Record visitor numbers in the convention centre Bella Center

More than 1.2 million people visited Bella Center and Forum Copenhagen in 2009 - a new record.

With everyone from heads of state, politicians and NGOs from all over the world at the UN climate conference in December to about 50,000 rock fans during last summer's Metallica concerts, Bella Center and Forum Copenha-gen have hosted a wide range of events over the past year.

"2009 has in every respect been a fantastic year for both Bella Center and Forum. Just the fact that the US President Barack Obama has been here twice speaks for itself," says Managing Director Arne Bang Mikkelsen.

In all, the two venues had 1,235,159 visitors. The previous record from 2005 was 1,142,108 visitors. The huge number of visitors in 2009 is largely attrib-utable to there having been so many trade fairs, meetings, congresses, concerts and shows.

"The 230 employees at Bella Center and Forum have had a busy time, to put it mildly. The climate conference was the biggest event ever for Bella Center, while 2009 was also particularly busy for Forum - 17 major concerts with all sorts of bands performing from Metallica, Pink and Bob Dylan to 35 shows such as Mama Mia, Walking with Dinosaurs and Cirque du Soleil," says Arne Bang Mikkelsen.

• Bella Center and Forum held a total of 143 events in 2009.
• During the UN's thirteen-day climate conference in December, 170,000 politicians, activists, civil servants and journalists passed through Bella Center's doors. This makes COP15 the biggest event by far to be held in Bella Center. And the biggest for the UN.
• The Olympic IOC congress and the international medical congress EULAR also filled the premises with 17,000 participants.
• In total, 54 congresses were held, of which 20 of them were interna-tional.
• Fashion, food and jewellery trade shows drew visitors from around the world.
• Events were held on as many as 245 days in 2009.
• Over the years there have been numerous events - and visitors. Since Bella Center opened in 1966, it has been visited by more than 26 million people.

• In 1997, Forum Copenhagen was taken over by Bella Center. Since then, Forum has had 4,944,569 visitors. This means that visitor number 5 million will be passing through the turnstile in a couple of months' time.

For further information contact: Managing Director Arne Bang Mikkelsen, tel. +45 40 38 88 11.