Roland Pinnel, Director of the Luxembourg City Tourist Office

What role does business tourism play in Luxembourg City?

Roland Pinnel - It's estimated that around three quarters of our visitors are business travellers. We're an international financial and political centre, and that reflects on the nature of our visitors and our calendar. The city is at its peak in April, June and October, when the European Council of Ministers brings in around 2,000 people. These are the peak weekend periods... Especially as we now have an accommodation capacity of around 6,000 people.

However, Luxembourg is still poorly identified in the rest of Europe. How do you explain this?

R. P. - Let's compare like with like: Luxembourg is still better known than an 'ordinary' town of 85,000 inhabitants. Within the quadropolis (Metz-Sarrebruck-Treves-Luxembourg) around which the "Greater Region" is organised (editor's note: an entity comprising Lorraine, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Luxembourg and the Walloon Region), we may be the smallest city, but we are the only one to enjoy the status of capital of a sovereign country. Another advantage is that many countries have exercised sovereignty over the "fortress city" and their citizens can easily rediscover a familiar history here. This is even truer for French speakers, as French remains the lingua franca.

Have you benefited from the development of access facilities?

R. P. - Yes. For rail, the impact of the TGV Est has been significant. On the air side, we've just inaugurated a new terminal that will enable us to increase our capacity from 1.3 to 3 million passengers, with a view to developing new routes. This was all the more necessary as we have to deal with new competition from Frankfurt-Hahn airport in Rhineland-Palatinate.