The municipal council decided to found Badenweiler Tourismus GmbH, which will be responsible for tourism, marketing and events in the spa town in the future.
In a special meeting on Monday, the Badenweiler municipal council decided to found Badenweiler Tourismus GmbH. After the takeover of BTT by the state of Baden-Württemberg, the company is to take over tourism, marketing and events from 2021. Local councilor Hans-Christoph Dölle (BfB / FDP) was appointed interim managing director until this position can be advertised and regularly filled.
“It was a tight schedule,” said Mayor Vincenz Wissler at the beginning of his presentation of the new company and the agreement to be concluded with the state. Since July, the “Badenweiler 2.0 Working Group”, which was set up especially for this purpose, has been working out a concept for this with representatives from administration, municipal council, trade, health care and citizenship. According to this, the new Badenweiler Tourismus-Gesellschaft should not be founded as an independent company, but as a GmbH, which, according to Wissler, offers various advantages, both in terms of taxation and corporate management. The community finances the share capital of 25,000 euros required for the establishment.
The state and municipality have agreed on the health resort and staff
In addition to marketing and tourism, the new company will also take on event management for the community and lease the Kurhaus from the state. According to Wissler, on the one hand the tourist information office could continue to be used and the Kurhaus could be made available to more than 20 local associations for their events, since Badenweiler does not have its own multi-purpose hall. A reduced cold lease of 100,000 euros annually was agreed with the state for the Kurhaus. This applies for the next two years.
Renovation work is pending in the Kurhaus, for example the René Schickele hall. When this work is completed, the rent increases by 20,000 euros. “We were able to trade down the lease amount significantly,” says Mayor Wissler, “otherwise it would have been cost-covering but not feasible.” The company has to pay another 15,000 euros to the spa nursery for the planting of the spa house.
The working group and the country have also come to an agreement on the personnel: All employees who previously worked at BTT in the tourism and marketing sectors will be transferred to the new company. Employees in the area of tourist tax remain at BTT, as do the employees of the Kurhaus bistro. BTT will also manage the spa gardens in the future, for which the new company will pay 20 percent of the visitor’s tax.
Citizens should also have a say in the GmbH in an advisory board
Badenweiler Tourismus GmbH is organized as follows: In addition to the shareholders’ meeting and the supervisory board, which will consist of Mayor Wissler and four councilors, there will also be an advisory board. Citizens from different areas from trade to art and culture can also be appointed by the supervisory board.
A managing director must also be appointed for the GmbH. Local councilor Hans-Christoph Dölle (BfB / FDP) should take over this office on an interim basis until the post is advertised and filled. Both the establishment of the company, the appointment of Hans-Christoph Dölle as interim manager and the agreements on the future cooperation of the company with the state in relation to Kurhaus and BTT were decided unanimously by the municipal council.
The municipal council was originally supposed to also vote on whether the state institution “State Palaces and Gardens”, which in Badenweiler is already responsible for the Roman bath ruins, would take over the management of the spa park in the future. Whether this is possible, however, depends on the approval of the Baden-Württemberg Finance Committee. The latter wanted to pass a resolution at its meeting at the end of November, but postponed it.
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