ITB 2013 Mirrors the Increasingly Dynamic Trends in the Global Travel Industry

From 6 to 10 March 2013 ITB Berlin mirrored the industry’s increasingly dynamic market trends and providing a representative overview of global travel products and attractive niche markets.

At the 47th edition of ITB Berlin 10,086 companies from 188 countries presented their products and services on a display area covering 160,000 square meters. The 26 halls on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds were booked up. A record number of exhibitors were represented on two-tier stands.

The focus was on Indonesia, the official partner country of ITB Berlin, which took part with 120 exhibitors. Indonesia was represented in Halls 26 and 4.1, where visitors could witness colorful spectacles performed on stage. South Sudan, an independent state since 2011, was a newcomer to ITB Berlin. For the first time, exhibitors and travel agencies offered tours directly to the consumer on the weekend of the show.

ITB Berlin brought international bloggers and exhibitors together at numerous panel discussions, workshops and lectures. A total of 250 bloggers from Germany and abroad attended. For the first time ITB Berlin featured a matchmaking event, which will be taking place on 7 and 8 March from 4.30 to 6 p.m. respectively in Hall 7.3.

That gave 100 exhibitors an opportunity to meet the same number of international bloggers representing the adventure, luxury and family travel markets. This free service by ITB Berlin was aimed at helping exhibitors to improve their marketing of destinations and products.

This was the fourth year that companies exhibiting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender tourism (LGBT) products were represented in their own section in Hall 2.1. Some 56 companies from around the world were represented in the Pink Pavilion, including the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA) and many co-exhibitors.

Visitors to the pavilion found the world’s largest display of travel products for this market. They included city tours of Vienna, Prague, Tel Aviv as well as holidays in Argentina, Bulgaria, Florida, Gran Canaria, Maspalomas, Greece, India, Thailand and Cyprus. A colorful supporting program featuring Queer Tango from Argentina and the Vienna Gay Café rounded off the display.

The Adventure & Responsible Tourism Hall was celebrating its tenth anniversary with a colorful program of events on the topic of socially responsible tourism. This year the focus in Hall 4.1b was on “Earth’s Wetlands & Geoparks – Celebrating Earth Heritage, Sustaining Local Communities“.

This year the ITB Berlin Convention celebrated its tenth anniversary. Over the past decade it has become the world’s largest event of its kind. This year the convention featured an unprecedented number of leading international speakers. At 200 sessions more than 420 speakers, half of them from Germany, presented the latest expert knowledge from the fields of tourism, politics and society.

The success of the ITB Berlin Convention led to the format being adopted last year in Brazil. The ITB Berlin Convention was the knowledge partner of the travel trade show A Feira de Turismo das Américas (ABAV) in Rio de Janeiro and presented a comprehensive program of events on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender tourism, corporate social responsibility, as well as MICE and business travel.