RDA mourns Hans Schloemer

Hans Schloemer, bus entrepreneur from Alsdorf near Aachen and longstanding Chairman of the Advisory Board of the RDA Messe, passed away on August 15th at the age of 95 after a long and serious illness. The RDA board, management and the RDA Expo GmbH advisory board, as well as the consultants and employees of the federation and Expo GmbH, mourn the passing of a personality who rendered outstanding services to the RDA and its trade fairs.

When the RDA Workshop Touristik Service GmbH (WTS) was founded in 1987, the advisory board elected Hans Schloemer, a well-connected transport operator, as chairman. As co-founder of the first ERFA bus entrepreneur group, Schloemer had made an exemplary name for himself in the industry as a major protagonist of joint bus purchasing and as a negotiator in purchasing matters. The advisory board of RDA WTS GmbH advised and supervised the management of RDA Workshop Touristik Service GmbH - which now operates as RDA Expo GmbH. When this company was founded, the Reise-Ring Deutscher Autobusunternehmungen e.V., as the International Coach Tourism Federation was then called, had created a subsidiary company for RDA Workshop to give this important purchasing fair the structures of a modern corporation. This was an important step for bus tourism and Hans Schloemer's appointment reflected the association's confidence in his entrepreneurial personality.

Together with Norbert Grein, the then long-standing president of the RDA, Hans Schloemer formed the dual leadership on the way to becoming the leading purchasing and order fair for the coach and group tourism industry. Schloemer was also responsible for promoting the entrepreneurial independence of RDA Messegesellschaft in conjunction with the broadly diversified RDA Federation. After all, coach companies as fair buyers are equally organized in this association as are service providers as fair suppliers. The trustful and effective cooperation between the RDA Board of Directors as shareholder of WTS GmbH and the WTS management made the growth of the RDA Workshop into international dimensions possible. In times of German reunification, the opening up of Eastern Europe and in difficult situations such as the war in the Balkans, the RDA Workshop offered a platform for the exchange of offers and ideas - and as a result practiced international understanding. To this, the practicing coach entrepreneur Hans Schloemer contributed significantly. His office as chairman of the advisory board changed hands at the end of 1999 to Norbert Grein. At the RDA general meeting in 2002, Hans Schloemer was appointed honorary member of the RDA and the WTS advisory board appointed him honorary chairman. The RDA continued to value Schloemer's advice and commitment.

For Hans Schloemer, travelling was not only his vocation but also his muse. He was also a connoisseur of upscale gastronomy. After he had placed the succession in the family business in 1989 in the hands of his son Hubert, Hans Schloemer was able to devote himself more to his hobby of golfing. Hans Schloemer leaves his daughter Brigitte, his sons Hubert and Hans as well as his wife Renate.

Benedikt Esser, President of the RDA and Managing Director of RDA Expo GmbH: "Hans Schloemer, with his entrepreneurial foresight and loyalty, played a decisive role in the development of the RDA Workshop into an international trade fair for coach and group tourism. The RDA family will remember him with honour." Dr. Uwe Lorenz, Chairman of the RDA Expo Advisory Board: "Hans Schloemer's personality made the newly created structures of the RDA trade fairs work outstandingly well in practice, and we all still benefit from it today.

Hans Schloemer, born 02.02.1925 - died 15.08.2020