Allgäu - Ten years ago the Allgäu founded the Allgäu GmbH, a strategically and operationally working unit.
This has now celebrated its anniversary.
What began with a vision 25 years ago is now the Allgäu model of success.
The cooperation of politics, business and social interest groups for a strong Allgäu is represented today by the Allgäu GmbH.
A strategically and operationally working unit was founded with her ten years ago.
Last week, the anniversary was celebrated in Kempten - delayed due to the corona.
"With the Allgäu brand, we have made the region desirable for guests and professionals," said Maria Rita Zinnecker (CSU), chairwoman of the supervisory board and Ostallgäu district administrator, on the occasion of the anniversary celebration. Many important infrastructure projects have been implemented and will be heard in Munich and Berlin, continues Zinnecker. "We have laid the foundations, initiated processes for sustainable development and are equipped for the future," said Zinnecker, summing up the past 25 years.
However, the roots of today's Allgäu GmbH go back to the 1950s.
Even at that time, the people of Allgäu complained that Munich was not seen politically or economically.
The local politicians were well aware that the often cited church tower thinking had to be abolished.
As early as 1995, the then CSU member of the Bundestag, Dr.
Gerd Müller for an Allgäu GmbH that represents the interests of the region.
On November 27, 1995, representatives from politics, business and science finally signed an "Allgäu Declaration" - the Allgäu Initiative GbR was founded.
Allgäu people are pursuing major projects
This changed the clout of the region. Four years after the founding of the Allgäu Initiative, already 36 million DM of the “High Tech Offensive Bavaria” flowed into the region. That corresponded to 72 percent of all Bavarian funding. Subsequently, the Allgäu team pursued other major projects together: including a joint application for the Nordic SKI World Championships 2005, the establishment of the Energy and Environment Center Allgäu gGmbH eza! and a stronger location policy.
In 2002, the Allgäu Initiative then focused on business development and location promotion under the management of Klaus Fischer. Allgäu Marketing GmbH was founded in 2004, and Bernhard Joachim became the managing director. It was thanks to them that the Allgäu destination marketing was promoted from EU funds. The Allgäu logo was placed for the first time at the Four Hills Tournament and thus, after 51 years, the Allgäu was perceived as the venue and has been prominently visible at all TV-relevant sports events in summer and winter since then. The next EU project followed with the SUPERSCHNEE ski pass.
The amalgamation of the lifts and mountain railways in the Allgäu, Kleinwalsertal and Tannheimer Tal makes this cooperation to this day Germany's largest mountain railway association. In 2007 flight operations started at the Allgäu Airport. A feat of strength that was only made possible by the joint alliance and caused a sensation throughout Bavaria: never before had the regional economy been so involved with local politics - a result of the "Allgäu Connection", as the Süddeutsche Zeitung put it.
The next step was taken with the Allgäu Conference in Berlin in 2008 and the thrust changed: The topics of tourism, location and regional development were to be bundled and the institutions previously active in this area were to be brought together as closely as possible.
A process started in tourism in 2009 that created the basis for the future: The Allgäu destination strategy changed the mandate of Allgäu Marketing GmbH.
It went from a marketing company to a destination management company.
At the same time, the Allgäu branding process for tourism and business began.
Emperor at the helm
Two years after the Allgäu Conference in Berlin and 15 years after Dr. Gerd Müller has finally come to found an Allgäu GmbH: The Allgäu GmbH Society for Location and Tourism is created through the merger of Allgäu Marketing GmbH with Allgäu Initiative GbR. Klaus Fischer and Bernhard Joachim are appointed managing directors. The then Oberallgäu district administrator Gebhard Kaiser (CSU) becomes chairman of the supervisory board, he had pushed this founding process enormously.
In 2013, the Allgäu succeeded in clearly differentiating itself from other regions by means of the lead products “Hiking Trilogy Allgäu”, “Radrunde Allgäu” and “Alpenwellness Allgäu”. Allgäu GmbH concludes three-year cooperation agreements with locations and hosts. "This trusting cooperation and the pooling of resources, as we have known since the foundation of Allgäu Marketing GmbH, enables all parties involved to achieve a large market penetration," explains Bernhard Joachim, Managing Director of Allgäu GmbH.
But strong marketing is not only organized in tourism.
The economic area is also advertised in a targeted manner: The Allgäu reaches young skilled workers with the “Freiraum” campaign and the multiple award-winning “Job Challenge”.
The “Job-WG Allgäu” builds on this success.
In 2017 the Allgäu start-up center "Allgäu Digital" was founded and is now networked across Europe.
The Allgäu is a model region for the Bayern-Cloud research project for digital services in tourism.
A building block to advance the mobility concept.
“Today, the Allgäu is one of the most successful, rural economic regions in Germany with a high quality of life and the environment,” says managing director Klaus Fischer.
This is also evident in tourism, because the Allgäu is one of the top 5 tourism destinations in Germany and one of the important players in the Alpine region.
Housing and transport
However, Allgäu GmbH has not left itself with this.
Housing and land use currently determine the discussion about the quality of life in the region.
According to its own information, Allgäu GmbH is currently developing new approaches.
They are also working on an intelligent mobility concept, without which no sustainable tourism development is possible (the Kreisbote reported several times).
Last but not least, the task remains to bring the Allgäu's claim as a pioneer in climate protection to life.
"We still have a lot to do and we need all partners in politics, administration, business, tourism, science and the people in Allgäu who support the whole thing," says Chairman of the Supervisory Board Zinnecker in Kempten and adds: "Our longing is a state-of-the-art Bullerbü."
Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU), who came to the ceremony, called, among other things, for structures to be de-bureaucratised, for climate protection to be promoted and guests to be guided and at the same time to be welcomed.
Because at the same time as the Allgäu ceremony, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) in Berlin, the Merkel government and thus Development Minister Dr.
Gerd Müller said goodbye, Müller sent a personal video message.
He interjected self-critically: “We cannot rest on our success” and referred to the “Diesel hole Allgäu” of Deutsche Bahn.
Here it has still not been possible to replace diesel locomotives.
Pianotainment (Marcel Dorn, Kempten and Stephan Weh, Bad Grönenbach) musically framed the ceremony according to the motto “With swing into the future”.
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