Dominican Republic to Bask in the Limelight of Berlin’s ITB 2008

Berlin’s International Tourism Market (ITB), the world’s most important tourism fair, already has 11,000 exhibitors from 180 countries in its catalogue for this year, two months before the exhibit, with Dominican Republic as guest country.

The fair, slated for March 5 to 9, expects at least 100,000 visitors in Berlin’s fairgrounds, with the ITB occupying 160,000 square meters.

ITB director David Ruetz praised the “high and constant level” of the demand by exhibitors, which he said would consolidate the exhibition’s leadership within the industry even more.

In Berlin Dominican Republic will feature its luxury tourism and Samaná peninsula as a standard in tourist attractions, along with its ecotourism and beaches.

Exclusive complexes, golf courses and high end marinas will coexist in the ITB next to paradisiacal beaches, family vacations and the Caribbean’s country exuberant vegetation, and will also present its new airline, Dominican Air.

The ITB concluded its last fair with a record 177,000 visitors, 109,000 of them professionals, a 15 percent more than in 2006, and around 5 billion euros in transactions.