PR shines at the Munich Tourism Office

Isabella Schopp gives a presentation on the Munich Tourism Office (photo by Katie Pflug )

Isabella Schopp gives a presentation on the Munich Tourism Office
(photo by Katie Pflug )

by Katie Pflug

Isabella Schopp, who works in public relations for the Munich Tourism Office, really knows her facts about the third biggest city in Germany and was not shy to share them with Point Park University’s International Media class.

Munich, known as the “all around city,” is home to 1.4 million people.  That number seems like nothing compared to the 12.4 million visitors Munich achieved in 2012, which was a record year.  The United States of America, Italy, Arabia, The United Kingdom and Russia are among the countries with the leading amount of tourists that visit each year, Schopp said.

It also has the second largest number of universities, right after Berlin. Munich has 104,000 students in 15 universities, Schopp said.

Founded in 1158, Munich is now the center of science and economy.  High tech industries like BMW, EADS, and The Linde Groupe all call Munich home. Google, Siemens and Microsoft are also some of the leading I&C companies in Munich.  Munich is now the second largest city for broadcasting companies, right after New York City.

But, Munich has much more to offer than just being a great business hub.  Munich is full of culture, castles, history, churches, shopping, beer gardens, all set in an amazing location.

There are 63 museums in Munich, along with 100 theaters, two operas and three orchestras.  The Nymphenburgh Palace and Royal Residence are some of the castles in the area that are a must see while visiting Munich.  Right outside of Munich there are also the castles Neuschwantstein and Linderhof.  Castles are large part of Bavarian culture and a beautiful way to explore the history of the area.

Munich is a very green city with many parks.  As well as the many parks throughout Munich, 80 percent of locals own a bike, Schopp said.  The beer gardens also make many people want to be outside, she said.  In this particular part of Germany, visitors are able to bring their own food to the beer gardens.  That is something that is not permitted in the northern part of Germany.  Beer gardens have been around 200 years and are some of the main attractions for visitors.

Munich is a very busy city for events.  During February there was the Munich Creative Business Week.  In May there was the Long Night of Music.  Coming in June there will be the City Foundation Festival, celebrating 855 years of Munich.  Later in June, Munich will be hosting the Summer X-Games, Schopp said.  Of course in late September into early October there will be Oktoberfest, which marked its 200th anniversary in 2010.  Then in the end of November all the way until Christmas Eve, the Christmas Market will be available to residents and tourists.

The Munich Tourism Board’s general manager is Geraldine Knudson.  There are five different departments of the Munich Tourism Office: Marketing, Convention Bureau, Tourist Information, International Media and Public Relations.

The International Media is the branch of the office that Schopp is involved with, having previously served as a tour guide. She and her colleagues are responsible for the press kits, online image database, footage, the international newsletter, press trip assistance, film and photo permits, interviews. and research assistance.

Working in the International Travel Media section of the Munich Tourism Office are five colleagues and a trainee.

The Munich Tourism Office has professional photographers on staff, but sometimes it will buy photos from other journalists, Schopp said.  The in-house photographers are responsible for the photo archives.

The Munich Tourism Office plays a big role in educating journalists and others about what Munich has to offer, she explained.  And although Schopp will visit London and Paris to meet some of them and pitch Munich travel stories,  “The journalists come to us for stories, not vice versa.” It also plays a huge role in organizing events such as Oktoberfest and the Christmas Market in Marienplatz.

The Munich Tourism Office works with the Germany National Tourist Board, which she said is its most important partner, the Bavaria Tourism Marketing GmbH, Magic Cities Germany and the Munich Airport to do its support work.

Journalists from Toronto Star, Budget Star, and Irish Times have all used the Munich Tourism Office for their resources.  When the journalists check into the hotels they have a press kit waiting for them, Schopp said, and the Point Park students each received a scaled-down one as a sample. The press kit includes Munich Facts and Figures, a city map, a Munich City Guide, Munich Events, and Photo Services papers.

The press kits the Point Park group also had paperwork giving students and faculty permission to write, photograph and film within the city, something that is standard procedure for the Tourism Board to do for groups.

There are many different types of journalists that would find writing about Munich exciting as well as on-topic with their publication.  Munich’s target market is really anyone because of the vast amount of things to do and a lot of families find that Munich is the perfect place to go because of that.

Visitors looking to stay in Munich will find no shortage of hotel rooms.  There are around 300,000 hotel rooms in the city of Munich itself.

Schopp has been working at the Munich Tourism Office for three years and said she loves being in direct contact with the journalists.

More information is available on the city at the Munich Tourism Office’s website at www.meuchen.de or via email at travel.media@muenchen.de.

A castle fit for a King

Neuschwanstein is nestled in the hills of Hohenschwangau, Bavaria (photo by Katie Pflug)

Neuschwanstein is nestled in the hills of Hohenschwangau, Bavaria
(photo by Katie Pflug)

by Andrea Karsesnick

One hundred and seventy-two days.

That’s how long King Ludwig II lived in Neuschwanstein Castle, a tall, white picturesque structure sitting high in the mountains of Hohenschwangau, Bavaria, Germany. The castle was the inspiration of Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty castle, and it has been featured prominently in many films and German tourism videos.

King Ludwig was born on Aug. 25, 1845, in Bavaria in Schloss Nymphenburg. He began his reign as king in 1864 at the age of 18. He claimed to have accepted the throne too quickly and regretted it.

Ludwig II lived in a fantasy world. He wanted to believe in a “holy kingdom,” where each ruler was chosen by the divine right theory of kingship. In reality, Ludwig II was a constitutional monarch with duties.

He was a recluse, who secluded himself in his castle away from everyone and did not tend to his duties as king. The castle was never completed, although he moved into in 1884. In 1885, banks threatened to take away his property, and Ludwig II developed political enemies. He was arrested and interned in the Berg Castle in 1886. Ludwig II died of mysterious circumstances, an apparent drowning, on June 13 that year in Lake Starnberg. He died alongside his psychiatrist who had diagnosed him as insane.

He started to build it on the ruins of another castle.  The construction of Neuschwanstein started in the summer of 1868 and was ready for Ludwig II to move in in the end of 1884, according to the castle’s official website. He only lived in the castle for a short period before his death. He only saw this home as a construction site.

Neuschwanstein was Ludwig II’s escape from reality. It was his dream world modeled on the Middle Ages. The paintings on the walls were done by seven different unknown artists from the academy in Munich. Famous artists did not want to work for Ludwig II because there would be little room for creativity in the artwork as Ludwig II had all of the ideas. Nonetheless, the paintings are extremely intricate and ornate.

The castle from ground level.

The castle is a 30-minute uphill walk.
(photo by Johnie Freiwald)

Ludwig II did not want anybody to share his luxurious castle with anyone. However, the castle was open to the public seven weeks after his death. Today, roughly 1.4 million people visit the castle each year and there are nearly 8,000 visitors each day.

The Point Park University group’s tour guide cited her favorite part of the elaborate castle.  Saura Samgabote, who has led tours there for seven years, says, “I love the details in the paintings. Every day I notice something I did not the day before.”

The decorated walls of Neuschwanstein were based on and inspired by the works of Richard Wagner, who was a good friend of Ludwig II. The paintings were inspired by his operas and medieval legends. There were three main figures on the walls of Neuschwanstein: Tannhaeuser, the swan knight Lohengrin and the Grail King Parzival.

Another theme used throughout the interior walls was religion. Ludwig II’s throne room was overseen by whom he saw as the highest king, Jesus. Ludwig II believed kingship to be “by the grace of God.”

The swan is also seen many times within the castle. Ludwig had a large swan statue and even door handles were modeled to form swan necks. The swan followed the religious theme as they are the Christian symbol of purity.

A basic ticket to the castle costs 12 euros. The visiting hours of the castle are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. April to 15 October. From Oct. 16 to March, the hours are shortened to 10 a.m-4 p.m. Tickets need to be purchased in advance, and visitors can only enter the castle’s rooms by guided tour. The castle is closed Dec. 24-25 and Jan. 1.

Visitors have to purchase tickets at the Ticketcenter Hohenschwangau in the village of Hohenschwangau below the castle. From Munich, tourists need to take a train and then a bus to the castle; it’s a very steep 30-minute walk to the castle from the village, although a bus and horse carriages are available.

Alexa’s Blog – Day 6

The following events transpired on 5/17/13.

The day started bright and early. I’ve never been as tired as I was today. We were up at 4:30 am this morning for a very early flight to Munich. As soon as we got to Munich we were had met our new tour guide, Arnoud, and took a bus tour of the city before arriving at our hotel. We followed Arnoud to Marienplatz and lunch nearby. My first impression of Munich is that it is stunning. The architecture and atmosphere is exactly what I thought a European city would look like. In other words, what I thought was missing in Berlin. Not that I didn’t like Berlin, I just find Munich to be what I was expecting.

After lunch, we met back up in front of the Glockenspiel with the rest of our group and went to the Munich Tourism Office for our first Munich media visit. I liked hearing about the variety of attractions that the city has to offer. It’s all up my alley – sports, theatre, museums, music – it’s perfect. I would have loved to be here for Oktoberfest or the Long Night of Music. I think that everything here is so compelling to me. I was intrigued that the X-Games are going to take place in Munich for the next three years. Isabella had a lot of interesting things to say about working with tourism and public relations. I was impressed that she is doing such an important job a young age.

I had been pushing Carson in her wheel chair for most of the day and was getting pretty confident in my abilities. But a blow to my ego came when I tried to cross traffic and get her onto the next street: I didn’t hit the curb in the right place and she flew out of the wheelchair with all of her papers and belongings! Luckily she was able to react and stay standing but I felt so bad! Imagine if we hadn’t been that lucky. That was when I knew that I was 100% done with the day.

Our free time consisted of catching up on missed sleep. I left the hotel an hour before we were supposed to meet up for dinner to look around for a bank to exchange my American money. I wanted to put everything on my debit card but my parents recommended cash. I wish I had just done things my own way, because it has been a pain trying to find such a place. I got some money from the ATM to hold me over until Tuesday but I will have to be quite thrifty this weekend. It’s a holiday weekend and all of the banks will be closed until Tuesday morning. Arnoud has tried explaining where to go to exchange money but I have no idea what he’s talking about. I basically need someone to physically take me to get this done.

We went to a café in Marienplatz for dinner and had an assortment of very strange meats. I could handle most of it but there was a strange substance resembling spam that I couldn’t quite bring myself to eat. And naturally there was beer.

The one thing I have noticed about Munich is that it is very difficult to navigate if you want to go to specific places. Getting to Morienplatz on my own was easy but when I tried to find a certain shop or street I was completely lost! What are you doing to me, Munich?! I don’t like this feeling! It’s my one and only complaint about the city so far, but I’m sure I’ll get over it in a few days.

Also, the wifi in the hotel is sketchy. Just throwing that out there.

Reporting from the Z floor,

-AB