Today marks the end of a successful garden season at the Gardens and Touriseum, with 398.000 visitors. The highlight of the 2019 season was the “Killer Plants – The Green Carnivores” exhibition. Biodiversity will be the theme of the Gardens in the 2020 season, while the Touriseum will be hosting an exhibition entitled “We need you.” 

398.000 guests visited Trauttmansdorff in the 2019 garden season. August was the most popular month with visitors, clocking up 65.041 guests, followed by April, with 58.296. “Due to the heavy rainfall in April and May, there were roughly 17,000 fewer visitors than last year. In the following months, however, the number of visitors took a sharp upturn, and we look back on a successful garden season,” enthuses Gabriele Pircher, Director of the Gardens. The number of guests to the Gardens averaged 1.740 per day. A clear upwards trend in families was also evident: Trauttmansdorff is becoming increasingly well-known as a leisure attraction for guests of all ages. 

Carnivorous plants were the stars of the 2019 garden season. The “Killer Plants – The Green Carnivores” exhibition covering two storeys illustrated the refined trapping techniques of these plants, while the garden area featured over 500 living species. A good number of events were held in 2019: In May the Gardens and the Touriseum organised the 12th annual Open Day for visitors with disabilities, which attracted around 450 people with disabilities from all over South Tyrol. In summer, the Garden Nights World-Music Festival by the Water Lily Pond was an enormous hit, with over 5,000 guests. The picnic by the Water Lily Pond accompanied by live music also proved immensely popular, and will be held again next year. The Autumn at the Gardens theme day and Sissi Day attracted a large number of families in October, while the third Vintage Market at Touriseum, at 1,500 visitors, proved a great hit during the last month of the garden season. 

Preview of the 2020 season
The Gardens of Trauttmansdorff Castle will remain closed until 1st April 2020. The 2020 garden year will be themed around the topic of biodiversity. In keeping with the theme of “Diversity” the Gardens will be showing visitors the importance of biological diversity for humanity, animals and plants. Throughout the whole of the garden area, they will find a wealth of useful information, interesting facts and handy tips.
The Touriseum will be hosting an exhibition entitled “We need you,” themed around the staffing shortage in the hotel and catering industry: Never has it been so difficult for hotels, restaurants and pubs to find staff. Why is there a staffing shortage in the hospitality industry? When did it begin? Where will the ever-growing need for staff lead us in the future? Visitors can find it out from 1st April at the Touriseum. The South Tyrol Museum of Tourism will also house a further exhibition dedicated to Franz Kafka and the time he spent in Meran, 100 years ago.