Attendance at ITB Berlin Remained Stable at Last Year’s Level

An interim assessment of ITB Berlin, the world’s leading trade fair for the international travel industry, reveals an extremely positive situation. David Ruetz, Senior Manager ITB Berlin said that “during the first two days the number of trade visitors was at the same level as in 2009.”

The figures for international trade visitors, who account for around 45 percent of the total attendance at ITB Berlin, are also equivalent to those of last year. “One welcome development is the fact that the proportion of foreign trade visitors from Asia and Africa has more than doubled”, Ruetz reported.

They now make up 27 percent of the total, compared with around 13 percent last year. “This is largely attributable to the impending FIFA World Cup in South Africa, and to the ITB Asia”, Ruetz concluded, following initial discussions. He also emphasized that “bosses are coming back again.” The proportion of trade visitors occupying senior management positions rose from 53 to 67 percent.

The ITB Berlin Convention also recorded a slight increase. The individual events that attracted the highest attendances, each with more than 500 participants, were “Social Media: Lessons from the Leaders” and the presentations by the “ITB World Travel Trends Report”.