ITB Berlin 2007 Goes Cultural

From March 7 to 11 at the ITB Berlin 2007, the ITB Book World & Cultural Tourism will for the first time be going on display at a new location: the Palace am Funkturm

It will be turned into a cultural center (Culture Palace), with opportunities for visitors to discover a world of cultural attractions, and will also include a large stage hosting events and a Culture Bar on the top floor.

Exhibitors representing city and cultural tourism from Europe, Asia and Africa as well as leading travel publishers will have their products and services on display here. ARD presenter Caren Miosga, better known from her TV appearances on culture programming, will open this section of the fair during a festive ceremony at 11 a.m. on the first day of the show.

Entitled It’s Showtime for Culture, art and music events from around the world will provide exciting entertainment on all five days of the fair. Activities with information on current developments in international cultural tourism will round off the program of events.

Festive on-stage events will include celebrations honoring the fiftieth anniversary of the German Travel Journalists Association, and a VDRJ Award for Reinhold Messner in recognition of the Messner Mountain Museum (MMM), as well as the major prize-giving ceremonies “Toura d’Or”, presented by the Study Group for Tourism and Development, and the ITB Book Awards 2007.

Visitors will be handed the ITB Culture Guide presenting “Showtime for Culture”, with information on all-day programs of events and exhibitors’ products and services.

Trade visitors in search of a quiet area for talks with exhibitors will have an opportunity to do so in the Culture Bar on the top floor of the Palace. Interesting lectures and panel discussions will also be available to them.

The Berlin Chamber of Commerce (IHK) will show ways of streamlining sales and marketing in this fast-growing segment that is cultural tourism.