We are working for your success

The Hamburg Convention Bureau (HCB) is a direct subsidiary of Hamburg Marketing GmbH. The HCB was newly established in 2009 as a private-public partnership and aims to position Hamburg globally as a premium location for B2B events and to strengthen Hamburg’s profile internationally via highly visible public events. In our role as Hamburg’s official marketing agency we also provide an interface between tourism and business.

The Hamburg Convention Bureau is divided into the business units of Conventions and Event Marketing. Our dedicated staff are happy to navigate you through Hamburg’s diverse MICE landscape. Our business units are supported by the Strategy & Communications unit, which serves the Conventions and Event Marketing teams in an advisory capacity.

We are your partner when it comes to planning conventions, meetings, events or incentives in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. In addition, we are the central point of contact for all organisations and public entities involved in Hamburg’s event industry.
We connect people, open doors and offer independent advice – swiftly, competently, and free of charge.

Michael Otremba has been managing director of the Hamburg Convention Bureau GmbH since October 2016. In the same capacity he has been in charge of the Hamburg Marketing GmbH and the Hamburg Tourismus GmbH since May 2016.

Prior to working in city marketing, Michael Otremba, who was born in Stade (Lower Saxony), had worked since 2008 with Munich Airport, Germany’s second biggest airport. As vice president he was responsible for the advertising, media and marketing divisions and coordinated the airport’s brand-driven change process.

Michael Otremba holds a degree in Sports Economics and previously spent around ten years working in senior positions in the area of sports marketing – e.g. with sports rights marketing agency Sportfive in Hamburg as well as in Dortmund, where he worked with the Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund.

Responsibility

When Hamburg was awarded the title of European Green Capital 2011, the city on the River Elbe committed itself to reconciling economic growth with environmental protection, to reducing harmful emissions and to promoting the careful use of resources. The HCB builds on this approach e.g. by providing industry-specific training programmes and by serving as a central point of contact for Green Meetings.

To learn more about the HCB’s activites in the field of sustainability, please refer to the HCB’s Sustainability Management Plan (available only in German). Moreover, the HCB is a member of “fairpflichtet”, a network that provides a sustainability code specifically designed for the German-speaking event industry. The “fairpflichtet” report on the HCB was published in April 2015.

In addition to issues relating to environmental protection, you can learn more about the HCB’s operating principles in the HCB Code of Conduct (available only in German). Corporate and social responsibility are wide-reaching issues, and the HCB responds to these e.g. by placing a focus on general equality and the prevention of corruption.

PPP: a success model with a solid foundation and a clear vision

The HCB is designed as a public-private partnership (PPP): municipal partners and the private sector collaborate in order to fully harness the region’s potential as a meetings and events location. This also includes marketing Hamburg at a global scale. Together with partners from the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, the HCB presents itself on a regular basis at national and international trade fairs and industry events.

The HCB is wholly owned by Hamburg Marketing GmbH. The Hamburg Chamber of Commerce and Hamburg Airport support the work of the HCB as strategic partners. Further partners include renowned Hamburg-based MICE businesses, whose commitment and professional services are proof of the location’s high quality standards.