“For the conference participants, accommodation facilities in Bonn and the region will be sufficient,” said a spokesperson from the Federal Ministry of the Environment. The city and the state of NRW are working on a transportation concept as well.

When it comes to the question of whether or not there are enough overnight accommodations for all of the guests, Udo Schäfer, head of Tourism and Congress GmbH (T & C), says there is not a problem. In Bonn alone, there are around 9,000 beds. And he points out that a travel time of 30 to 45 minutes is normal when it comes to attending such big conferences.

In Rhine-Sieg County, there are around 9,550 beds, and in Ahrweiler another 8,700 beds, bringing a total of around 27,000 beds in Bonn and the region. If Cologne were included, there would be another 33,000 beds. And in Koblenz, there are still 3,000 more. Because of the very short lead time to the climate conference, Schäfer said there are some hotels which already have other bookings.

At the Maritim, for example, there is a synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) from November 9 - 15, overlapping with the climate conference. Only the Japanese delegation will be accommodated at the Maritim Hotel. Michael Kleine-Hartlage is the managing director at the World Conference Center Bonn (WCCB) and he said it is not yet clear how many guests will be in Bonn on each day of the climate conference. Security questions are still being cleared up, “It will all become more concrete in the coming weeks,” he said. Orig. text: Ebba Hagenberg-Miliu