125 years of tourism
In the accompanying magazine 125 Years of Kiel Fjord Tourism, readers can find detailed historical explanations of the exhibition, impressively illustrated with historical postcards, posters and photos. In the spirit of constantly changing requirements and progress, the booklet also provides an insight into the extensive work and business areas of today's Kiel-Marketing association and impressively shows that the accommodation service in its original form is just one stone of many in a large structure to show the whole world how great Kiel.Sailing.City is.
125 years of tourism on the Kiel Fjord
125 years of city marketing: history of the tourism association
history of the tourist office
At the end of the 19th century, the "Verein zur Hebung des Fremden- und Geschäftsverkehrs" (Association for the Promotion of Tourism and Business) set itself the goal of making Kiel an attractive, inviting place for guests and travelers. This is still the aim of Kiel-Marketing today. In 2023, the city of Kiel can look back on over 125 years of city marketing.
Domestic and foreign guests who visited Kiel in the 19th century were hardly interested in the city. Travel descriptions, letters and diary entries mostly praised the charming location. Due to the rapid city growth from the last quarter of the 19th century and increasing industrialization, it was observed that the natural idyll popular with tourists had to make way for new or expanding industrial sites and residential areas. People were therefore concerned that Kiel would lose much of its appeal.
To counteract this, the "Association for the Promotion of Tourism and Business" was founded on April 24, 1897. Its declared aim was to present Kiel to guests and travelers as a place to stay. The association's activities have included advertising campaigns ever since. The first advertising campaign consisted of posters, a series of postcards and free tourist guides for visitors.
50 years ago : Olympic sailing competitions in Kiel
They were to be colorful and cheerful, the XX. Summer Olympics 1972 - in Munich as well as in Kiel, which had prevailed over Travemünde as the venue for the sailing competitions. Kiel wanted to present itself to the world as a modern city and offer the sailors a perfect infrastructure. In 1969, the corner stone of the Olympic Center was laid in Schilksee. The young architects Storch and Ehlers from Hannover built a successful, almost 500-metre-long, terraced apartment building with a promenade, indoor swimming pool and boat halls on the ground floor, which opened onto the sports harbour.
Lord Mayor Günther Bantzer took the opportunity to make the state capital more attractive with funding: The completion of the highway, the expansion of inner-city traffic junctions, the construction of the Fördestraße and the Holtenauer Hochbrücke bridge connected the Olympic Center to the road network. Kiel also owes the redesign of the town hall square and the old market with pavilions, the cube extension to the city theater and the Kiellinie promenade to the sailing competitions. The Olympic flame was lit in Schilksee on August 28. While the population and guests were enthusiastic about the games and the windjammer parade, the competitions were disappointing for the German sailors:
In the six finals, there were two bronze medals for Willi Kuhweide with Karsten Meier in the Starboat and Uli Libor with Peter Neumann in the Flying Dutchman. Silver for the GDR went to Paul Borowski's crew in the Dragon. On September 5, a deep shadow fell over the games when a Palestinian terror squad attacked the Israeli team in Munich. The twelve victims were also mourned and remembered in Kiel. The modern infrastructure for sailing made Kiel a center of attraction for sailing enthusiasts and tourists even after the games. If Kiel is considered the center of sailing today, it is also thanks to the 1972 Olympic sailing competitions.