Matka 2012 Brings the World to the Exhibition & Convention Center

The Nordic Travel Fair 2012 organized at the Helsinki Exhibition and Convention Center on 19-22 January 2012 brought together people interested in traveling. Almost 1,100 exhibitors from more than 70 countries ensured an impressive start for the travel year.

The exotic Madagascar, Uganda and Trinidad and Tobago participated for the first time. Also the popularity of domestic tourism is obvious as all of Finland is present in miniature size. The Nordic Travel Fair’s Pearl of Finland, World Design Capital 2012 Helsinki, invests on the fair strongly.

Thursday, the first day of the fair, as well as Friday morning, were restricted to travel trade professionals only. The public visited the fair from Friday noon. During the fair, more than 160 presentations took place with subjects varying from current info flashes and seminar subjects to exiting travel stories and grand shows.

This year’s theme, Design Your Journey, was especially reflected in the seminars for travel trade professionals, but also in the stands. This theme also touched on Helsinki’s status as the World Design Capital.

The theme of the Matka 2013 fair was announced in the press conference of this year’s fair. The theme Social Journey includes the concept of a social aspect. People want to share their travel experiences more and more in the social media and also produce many sorts of contents about their travel. On the other hand, the theme includes experiences created by genuine encounters outside the web.