Berlin presents itself as partner state of the German Pavilion for Children’s and Youth Travel
Jubilees in the youth travel segment will be celebrated at ITB Berlin: 20 years fall of the wall, ten years Youth Travel Center, five years „YIG-Deutschland-Pavillon“. YIG is an abbreviation for Youth Incoming Germany. The governing mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, acts as this year’s patron. He will open up the special exhibition area in hall 4.1 on March 11. The YIG Germany Pavilion will present its partner state Berlin inside the Youth Travel Center. The German capital seeks to attract more visitors with their offers of children’s and youth travel to German and international experts.
Highlights of the jubilee program of the teachers’ symposium
Among youth travel, special emphasis will be placed on school trips. From March 12 to 13, pedagogues and parties responsible for school trips will be able to learn about school and class trips, as well as jobs in tourism and the media in a two-day long teachers’ symposium. Henry Tesch, Minister for Education, Sciences and Culture of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, who acts as president of the ongoing conference of ministers for education in Germany in 2009, will be the one to open the event. In the following panel discussion from 14 to 15.15 o’clock, he will answer the questions of providers in Germany’s children’s and youth travel scene and the participating teachers. Various workshops and lectures will follow.
The program for the second day of the symposium will be about specialized excursions on the topic of „20 years fall of the wall“ to locations of vivid history in Berlin, as well as to the vocational education center of „SOS-Kinderdorf e.V.“. In addition, there will be a presentation of the possibilities of apprentice exchange (EUROPASS) in the European Union. Friday afternoon, there will be a multitude of exhibitor activities for teachers on the topic of mobility and travel at YIG Germany Pavilion in hall 4.1.
ITB weekend with show cooking for pupils and students
Chefs and restaurant experts are well received everywhere in the world. They provide for the physical well-being and high spirits of the guests, be it in a holiday club, a mountain cottage or a desert oasis. During the public days of the ITB Berlin, young visitors will be cooking alongside instructors and apprentices of the SOS-Kinderdorf health kitchen. Show cooking and cocktail mixing make for enjoyment and sensual delight. A visit in the five-day long German-African accompanying exhibition of SOS-Kinderdörfer called „We take our lives into our own hands!“ sparks interest in jobs in the gastronomy. The exhibition was designed in a joint effort of the SOS-Kinderdorf vocational education centers in Kenia and Germany.
Exhibitors at Youth Travel Center
A total of 50 exhibitors showcase themselves at Youth Travel Center. Participants include the YIG initiators A&O Hotels & Hostels Holding AG and welcome berlin tours, the two partner associations of YIG Germany Pavilion, the federal forum of children’s and youth travel (Bundesforum Kinder- und Jugendreisen e.V.) and the World Youth Student & Educational Travel Confederation (WYSE).
Further represented are „Schullandheime“ (youth hostels designated to a specific school) and holiday camps from Thuringian Forest to North Sea, as well as holiday trip experts such as Akzente-Reisen, EVT-Reisen, DB-Klassenfahrten and Ferienbörse, which operates in all of Germany. Border-crossing unions of federal states, such as the working group „Junges Land für Junge Leute“ (Young State for Young People) from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the state youth circle Schleswig-Holstein will also be present. The member organizations of Sports Youth Germany, the tourism state marketing organizations and the German Center for Tourism will be exhibiting at YIG, as well.
Information can be requested by telephone: YIG project bureau of Messe Berlin, iNTEGRON Institute, Dr. Heike Bähre, Tel: 030-56 044 889, Fax: 030-56 04 48 40, E-Mail: yig@integron.de.
