NEANDERLAND/METTMANN DISTRICT. A 240-kilometer hiking trail, a successful Corona restart, a brand new website and hundreds of thousands of guests: ten years ago, the starting signal was given for the successful marketing of the Mettmann district as a neanderland tourism region. Since then, new sights and worlds of experience, excellent brands, themed campaigns, brochures and apps have drawn countless curious people to the home of the Neanderthal. The area has become a nationwide popular travel destination for day trips and weekend getaways.
It was decided on March 4, 2013: District Administrator Thomas Hendele and the mayors of all ten towns belonging to the district pulled together the threads for the first joint marketing of the district as a tourist region neanderland. "That was the cornerstone for a destination marketing that didn't exist in our district before," says District Administrator Thomas Hendele. "Ideas and concepts are still being discussed and strategies developed with the ten municipalities in order to effectively draw attention to the district of Mettmann as a travel destination."
With great success. Until the Corona year 2020, the number of visitors rose continuously to over 570.000 guests and for the first time to over one million overnight stays. In 2022, they recovered from the pandemic years with a doubling of guests from 2021 (184.500 guests) to 2022 (400.000 guests). The neanderland tourism team is confident that the numbers will stabilize at a high level again after the corona pandemic. The humorous restart campaigns “neanderland instead of elsewhere” and “neanderland quickies” during the pandemic years played a part in this.
Shortly after the merger to form the neanderland tourism region in 2013, the municipalities jointly opened and marketed one of the longest hiking trails in the area: the neanderland STEIG, which leads around the entire district over 240 kilometers in 17 stages and attracts many hiking enthusiasts every year. Gradually, sophisticated themed circular hiking trails on the history and nature of neanderland were created, which branch off from the main trail as discovery loops. In 2015, the neanderland HIKING WEEK took place for the first time, which has been held every two years since then and last year was a highlight in the calendar of hiking fans beyond the region with 35 guided tours over 9 days. Over the years, neanderland tourism has developed extensive hiking maps and flyers, as well as a free hiking app for the neanderland STEIG, which was given a new coat of paint last year.
Neanderland tourism is also setting a milestone in the marketing of regional country and pleasure experiences with the "TYPICAL neanderland" seal. The brand brings together products and offers from local produce and tours and presents them bundled in brochures, online and at trade fairs.
"We are particularly pleased about the redesign of our website a few months ago and the brand new image film for the tenth anniversary," explains Julia Pölcher, Destination Marketing Coordinator at neanderland Tourismus. The modern visual language and navigation of the website with connection to the NRW Data Hub, up-to-date information on opening hours, gastronomy and hiking trails make travel planning easy from the start. Over the past ten years, the marketing team has made neanderland visible to the public on the website with large-format posters, cinema spots, flyers and advertising in public transport.
"For our tourism companies, neanderland tourism is extremely important for national marketing, which would be difficult for individual players to implement alone," summarizes District Administrator Hendele. "At major trade fairs such as the Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf and events in the area, the partners are presented and directly connected with interested guests."
Together with the ten towns belonging to the district, neanderland tourism has set itself the goal for the future of creating digital content for guests, launching a junction system for cyclists and providing even better service and high-quality offers at network meetings through workshops, trend monitoring and exchange to offer to visitors.
Contact
neanderland / District of Mettmann,Tel. 02104-991199 |
info@neanderland.de | www.neanderland.de