MUNICH 2018 BOLSTERED BY LATEST STATISTICS – FIS World Championships 2011 surplus and record tourists to Munich

Munich – The Olympic family has received a timely reminder of Munich's exceptional hosting credentials with two sets of recently released figures:

• The Organising Committee behind the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2011 held at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in March, has announced that the two-week event made more than a €5 million surplus.

• The city of Munich welcomed 105 million visitors in 2010, breaking the record amount of overnight stays in the process.

Katarina Witt, Chair of the Munich 2018 Bid Committee, upon learning of the latest statistics, said:

'These figures have added to our momentum going into the all-important technical presentation in Lausanne in May. They have helped to remind the IOC of our pledge to create a sustainable Festival of Friendship with potentially millions of visitors joining the already large number of knowledgeable and passionate winter sports fans whom we guarantee will fill all Munich 2018 venues as well as the public places and live sites across Germany.'

The Organising Committee for the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2011 enjoyed the financial surplus after hosting the event at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which is also the proposed venue for Munich 2018 alpine events. The Championships attracted a record total of 190,000 fans. Sales were 20 percent higher than forecast, with profits to be re-invested into regional and national German Ski Federation (DSV) youth talent programmes. Garmisch-Partenkirchen will also benefit with over €1 million being invested back into the town.

Alfons Hoermann, President of the DSV and President of the Organising Committee for the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2011, said:

'This is a very gratifying conclusion to a successful world championships. It is evidence that we can host a major sports event while also being economically beneficial. We have proved that success is possible with the right venues, concepts, and staff in place.'

Thomas Schmid, Mayor of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, added:

'This shows that the Winter Games are practicable and manageable here in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.'

Munich's record-breaking tourist figures in 2010 demonstrate the city's worldwide attraction to the wider Olympic family. With 105 million people visiting the city and attracting more than 11 million night stays, it is a clear signal that Munich is considered one of the world's leading contemporary destinations for tourism, sport, culture and business.

These recent figures support Munich's promise to the Olympic family that it will exceed the IOC's minimum hotel requirement. In addition, there are plans to develop a further 900 three to five star hotel rooms in the city. The Candidate City has already recommended The Westin Grand Munich and the Sheraton Munich as the official Olympic family hotels, with the latter having previously served as the official hotel for FIFA in 2006, for which it gained high praise.

Coming off the back of a hugely successful presentation and campaign at SportAccord, Munich 2018 believes these new figures add further momentum in the build-up to the all-important technical presentation to the IOC on 18 May in Lausanne.

Background
Munich, in collaboration with Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Berchtesgadener Land, is applying to host the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The application has been put together and managed by Bewerbungsgesellschaft München 2018 GmbH, with Katarina Witt as Chair, Bernhard Schwank as CEO and Jürgen Bühl as Managing Director. Shareholders in the application organisation are the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) with 51 per cent, the City of Munich (30 per cent), the Free State of Bavaria (nine per cent), the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (eight per cent) and the district of Berchtesgadener Land (two per cent). The bid is being supported by national sponsors Adidas, Allianz, the BMW Group, BayWa, Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Post, Flughafen München GmbH, Lotto Baye rn, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, METRO GROUP, and the Sparkasse Finance Group, along with national suppliers ARGE (Albert Speer & Partner and PROPROJEKT), Deloitte, Getty Images, GfK Verein, IMMO 2018, Messe München GmbH, Norton Rose LLP, Munich Olympic Park, pilot sport and Stadtwerke München GmbH. More information about the concept, the progress of the application and many other aspects can be found at www.muenchen2018.org.