The Munich and Hamburg Convention Bureaux on promotional tour in London and Dublin, spreading the spirit of Christmas and discovering the advanced art of constructing gingerbread houses.
An illustration of the Royal Family gathered around the Christmas tree attracted a great deal of attention among Queen Victoria's subjects when it appeared in the Illustrated London News 170 years ago. Ever since Prince Albert brought the Christmas tree from his home country of Germany, the German Christmas has been the epitome of Christmas romanticism. Not surprisingly, we find imitations of the popular German Christmas markets throughout the world, and representatives of the Munich and Hamburg Convention Bureaux were happy to act as Christmas ambassadors in London and Dublin this year in late October.
Together with the agency Moulden Marketing the MICE experts from Munich and Hamburg ventured out on a sales mission to spread the spirit of Christmas. They were joined by two hotel partners each – the Bayerischer Hof and the Marriott International in Munich, and the Reichshof Hamburg and the Scandic Hamburg Emporio – and they toured through London and Dublin to tell agencies and associations about the qualities of their cities as prime MICE destinations.
The networking events held on 30 October in London and 1 November in Dublin followed through fully on the theme of German Christmas. After a presentation of the latest MICE-relevant facts from Munich and Hamburg everyone was invited to join in the great Gingerbread Challenge. The British and Irish guests were introduced to a tradition adored by children in Germany: Building a real gingerbread house.
The 'confectioner trainees' formed small teams to create sugary houses that demonstrated their decorating skills and creativity with icing and sweets. The most beautiful gingerbread house was rewarded with a prize. Christmas music helped create the fitting atmosphere as did mulled wine and bowl food inspired by Christmas culinary specialities from Germany.
Wrapped in the cosy Advent atmosphere the British and Irish guests were even easier to convince to stage their next event in Munich or Hamburg. For who wouldn't want to indulge in German Gemütlichkeit?
