Hamburg, 3 July 2013 – The 96th Lions Clubs International Convention Hamburg 2013 is coming to Hamburg. Hamburg Messe und Congress (HMC) will be the hotspot for this mega event, as in April for the 28th Haspa Marathon Hamburg and in May for the 34th German Protestant Church Convention (Kirchentag 2013). The Lions are meeting in Germany for the first time, with expected attendance of more than 23,000 participants from over 130 countries. The Hamburg Fair site and CCH-Congress Center Hamburg will be at the centre of activities from 5 to 9 July, as the location for the Convention Service Center, the exhibition and the Lions Seminars.
This is just the third time that the Lions Clubs International Convention is being held in Europe, following Nice in 1978 and Birmingham in 1989. “We are very proud to welcome the Lions to Hamburg for their International Convention,” says Bernd Aufderheide, President and CEO of HMC. “This is the biggest convention ever to be held in this city. We look forward to showing Hamburg’s outstanding skills and facilities for hosting international conventions with so many participants.”
The preparations for this mega-event have been running for five years. The Organizing Committee moved into the CCH more than a year ago. “We have been working at full pace for a long time now, to coordinate all the arrangements which the City of Hamburg has agreed with the Lions. They include for example the international parade with some 10,000 participants, which goes around the Inner Alster on 6 July, starting at 10:00 a.m.,” says Matthias Rieger, Chairman of the Steering Committee. “We want participants to have a wonderful time in our city, and tell everyone about it when they get home. We want them to love it so much that they want to come here again.”
About HMC
The exhibition and conference site, with Hamburg Messe and CCH – Congress Center Hamburg, are located right at the centre of Hamburg. The exhibition site provides organisers, exhibitors and visitors with 87,000 square metres of space in eleven halls, and another 10,000 square metres in outdoor spaces. CCH – Congress Center Hamburg is just a few minutes’ walk from there. It is one of Europe’s leading conference centres, with 23 conference halls and meeting rooms designed for flexible use, and a 7,000 square metre exhibition hall. The top events each year are the medical conventions, with up to 10,000 participants, and the big annual meetings such as the four-day conference of the Chaos Computer Club with more than 5,500 participants. About 320 events are held each year at the fair site and CCH – including trade fairs, meetings and conventions, annual general meetings of stock exchange listed companies, and cultural and culinary events – with a total of more than a million visitors annually.
