Among a series of new digital services for exhibitors and trade visitors are round-the-clock ticket sales with online registration, while a complete Wireless Local Area Network (W-LAN) will allow wireless internet and e-mail access from anywhere in the Exhibition Centre. PCs and handhelds must be equipped with a standard W-LAN card that supports the IEEE 802.11 b or g standard (Wi-Fi). Visitors can purchase W-LAN access cards with time credits of between 15 and 60 minutes for 2.50 to 8.50. A special flat rate for exhibitors costs 380 per terminal unit and includes W-LAN access for the duration of the fair, including the setting-up and dismantling phases.
Online trade visitor registration is now available from anywhere in the world and can be used up to and including the last day of the fair, and the procedure includes fully automatic billing and ticketing. Standard online admission tickets include the popular combination ticket of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) regional transport authority, which authorises ticket holders to use all public transport services operated by the RMV for travel to and from the Exhibition Centre free of charge. The website www.hotelguide-rheinmain.de provides an interactive listing of 600 hotels, guest houses and other forms of accommodation in Frankfurt and the surrounding area, as well as 120 recommended restaurants.
Meanwhile, extended opening hours for Musikmesse begin an hour earlier on all four days and will see the show open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The organisation has also announced the appointment of Detlef Braun to the company's board of management. Braun assumes responsibility for the expansion and development of the company's global sales network and the direction of its fair and exhibition business in North and South America. He was previously chairman and CEO of the J. Walter Thompson ad agency in Frankfurt.
(Mike Lethby)
