Rüdesheim has been badly hit by the two-year pandemic.

The Corona crisis has exposed tourism omissions of the past.

Even though the event calendar for 2022 has now filled up again with major events such as the Rhine in Flames, Magic Bike Rallye, wine festival and classic car meet-up, Rüdesheim is still facing a difficult year.

Oliver Bock

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung for the Rheingau-Taunus district and for Wiesbaden.

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Because group trips are not yet for everyone despite the waning pandemic, and experience has shown that a crisis in Europe such as the Russian attack on Ukraine deters visitors from Asia and America.

The pandemic has also changed the travel behavior of Germans, who place more value on experiences in nature.

In addition, the Rüdesheim Tourist AG (Rüd AG), which is organized under private law and is responsible for advertising, marketing and organization, is only able to act after the departure of the previous managing director thanks to a voluntary interim management.

A state of limbo that will probably last until autumn.

In this difficult situation, the city has come up with a new marketing strategy, which the tourism consultant Cornelius Obier presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Economic and Tourism Promotion (WTF).

The WTF is the main customer of the Rüd AG, because the association passes on the municipal annual subsidy of 360,000 euros for the most part to the Rüd AG as a tourist service provider.

Deficiencies in the infrastructure and a very heterogeneous range

But which target group should Rüd AG primarily ensnare with this?

Obier demonstrated with numbers that a change in strategy is urgently needed: Between 2009 and the pre-pandemic year 2019, the number of overnight stays and visitors in Rüdesheim almost stagnated, while tourism in Hesse increased by a good 30 percent overall.

Last year, only 215,000 overnight stays were counted in Rüdesheim – less than two thirds of the usual level.

According to Obier's analysis, Rüdesheim's weaknesses include deficiencies in the infrastructure, a very heterogeneous range of offers, prices and quality levels that are sometimes too low and a questionable image.

The “brand profile” is vague and there is no clear marketing strategy.

The course of wanting to somehow address as many potential visitors as possible can no longer be continued.

Nevertheless, due to its location on the Rhine and on the edge of the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main metropolitan region, Rüdesheim has exceptional opportunities.

Between the Middle Rhine Valley and the Rheingau, Rüdesheim sits “like a spider in a web”.

Obier has developed a new strategy based on a strengths-weaknesses analysis and surveys, as well as in cooperation with hoteliers, restaurateurs and other service providers in the industry.

The new "key target group" is, in the language of marketing experts, "the post-material milieu at the interface to the adaptive-pragmatic middle".

In other words: it's about the middle and upper middle class with a penchant for enjoyment, sociability, individualization and self-realization.

Wasn't discussed

According to Obier, that doesn't mean that Rüdesheim is throwing the chair out for other guests, such as committed eco-freaks or wealthy entrepreneurs.

Rather, a successful target group strategy means that other guests are not deterred, but attracted.

Obier points to positive examples from his point of view, such as Baiersbronn, Kitzbühel, Tyrol, Norderney and St. Moritz, each of which has a clear profile and sends a clear message to the outside world.

"We can do that too," Obier encouraged the representatives of Rüdesheim tourism, who reacted rather cautiously at the end of the presentation.

There was no discussion, there was only one question.

At its core, Rüdesheim will in future be about “joie de vivre on the Rhine”.

That should be the essence of the new strategy and be reflected in all advertising materials, but above all in the imagery.

Therefore, in the future there should no longer be empty vineyard landscapes as a photo motif, but conviviality.

Obier is convinced that if the city works in this direction over the next ten years, the end result will be a “high quality profile”.

Rüdesheim could become an "adventure destination" on the Rhine for active and quality-oriented connoisseurs.

At least that is Obier's vision.

The city must recognize tourism "as a lifeline and not just as a business".

In addition, the available budget must be used in a more targeted manner.

Then Rüdesheim would have the great opportunity to follow the path that has now been defined "and be in a much better position in ten years".