Klimahaus Bremerhaven Celebrates 5th Anniversary: A Successful Result

Many people have the dream to travel around the world and experience the different climatic zones of the earth, but hardly anyone has the chance to do so in real-time. Germany’s Klimahaus® Bremerhaven 8° Ost has made this dream come true, at least in its visitors’ imagination. At the German science center, guests can go on an extraordinary journey along the 8° longitude and 34 minutes east that leads them around the globe. Starting at Switzerland’s mountains, the journey leads through the desert of Sahel and the pack ice of the Antarctic, along the beaches of Samoa and back to the North Sea coast. On their way, visitors encounter people from the respective regions who tell about their lives and the impact of the prevailing climate. For five years now the 125-meter long and virtually 30 meter high building of the Klimahaus®Bremerhaven 8° Ost with its curved lines, located directly within the tourist area “Havenwelten” of Bremerhaven, has been representing a unique knowledge and experience world focusing on the topics of climate and climate change.

More than three million guests have visited the Klimahaus since its opening in 2009. A successful result as the operating company once started with the aim to attract around 600,000 visitors annually (cf. EAP magazine, issue 6/2009). According to a recent study published by ift Freizeit- und Tourismusberatung GmbH, visitors arriving from outside of Bremerhaven generated around 560,000 additional overnight stays in the city. Moreover, a contract volume of 9.83 million Euros at companies located in Bremerhaven is attributed to the mere existence of the science center. According to the key financial figures of the Finance Senator of the state of Bremen, the science center’s activities create, taking into account the financial equalization scheme, fiscal effects of around 0.61 million Euros per year. (eap)