Dietmar Brunk has now been working in the public sector for 40 years. In a small ceremony, Lord Mayor Frank Frühauf, colleagues and staff representatives congratulated the head of the Idar-Oberstein Tourist Information Office on this special day.
After graduating from Göttenbach-Gymnasium, Dietmar Brunk initially enlisted for two years, which counted towards his service time, as a temporary soldier in the German Armed Forces. On August 1, 1985, he began training as an administrative assistant at the Idar-Oberstein municipal administration and, after passing his exams, initially worked at the youth welfare office. This was later followed by two more one-year assignments at the Property Office and the Audit Office. In the meantime, Dietmar Brunk completed further training as an administrative specialist. In October 1992, Brunk moved to the Cultural Office and prepared the transfer of tourism to the city administration. At that time, a private travel agency operated the tourist office for the town of Idar-Oberstein and the Birkenfeld district. On January 1, 1993, the Idar-Oberstein Tourist Information Office was founded with Dietmar Brunk as its manager. Initially, the TI was housed in the former janitor's apartment of the indoor swimming pool. After a stopover in one of the administrative buildings in Georg-Maus-Straße, the tourist information office has now been located on Marktplatz Oberstein in the middle of the town center for some time, "and therefore in exactly the right place," as Brunk emphasized. Organizationally, the tourism department was already attached to various offices and is currently located in the city's building department. "That makes sense, because we are also responsible for business development," said Stefan Tatsch, head of the building department, who thanked the jubilarian for the good cooperation. However, the Idar-Oberstein and Herrstein-Rhaunen tourist information offices, which have been operating as a marketing association under the EdelSteinLand label for several years, are soon to become legally independent. "Just like most tourism institutions in the state," explained Mayor Frühauf.
"Dietmar Brunk is the tourism expert in the city of Idar-Oberstein," emphasized Mayor Frühauf and acknowledged the merits of the jubilarian for the further development of the tourism offer in the city and the gemstone region. He thanked Brunk for his outstanding commitment and presented him with several gifts and a certificate of thanks signed by Minister President Malu Dreyer. "Dietmar Brunk is the right man in the right place," agreed Wolfgang Petry, Senior Office Manager, with the Lord Mayor, while staff council representative Volker Poes pointed out that the jubilarian himself had already been active on the staff council and had worked on behalf of the workforce.
"The tourist information office is something of a baby of mine," confessed Dietmar Brunk, "after all, I helped launch it." Since then, however, a lot has changed and evolved in tourism. "You always have to stay on the ball and that's only possible with a good team." In addition to its role as a point of contact for guests to EdelSteinLand, the tourist information office also acts as an information point for the local population. "People come to us with all kinds of concerns, especially many older people at the moment who have problems with the fact that bus timetables are no longer available on paper and the Deutschlandticket is only available in digital form." And the TI is of course a service provider and can help.