Success through uneconomical behaviour
In the second week of May, Miniatur Wunderland expects its 4,000,000th visitor. The world’s largest model railway has thus become the most successful permanent exhibition in northern Germany and is now one of the 10 most successful in Europe. The city of Hamburg owes around 200,000 overnight stays to Wunderland in 2006 alone. Forecasts for 2007 point to another record number of visitors. The 900,000 visitor mark may be broken for the first time. In terms of demand alone, around 1.3 million visitors would have been possible in 2006, but this was prevented by a visitor-friendly admission policy. In 2006, the Braun brothers were voted Hamburg’s Entrepreneurs of the Year and there are now enquiries from investor groups in various parts of the world who want to establish this successful Hamburg project in their own cities. So far, however, all enquiries have been turned down.
‘It is very difficult to convey to other entrepreneurs and investors that the success of Wunderland cannot be reduced to economic indicators,’ says Frederik Braun, explaining this decision and adding: ’It is precisely the irrational behaviour from an economic perspective that is largely responsible for the success.’
The construction of Miniatur Wunderland has so far taken around 500,000 hours of labour and required many millions of euros in investment. Around 160 people are now working on this project and this is exactly what sets Miniatur Wunderland apart from other companies. Wunderland focusses on the human factor. Management consultants would probably claim that the same number of trees, people, buildings and trains could be operated with half the number of employees, but then, in the opinion of the creators, the installation would no longer be a Wunderland. ‘We give our employees the freedom to work independently on the ride, even if it is very time-consuming. We simply set the direction and the framework. This is exactly what visitors feel when they look at the layout and discover lovingly recreated details even in the most remote corners,’ says Gerrit Braun.
But it is not only the dedication to modelling that is responsible for the enthusiasm of many visitors. ‘We do everything we can to ensure that visitors enter the exhibition smiling and leave enthusiastic,’ is how the brothers describe their service principle. This principle can be found in all parts of Wunderland. For example, guests are provided with free drinks and snacks directly in the queue.
The continuing success with visitors has also made Wunderland economically successful. However, it is clear to everyone involved that the business should not be cannibalised, but that the majority of the income should be reinvested in the dream of a lifetime. There are expansion plans until 2014 and even higher goals. In times characterised by rationalisation and record profits, Miniatur Wunderland shows that there can also be other paths to success.
