Culture and Tourism: How exhibitions make cities bloom!

Culture and Tourism: How exhibitions make cities bloom!

The Hans Diers Marketing Symposium took place on May 15, 2025, which focused on the symbiosis between culture and tourism. The event, which brought together numerous experts and institutions from the cultural sector, illustrated how cultural programs can act as a tourist stimulus and at the same time attract visitors to cities and museums. Ulrich Keinath, managing director of projekt2508 GmbH and art cities REISEN GmbH, emphasized the central role of exhibitions in the cultural travel market and their influence on regional value creation. An example of this is the upcoming anniversary for Caspar David Friedrich, which will be celebrated in 2024 at the Pomeranian State Museum in Greifswald, an event that has already led to an 8 percent increase in the number of overnight stays.

The combination of topics, timing, titles and targeted marketing is essential to create strong media momentum. Campaigns should be planned at least two years in advance to maximize media reach and establish a strong partner network. A successful example is the Rheingau Music Festival, which combines music, wine and culture and benefits from a stable partner network of sponsors, venues, wineries, restaurants and hotels.

The role of Caspar David Friedrich

As part of the 250th birthday of Caspar David Friedrich, an important exhibition will take place in the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin in 2024. This is carried out in cooperation with the copper engraving cabinet of the Berlin State Museums and shows over 60 paintings and more than 50 drawings by Friedrich from various museums. These include masterpieces such as “The Sea of ​​Ice” from the Hamburger Kunsthalle and “Chalk Cliffs on Rügen” from the Kunst Museum Winterthur. The exhibition also addresses the rediscovery of Friedrich's art at the beginning of the 20th century, making the National Gallery one of the most important collections of Friedrich paintings in the world.

The exhibition will guide visitors through the diversity of Friedrich's pairs of images and show the changes in his perspectives. In addition, a chapter is dedicated to the creative process and its painting technique, supported by a media station. Contemporary photomontages by the artist Hiroyuki Masuyama, which reconstruct Friedrich's works, round off the show. For anyone interested, special opening hours will be offered during the exhibition from July 4, 2024.

Integration of culture into tourism plans

The symposium emphasized the need for closer cooperation between cultural institutions and tour operators. Cultural institutions often lack understanding of the needs of tour operators, while they do not always take advantage of cultural opportunities. The exchange between these actors is crucial in order to fully exploit the potential of cultural tourism and to make cultural-historical topics an integral part of tourism planning.

The successes in Greifswald and the well-thought-out marketing strategies are highlighted as role models that show how cultural offerings can not only create regional identity, but also provide sustainable economic stimulus. The coming anniversary of Caspar David Friedrich will not only be a cultural highlight, but also an example of the synergetic cooperation between culture and tourism.