Wednesday, March 11

Tourism Emergency Response Network (TERN) consultation/ ITB on Crisis Communications in the Tourism Sector (by invitation only)
10.00-11.30h
Venue: ICC, Room 19
E-Mail: rcm@unwto.org
URL: www.sos.travel/

Presentation on the UNWTO Biodiversity and Tourism Projects (registration required)
14.00-15.30h
Venue: UNWTO STAND 20/128

by Volker Hasse

From March 11 to 15, the leading global travel trade fair will be opening up its 26 halls on the ICC. A total of 11,147 exhibitors from 180 countries will be presenting themselves to the estimated 180,000 visitors and 8,000 journalists on an area of 160,000 square meters.

On the weekend of March 14 & 15, the ITB will open up for private visitors, featuring a wide range of offers.

The fifteenth edition of MITM Americas, Meetings and Incentive Travel Market, will be held in Havana, Cuba, November 18 and 19 of this year.

MITM’s hosted buyers are from Europe and, even though MITM will take place in Cuba, incentives and conventions buyers from the United States will also attend, as they did in the MITM edition of 2004 in Varadero, where 36% of the buyers were from the US.

Asia’s final outbound travel figures for 2008 and prospects for 2009 will be revealed in the ITB World Travel Trends Report 2009 to be presented at ITB Future Day, part of the ITB Convention, 11 March 2009.

As the final numbers on Asia’s 2008 tourism performance are tallied, preliminary results from different sources suggest that the winners in terms of inbound tourism included Indonesia with 17% and Macau with 10%. Southeast and South Asia tied for best performing sub-region, with average increases of 4% each.

Adventure and nature experience at Trends & Events in Hall 4.1 – 4th pow-wow for trade visitors, under the slogan “Rendezvous with the desert”, moderated by TV star and globetrotter Mary Amiri

The market for expeditions and adventure travel is booming. “Travellers are after something different”, is how David Ruetz, Senior Manager ITB Berlin, comments this trend. “Everyone wants to experience something nowadays – adventure travel paints a different picture of the world, away from beaten paths, and lets tourists experience holidays that are special.” At Trends & Events in Hall 4.1 the global industry’s leading trade show will be offering a genuine foretaste of the various ways to experience adventure and nature.

by Daniel Becht / Joachim Fischer

What opportunities can tourism offer young entrepreneurs in regards to the exploration and filling of market gaps and niches? What synergies are there for those involved? What are the benefits for the guest and what are those for Berlin?

These were key topics of the discussion roundtable of „Berliner Tourismus Dialog“ (Berlin Tourism Dialog) at “Ludwig Erhard Haus” in Berlin. The event series, established by Gerhard Kirsch, is gaining popularity by the month. It provides clever entrepreneurs with the opportunity to present their fresh business models and to establish contacts with experienced individuals from the hotel industry, politics, tourism and the hospitality industry