service of my department. Secondly, my free time and work-life balance is also very important to me. Therefore, I plan to do a lot of hiking, ski touring and cycling and I look forward immensely to sailing in the beautiful Adriatic around Slovenia, Croatia and Italy. Last but not least my wife, my friends and my family must not be neglected! As you can see, there is more than enough to do.
Q: What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives?
Everyone should decide for themselves. My dream would be to sail for several months—of course, combined with getting to know new countries and people and enjoying life.
