Coming soon: Rotterdam Ahoy Convention Centre and RTM Stage

Coming soon: Rotterdam Ahoy Convention Centre and RTM Stage

Rotterdam Ahoy is getting an upgrade. Construction has started on an expansion that adds a brand new Convention Centre to the popular event and conference location.
 
What's new? A brand new stage for concerts, congresses and theatrical shows with room for 2,750 seats (7000 total capacity) as well as two floors with 35 break out rooms that can be used connected or separately. The new addition will open its doors at the of 2020. 
 
Check out the video below to get an idea of what's to come:
 
 
Find out more on the official Rotterdam Ahoy website.
 
Electric scooter service felyx now available in Rotterdam

Electric scooter service felyx now available in Rotterdam

On Wednesday, October 3rd, the electric scooter-sharing service felyx officially became available in Rotterdam. With 324 green e-scooters, the start-up introduces a new and simple way of travelling in the city.
 
According to felyx, the dark green e-scooters will quickly become part of Rotterdam's street scene and allow users to contribute to a cleaner and quieter city. The scooters are completely electric and run on Dutch green energy.
 

felyx's €3 million expansion

Amsterdam had already been active in Amsterdam for some time albeit with a much smaller fleet of vehicles. Earlier this summer it was announced that the startup had raised €3 million to realize the expansion to Rotterdam. Alderman Arno Bonte of Sustainability, Air Quality and Energy Transition today gave the go-ahead for the sharing service in Rotterdam.
 
Alderman Arno Bonte about felyx: "Sharing means of transport is the future and if this also happens electrically, I am very happy about it. This initiative makes a great contribution to Rotterdam's ambition to make the city's air cleaner."
 
 
Co-founder Quinten Selhorst: "The introduction in Rotterdam is not only a milestone for felyx, but also for the concept of electric shared transport. After Rotterdam, we hope to convince other cities of the advantages that felyx has to offer. "
 

How does felyx work?

By using the felyx app, a user can immediately find an e-scooter in his surroundings. At a price of € 0.30 per minute, the user can then move from A to B, without any delays or other transport problems. Upon arrival at the destination, the e-scooter can be parked according to existing laws and regulations and locked up by logging off the ride in the app. The felyx app is available for Android and iOS.
 

The felyx service area in Rotterdam

At the time of this writing, felyx is mostly available in the city centre and surrounding areas such as Kralingen, Blijdorp, West, Noord and Hillegersberg. Residents who live across the river (Rotterdam South) or up north (Schiebroek) currently will only be able to log off from the scooter in specific areas highlighted within the app. In Rotterdam South, there's a designated area at Feyenoord stadium. In Schiebroek, there's a spot near the Peppelweg.
 
According to felyx customer support: "the service area in Rotterdam is currently set up in a way that we think will serve as many felyx users as possible. But of course, we do not know if this will be the case in practice. So, chances are that the service area will still be regularly adjusted in the first few months."
 
For more information, visit www.felyx.nl
 
Record number of visitors for Baroeg Open Air 2018

Record number of visitors for Baroeg Open Air 2018

On Saturday, September 15, the 11th edition of the Baroeg Open Air festival took place in Rotterdam's Zuiderpark. This year's edition of the free hard and alternative music festival attracted a record number of 10,000 visitors.
 
This year's edition featured 21 shows spread over four stages. The programme included headliner Rose Tattoo, the Rotterdam live sensation De Likt and bands like Heidevolk, God Dethroned, Fleddy Melculy and Die Nakse Bananen.
 
Leon van Rijnsbergen, director of the festival, is satisfied with the eleventh edition: "I am very proud of the busiest edition of Baroeg Open Air so far, with no less than 10,000 visitors!"
 
Baroeg Open Air festival 2018 was a success 📷 Ank ZwolleBaroeg Open Air festival 2018 was a success 📷 Ank Zwolle
 
Baroeg Open Air festival 2018 was a success 📷 Brian van RensenBaroeg Open Air festival 2018 was a success 📷 Brian van Rensen
 
Baroeg Open Air focuses on hard and alternative music such as metal, punk, rock and drum & bass. The festival attracted 10,000 visitors during the day, which is a record number for Baroeg Open Air. Last year there were more than 8,000 visitors. Poppodium Baroeg can thus speak about a very successful edition this year. But not everything went well; long queues at the cash dispensers and bars must be prevented at a future edition.
 
Earlier this year, Baroeg Open Air was saved by crowdfunding. The audience of the festival put in € 15,000 to ensure that the festival could continue. The date of Baroeg Open Air 2019 will be announced later.
 
Find out more at the Baroeg Open Air website. 
 
Surprise wedding at Pleinbioscoop Rotterdam 2018

Surprise wedding at Pleinbioscoop Rotterdam 2018

Visitors of Pleinbioscoop Rotterdam last Friday were treated to a surprise wedding minutes before the screening of the movie "Call Me By Your Name."
 
The scheduled film, "Call Me By Your Name", is a coming-of-age romantic movie about two young men who fall in love. While unsuspecting visitors made themselves comfortable to see the latest film by Italian director Luca Guadadigno, event organisers were busy bringing the theme of the movie to life.
 
And so it happened, that right before the show started, visitors were treated to a real-life love story starring Hanneke and Marijn. According to the two girls, the reason why they wanted to marry at Pleinbioscoop is that we can always use more love. "Nobody should have to explain who they fall in love with or who they love."
 
We wish Hanneke and Marijn a happy life together and lots of love.
 
Check out the wedding photos:
 
Surprise Wedding at Pleinbioscoop Rotterdam 4Surprise Wedding at Pleinbioscoop Rotterdam 4Surprise Wedding at Pleinbioscoop Rotterdam 4Surprise Wedding at Pleinbioscoop Rotterdam 4Surprise Wedding at Pleinbioscoop Rotterdam 4Surprise Wedding at Pleinbioscoop Rotterdam 4
 
Rotterdam increasingly popular among tourists

Rotterdam increasingly popular among tourists

The number of overnight stays by national and international visitors rose by 28 per cent in the first quarter of this year. This is a massive increase compared to earlier figures which tended to hover between 7 and 11 per cent.
 
The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) has revealed that the city attracted 324,000 visitors during the months of January, February and March of 2018; a whopping 26% more than the previous year. What makes this even more impressive is the fact that tourism in the Netherlands rose by 9.2 per cent in the same period. In other words, Rotterdam's tourism boom is almost three times as high as the national average. 
 

Is Rotterdam becoming like Amsterdam?

Rotterdammers do worry about their city becoming like Amsterdam where city streets are overcrowded by tourists, gentrification has made living impossible for the average citizen, and local store owners have had to make way for major chains and souvenir shops.
According to Jannelieke Aalstein, head of city marketing at Rotterdam Partners, it is up to the city to debate and decide how to move forward in a way that allows for further growth without losing the raw authenticity that makes Rotterdam such a unique city in the process.
 

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