ITB Berlin 2005: A Promising Future For Tourism

GLIMPSES OF ITB 2005

The worst of the recession is over for the international tourism sector and continuous improvement is now expected — these were the positive conclusions drawn by Dr Christian Göke, chief executive officer of Messe Berlin, speaking at the International Tourism Exchange ITB Berlin 2005. The total of 10,409 exhibitors is a new record for ITB while the attendance figure of 142,351 is also an improvement over last year’s 141,139.

Furthermore, the structure of visitors reveals a significant improvement in quality. According to Göke, “Attendance by trade visitors rose by 12 per cent to 83,987 (2004:75,019). The world’s leading tourism trade fair is becoming increasingly international: among this year’s trade visitors more than one third, 33.5 per cent, came from abroad, a one per cent increase over the previous year. This year, ITB Berlin featured a second Asia hall for the first time.”

Göke revealed that Exhibitors from regions stricken by the tsunami did not cancel their participation in ITB, but instead, came to Berlin with a clear message that they were back and were now just waiting for the return of international tourists.

According to WTO, global tourism looks set for a successful future In its summing up of ITB 2005, WTO made particular mention of the good mood within the industry. WTO expects that, with the positive development of the economy and of trade in 2005, worldwide tourism is set to continue its run of success. Highlights included the first ITB Aviation Day, the Future & Innovation Forum, the Practical Workshop on China and the Experts’ Forum on India. Successful debut of new sections of the market and theme halls. For the first time the subject of business travel were covered under the heading of Business Travel, ITB Berlin, and it met with success. There was also good response to the introduction of a programme of seminars aimed specifically at travel managers, and almost 1,000 visitors took part.

India Fields Largest Ever Team At ITB

With three million international tourists under its belt, representing a 24 per cent growth in arrivals in 2004, India had reason to field its largest ever team participation at ITB. As many as 36 organisations comprising tour operators, hoteliers and other service providers, took up space at the India pavilion along with officials from tourism departments of 17 state governments.

Big league hotel chains such as Taj and Oberoi groups, ITC Hotels, and travel agencies like Creative Travels took independent places outside the India Pavilion. Add to that the floating participants and Team India’s count probably exceeded 200 professionals. Leading India’s travel trade representatives was Renuka Chowdhury, tourism minister, who was assisted by A K Misra and Rajeev Talwar, both of whom recently joined the ministry as secretary and additional director general. India’s current dream run on the inbound front has been largely attributed to the Incredible India campaign which was launched in 2003, as well as to strides made by the country’s economy in recent years. With many initiatives in place, especially in upgrading infrastructure like roads and airports, India is poised for significant growth in 2005.