Q & A with Astrid Ehring, Press & Public Relations Officer at Messe Berlin GmbH

How will you define ITB, as a fair, a tradeshow or meeting grounds for tourism professionals?
ITB Berlin is the world´s leading travel trade show. It is the industry’s most international trade visitor event in the world and offers the most balanced and most international portfolio of exhibitors in the world.

ITB Berlin represents the entire value-added chain of the industry. The global travel industry assembles here in the German capital. Only 31 per cent of our exhibitors are from Germany. Over two thirds travel here from abroad. No other European travel trade show even gets anywhere close to these figures.

What figures can you give us about the latest edition, exhibitors, visits, square meters, number of booths, participating countries and enterprises present at the ITIB?
ITB Berlin 2010 was fully booked again. From 10 to 14 March 2010 more exhibitors than ever before were presenting their products and services, which cover the entire added value chain of the international travel industry. The 11,127 exhibiting companies (2009: 11,098) from 187 countries occupy the whole of the Exhibition Grounds, comprising 26 halls and covering 160,000 square meters. About 111,000 trade visitors from 180 countries attended the show, equaling last year’s figures.

What advantages does a tourism company that wants to attend ITB actually has?
ITB Berlin offers an ideal fixed costs ratio compared to the volume of business initiated measured against the number of buyers (cost per contact) and ideal services and infrastructure.

Can you tell us about the conference program, main themes and results?
Featuring an outstanding program of events and high-ranking speakers, the ITB Berlin Convention 2010 highlighted the effects of the financial and economic crisis on tourism, the structural changes in society, and shifts in travel patterns. From 10 to 12 March 2010 more than 200 leading speakers and panel guests from science, politics and with practical experience presented topics and discussed the future of travel at around 100 events. Over a
period of three days the focus at the world’s largest tourism convention was on quality discussion and the latest industry knowledge.

Last year was a somewhat difficult time for world tourism. From this point of view, how will you assess ITB’s latest edition?
Dr. Christian Göke, Chief Operating Officer Messe Berlin, gave a very positive assessment: “ITB Berlin 2010 broke records despite the difficult overall economic situation. More than 11,000 exhibitors placed a total of more than six billion euros worth of orders. The industry demonstrated resilience and placed its trust in the strong brand that is ITB Berlin, which once again was able to gather all the leading players in the market. ITB Berlin is the trade show where senior executives do business. The proportion of decision-makers attending this year’s fair was greatly in excess of fifty percent.”

What can you comment on the media sponsor program? Has it been successful? Which are the main media in this program?
ITB Berlin does not have a media sponsor program.

Do you think that ITB, regardless of the current difficulties caused by the economic crisis, could be considered as a solid show for tourist entrepreneurs, and why?
Worldwide, ITB Berlin is the only travel trade show that continues to expand in the international marketplace, with the 44th edition of ITB Berlin emphatically confirming its leading role. A slight rise in exhibitor attendance and stable trade visitor numbers from both Germany and abroad ensured the trade fair was a success.

Which country are you considering to be the guest nation for next year’s edition and why?
Poland will be the partner country of the ITB Berlin 2011. ITB Berlin and the Polish Tourism Organization have maintained close personal ties for a number of years. Poland was one of the very first countries to attend the world’s largest travel trade show. Exhibitors from this country were already at the show in 1971 and have remained loyal to us ever since.
Poland offers travelers many outstanding attractions. As a holiday destination Poland has always been popular with Germans. Our neighbors in the East boast excellent value for money, a beautiful countryside, pristine nature reserves and a wealth of cultural attractions.
The European Football Championship in 2012 is an excellent opportunity to advertise Polish hospitality.

How are you planning on developing the promotional program for next year’s edition?
We are currently working on next year’s show. Therefore we do not communicate details on this issue now.

Any plans and projects in the offing for the 2011 fair?
It is still too early to announce plans and projects for 2011. In recent years ITB Berlin has raised new topics and successfully set new trends. We were right to choose space tourism in 2006. Now Richard Branson is building his spaceship in New Mexico. In 2009 we were also among the first to talk about sustainability. Bertrand Piccard, who gave a speech at the ITB Berlin Convention, is due to circumnavigate the globe aboard Solar Impulse.