A peaceful and emotional mood among the giants’ audience in front of Brandenburg Gate in Berlin sends positive image of Berlin around the world on German Unification Day

Berlin celebrates the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the re-unification of a separated Germany with an energetic open-air theater spectacle. For four days, the legendary French street theater compagnie Royal de Luxe turned downtown Berlin into one huge theater stage. Using the Big Giant and the Small Giantess, they narrated a poetic fairy tale of finding back together after a long time of separation and so brought back memories of a separated Berlin and the peaceful revolution of 1989.

by Joachim Fischer, Bangkok

2009 marks the 17th year of IT&CMA (Incentive Travel & Conventions, Meetings Asia) and 12th staging of CTW (Corporate Travel World) Asia-Pacific, themed ‘Feast on Asia!’. Delegates will savour a banquet of inspiring products and services, dream destinations, spiced-up activities and enriching conferences, underscoring the status of this highly anticipated 2009 Doublebill (two shows in one location) as Asia-Pacific’s premier MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, Exhibitions) and Corporate Travel event.

The 5-star deluxe Steigenberger Al Dau Beach Hotel, as well as the 4-star Steigenberger Al Dau Club, both located on the Red Sea in Hurghada, are proud to announce having achieved high rankings in their most recent HIIS certifications.

Both properties underwent close scrutiny during checks by the Egyptian Hospitality Industry Integrated Services (HIIS) company, and were attested to fully meet the standards of food safety under the Occupational Health and Safely Control Program.

Reed Travel Exhibitions has announced its commitment to the American meetings and incentive market by confirming that the inaugural Americas Incentive Business Travel and Meetings Exhibition (AIBTM) will now take place in Baltimore, Maryland from June 21- June 23, 2011.

This new major event adds to the company’s established portfolio of ‘IBTM’ exhibitions specifically serving the global meetings industry marketplace.

In the midst of economic, climate, social and health challenges, the 18th session of the UNWTO General Assembly will convene in Astana, Kazakhstan from 5-8 October. UNWTO itself is also undergoing significant changes with the election of a new Secretary-General to take place at the Assembly.

Since the last session of the General Assembly (November 2007, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia) the travel and tourism industry has had to endure the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, accelerating trends of climate change and the influenza A(H1N1) pandemic.

WHotels Group, part of the world’s largest hotel owner Starwood, has reportedly cancelled a management contract to run a luxury hotel for Sun Hung Kai Properties in Shanghai because of the economic downturn.The contract to run the $8HK billion development had been affected by business travellers staying at home, said sources familiar with the situation.