excursions

A trip to the Bilderberg Bellevue and the Gewandhaus in Dresden

Students visit Dresden’s historic hotels

Students on the Tourism & Event Management (TEM24) course were able to experience first-hand just how diverse the hotel and catering industry really is as part of the ‘Hotel and Catering Management’ module. Together with guest lecturer Ines Karnath, they visited two renowned Dresden hotels and gained exclusive behind-the-scenes insights into the hotel industry.

The guided tours of the prestigious Bilderberg Bellevue Hotel Dresden and the 5-star Hotel Gewandhaus Dresden Autograph Collection offered our students insights into everyday hotel life, current industry developments, career paths, hospitality and event culture. This provides a tangible understanding of future career fields.

Many thanks to the teams at both hotels and to Ms Karnath. Click here for the full article.

Excursion to Dresden’s clubs and venues

Backstage tour in the Cultural Events/Concert Management module

What does the backstage area of clubs and event venues in Dresden actually look like? Our Tourism & Event Management students gained exclusive insights into a wide variety of locations in the city during an excursion with honorary lecturer Anika Jankowski.

The students familiarised themselves with the venues in advance of the concert management excursion. The tour of the Schauburg cinema, the Groovestation, the Chemiefabrik and the Alter Schlachthof, among others, focused on the technical equipment of the venues, the stage size and the visitor capacity.

Many thanks to the owners for the guided tours and to our honorary lecturer Ms Anika Jankowski. Click here for the full article.

Excursion to the Hilton Dresden

A look behind the scenes

In May, tourism and event management students were given an exclusive tour of the Hilton Dresden, where they had the opportunity to discover the front and back areas of this renowned hotel. During an open Q&A session with the general manager, our students were able to ask questions and gain valuable insights for their future careers. Our excursions give students a better understanding of what they have learned in theory. In particular, this includes organisation, planning, offer design, service and control in the food & beverage sector, as well as management tasks in the hotel sector such as organisation, hotel workflows and human resources.

Special thanks go to the HR team at the Hilton Dresden and our honorary lecturer Ms Ines Karnath.

Click here for the news article.

Excursion to Radebeul

Experience wine tourism in the region

Our students on the Tourism & Event Management course learned about the success factors of public events using the practical example of wine tourism in Radebeul. Honorary lecturer Anja Laatsch accompanied the course on three stops: at the Radebeul Cultural Office, on a visit to Wackerbarth Castle and on a final vineyard tour with tasting.

The students gained valuable insights into the planning and implementation of public events, the importance of viticulture for the region and authentic marketing concepts. The focus was on topics such as target group communication, programme design, marketing, sustainability and cooperation.

Click here for the detailed report!

Excursion to Sachsenmilch

In January 2025, students from the Business Administration and Tourism & Event Management programmes were given an exclusive insight into Sachsenmilch in Leppersdorf, one of the most modern milk processing plants in Europe. With 3,000 employees and an annual production of 1.7 billion kilograms of milk, the company demonstrates impressive process optimisation and efficient production processes. The students experienced the entire production process and visited the seven laboratories, where 3 million analyses are carried out annually.

Click here for the detailed report!

Taschenbergpalais Kempinski Dresden

Exclusive insights into the world of luxury hospitality

In January, students on the Tourism and Event Management course had the opportunity to visit the newly renovated Taschenbergpalais Kempinski in Dresden. Led by Prof. Dr. Marco Richter, they explored the hotel on an impressive tour of the rooms, suites, restaurant and bar.

The subsequent discussion with hotel managers focused on key topics such as hotel management, event planning, target group strategies and the integration of the hotel into Dresden's destination management. The excursion offered students practical insights and inspiring impressions from the world of luxury hotels.

Click here for the detailed report!

Excursion to Oberüber & Karger

Event management at a communications agency

In May, our students visited Oberüber Karger Kommunikationsagentur GmbH with Prof. Roldan-Ponce and Prof. Schmiedgen. Romy Müller (Head of Events) and Alberta Seefeld (Event Manager) provided exciting insights into the wide range of events their unit covers. They discussed the special features of staging and organising events and highlighted some of the hidden challenges that need to be overcome.
In the second part, the students had to get to work themselves and tackle real briefings in a speed workshop. They drew up a project plan, developed a brand and designed a programme schedule. The subsequent tour of the offices gave them another chance to soak up the agency atmosphere.

DIAMIR Travel Festival – Globetrotter Days

Networking event for TEM students

With over 50 presentations, the travel café and exclusive evening events, visitors to the Globetrotter Store in the heart of Dresden will be gripped by "travel fever" in November. For our students, the excursions are an opportunity to engage in active and passive networking and ask tourism experts questions about management, products or the latest trends. It is no coincidence that an exhibitor (usually a tour operator) recruits students as internship candidates or suggests an exciting practical topic for a bachelor's thesis. Beyond that, it's just nice to listen to interesting presentations with fun, curious stories from the travel world. Some students take advantage of the relaxed atmosphere to chill out for a bit.

Excursion Workshop Night-time Economy

Shaping the industry

while still a student Studying is not just about acquiring knowledge, but also about learning how to represent your industry in dealings with government and politics, how to penetrate networks and build them up early on, and how to get actively involved.
Our students took part in a workshop on Dresden's night-time economy with Prof. Peter Schmiedgen to help shape the new position of "Commissioner for Night-time Culture" in Dresden from 2024. Together with representatives from the Office for Economic Development, the Office for Culture and Monument Protection, Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe AG, DEHOGA Saxony, Parkhotel Dresden, KlubNetzDresden e.V., Landstreicher Kulturproduktionen GmbH Konzerte, CityBeach Dresden and many more, the aim was to identify the current strengths and weaknesses of Dresden's night-time economy. In addition, future potential was identified and discussed. The result was a set of key tasks for the new position, which will represent the players in the night-time economy in future.

Excursion to the Technical Collections Dresden

Between necessity and feasibility: accessibility as a source of tension in the museum context

The Technical Collections Dresden are a major visitor attraction in the cultural offerings of the city of Dresden. The interesting and diverse exhibitions appeal to a wide range of target groups, including visitors with physical disabilities. To this end, our TEM students, together with Prof. Marco Richter, "recreated" the respective perspective of a specific disability and evaluated the visitor experience from the journey to the museum, through the individual walking routes, to the perception of the exhibits in terms of barriers and deficits. This enabled recommendations for action to be derived for each impaired, inclusive target group, such as blind/visually impaired visitors. The process and the results were extremely useful for both the TSD employee and our students. Despite structural and infrastructural limitations, a variety of measures can be implemented that ultimately benefit almost all visitors and enhance the quality of their experience.

Excursion to the CAGGTUS Games Festival

Studying isn't a game? Sometimes it is!

Gaming is a growing trend in the event and software industry. That's why our students attended the CAGGTUS Games Festival in April together with their professor of marketing and event management, Peter Schmiedgen. There, they met up with a former FHD student: Sven Holubek, who now works as a project manager at Leipziger Messe. Sven gave our students exciting insights into how to reinvent a games fair as a festival, focus on the community experience, make customer contacts measurable and organise such a complex event. The students were able to make important contacts for their own projects and future careers and experience new trends first-hand. And of course, there was plenty of time for gaming and fun together!

Cinema karaoke – insights into public events at the Frauenkirche

Music is a universal language that can act as a connecting element between different cultures. Following this idea, the Dresden cultural and creative industries association "Wir gestalten Dresden" (We shape Dresden) showed cult music films for people to sing along to – free of charge and open-air. Right in the middle of it all were our students, who gained insights into the concept, directing, planning and challenges in obtaining permits and setting up. Cinema karaoke creates space for art, culture and positive experiences, as well as room for a culture of togetherness. As part of KINOKARAOKE, the joy of a shared cinema experience was combined with that of singing together, stimulating a cross-social, multicultural and creative dialogue. The series of events filled Dresden's Neumarkt on Monday evenings with art, culture and positive experiences, as well as a culture of togetherness.