Christoph Tessmar: Our message is of tranquility
22/11/2017
"We experienced the perfect storm this summer," Christoph Tessmar begins, referring to the terrorist attack on 17th August and the political turmoil of the last weeks following the referendum on the independence of Catalonia on 1st October. To customers, the Convention Bureau tries to explain the reality. "Media claim we are almost in civil war, but in fact we are living our lives very normally," he explains. The message is of tranquility. "We are working very closely with the organisers who have events planned for Barcelona in the near future," says Tessmar, adding that of course people ask many questions about the city's safety. But so far there has been no cancellation of events. In the long run there are some concerns, he says, but they continue to work on bids and have received new requests for events.
The Convention Bureau director says that the demonstrations have been very peaceful, and that, contrary to what one might think, they do not happen every day. Implementing communication or marketing strategies in the face of what is happening has been practically impossible. "We do not know what will happen, we will decide the steps to take after there are political developments," says Tessmar. At this moment the concern is with the immediate and the message is calm. And to get more support in the message, the Convention Bureau is working with both the City Hall and the Chamber of Commerce.
"We can not anticipate the consequences, but we are monitoring," says Christoph Tessmar. Consequences will be all the more serious the longer this process takes, but Tessmar believes politicians will find a solution.
Cláudia Coutinho de Sousa
