180,000 visitors -six billion euros in orders- foreign trade visitor attendance stable, growth in numbers from Asia – ITB Berlin Convention very well received – highest number of senior executives and leading politicians to date at ITB Berlin – approximately 7,200 journalists from around the world cover trade show Worldwide, ITB Berlin is the only travel trade show that continues to expand in the international marketplace, with the 44th edition of ITB Berlin emphatically confirming its leading role. A…
180,000 visitors -six billion euros in orders- foreign trade visitor attendance stable, growth in numbers from Asia – ITB Berlin Convention very well received – highest number of senior executives and leading politicians to date at ITB Berlin – approximately 7,200 journalists from around the world cover trade show Worldwide, ITB Berlin is the only travel trade show that continues to expand in the international marketplace, with the 44th edition of ITB Berlin emphatically confirming its leading role. A slight rise in exhibitor attendance and stable trade visitor numbers from both Germany and abroad ensured the trade fair was a success. Dr. Christian Goke, Chief Operating Officer Messe Berlin, gave a very positive assessment: “ITB Berlin 2010 broke records despite the difficult overall economic situation. More than 11,000 exhibitors placed a total of more than six billion euros worth of orders. The industry demonstrated resilience and placed its trust in the strong brand that is ITB Berlin, which once again was able to gather all the leading players in the market. ITB Berlin is the trade show where senior executives do business. The proportion of decision-makers attending this year’s fair was greatly in excess of fifty per cent.“
11,127 companies from 187 countries (2009: 11,098) exhibited the international travel industry’s entire range of products and services. 110,953* trade visitors from 180 countries attended the show, equalling last year’s figures. As in 2009, 45 per cent of the trade visitors came from abroad. This year there was a considerably higher number from Asia. Due to a well-chosen range of topics the ITB Berlin Convention once again emphasised its role as the travel industry’s foremost discussion forum and think tank. Attendance rose yet again, with 12,500 delegates taking part in the convention. At the ITB Future Day topical issues such as Web 2.0 best practices and the latest market analyses attracted such high attendance that for the first time available room capacity reached its limits.
After three months of snow the locals from Berlin and Brandenburg turned their thoughts towards holidays and on the weekend thronged the halls on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds. 68,398* members of the general public (2009: 68,114) took the opportunity to obtain wide-ranging information from tour organisers and find out about niche market providers offering individual travel. A total of 179,351* visitors (178,971) attended the show.
ITB Berlin was an international media event, with approximately 7,200 accredited journalists from 89 countries covering the fair. Politicians and members of the diplomatic services from around the world gathered at ITB Berlin. 95 foreign national delegations and four royal highnesses were in attendance, as well as the President of the Republic of Maldives, the Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia and the Vice-President of the Seychelles. 111 ambassadors, three general consuls, 17 foreign presidents and prime ministers, 76 ministers and deputy ministers and a number of foreign state secretaries visited ITB Berlin. Politicians from Germany also came to find out what the travel industry had to offer. Federal Minister of Economics and Technology Rainer Bruderle and Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Development Peter Ramsauer spoke to exhibitors during their tour of the fair. State secretaries representing the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and the Ministry of Defence, Governing Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit, 17 ministers from German Federal States as well as senators found out about travel products and trends.
Success for partner country Turkey
Huseyin Cosan, Cultural Attache of the Republic of Turkey in Berlin: “Germany represents our foremost source market. More than 4.4 million tourists travel to Turkey from Germany. ITB Berlin is the world’s leading travel trade show and also the largest. For us, to be the partner country of ITB Berlin is something special. Turkey has created a new partner country concept. We set up a programme of cultural events with numerous activities that took place outside the grounds. These included a show with an amateur choir from Antalya with singers who were rabbis, priests, nuns and muslims. Our minister also invited a Kurdish singer to take part. We wanted to demonstrate our country’s diversity, and from my point of view that was the highlight of our presentation. Turkey in its role as partner country attracted a great deal of attention among visitors. All our co-exhibitors were highly satisfied. If the exhibitors are happy then I think together we have achieved something remarkably good.“
In times of change ITB Berlin is more important than ever
Taleb Rifai, General Secretary of UNWTO: ”As the world is experiencing a period of profound change – ranging from the economy to the environment – tourism as a truly global activity can make a meaningful contribution in these times of transformation. Against this backdrop, ITB 2010 has again proven to be the ideal setting to showcase the resilience and innovation capacity of the tourism industry. UNWTO is happy to partner with ITB and together contribute to a stronger and more responsible tourism sector.”
BTW and DRV – A promising start to a new decade in travel
Klaus Laepple, President of the German Tourism Industry Federation (DRV) and the Federal Association of the German Tourism Industry (BTW) “Once again, the world’s largest travel trade show has demonstrated how important exchanging opinions and meeting people is, particularly in times of crisis. The rise in the number of exhibitors and visitors who attended ITB Berlin shows that in economically difficult times those representing the tourism industry need to keep in touch. However, the trade fair is more than a place for meeting and holding talks. During the five days of the fair joint ventures were negotiated, agreements were reached and business was done. The German tourism industry estimates that at ITB the amount of business concluded was equivalent to around six billion euros, a figure which gives us optimism. We foresee that in the medium to long term the travel sector will once again experience sustained growth. We expect the travel market to further settle down in 2010.“
The next ITB Berlin will take place from Wednesday, 9 to Sunday, 13 March 2011. The partner country will be Poland.
Tatiana is the news co-ordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes to monitor the hundrends of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skim the most important according to our strategy. She holds a Bachelor degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
