As the international travel industry’s think tank, from 10 to 12 March 2010 this year’s ITB Berlin Convention is once again presenting an outstanding programme, with more than 200 leading speakers. The list of speakers and participants from practical fields, science and politics, reads like a Who’s Who of the travel industry. His Royal Highness, the Hon. Chief Mukuni of Zambia will add royal flair to the ITB Destination Days, which run over a period of three days. At the Africa Forum, at a discussion round with the Hon. Najib Mohamed Balala, Minister of Tourism of the Republic of Kenya, and Martina Kohl of the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), His Royal Highness, the Hon. Chief Mukuni will be discussing how important tourism is among the measures for combating poverty, as well as the role of development aid. Well known author and TV presenter Manuel Andrack will speak on the subject of spirituality and tourism. Vural Öger, owner of Öger Tours, will also be setting the tone with his keynote speech on the challenges posed by the creation of sustainable tourism destinations.

At the ITB CSR Day the world famous oceanographer and environmental activist Fabien Cousteau will be raising some fundamental issues. In the second keynote speech he will be examining whether ocean protection and tourism are friends or foes. Along with other participants from the travel industry,
Dr. Volker Böttcher, CEO, TUI Deutschland GmbH, will examine the topic of customer experiences as regards sales, and whether CSR is simply a fake concept. Along with other panel discussion members, Pier Luigi Foschi, Chairman & CEO, Costa Crociere S.p.A., will be answering questions from the audience at a session debating whether the expanding cruise market has a negative effect on the environment.

Leading figures will also be attending the ITB Aviation Day.
Dr. Temel Kotil, CEO, Turkish Airlines will hold a keynote speech opening this headline event of the world’s aviation industry. At the global CEO Panel the following will take part in the panel discussion on the future of the world’s aviation industry: Joachim Hunold,
CEO, Air Berlin, Stefan Pichler, CEO, Jazeera Airways and Emirsyah Satar, President & CEO, Garuda Indonesia. Mauro Oretti, Vice President Sales and Marketing SkyTeam, will examine the future of strategic alliances in aviation. Along with leading airport experts,
Dr. Stefan Schulte, Chairman of the Board of Fraport AG, will be highlighting best practice examples for increasing public acceptance of air traffic in the vicinity of airports.

Prof. Dr. Claudia Kemfert, Head of the Energy, Transport and Environment Department at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), will open the ITB Global Future Summit at the ITB Future Day. Along with other experts she will be discussing the main trends as regards demographics, climate change, natural resources, technology and consumer behaviour. In a discussion round with other high-ranking participants, Peter Hill, CEO,
Oman Air, will be analysing whether luxury tourism is still a viable market.

Finally, the search engine giant Google will be represented at the Global Future Summit with Patrick Schönemann, Geo Sales Manager DACH & Nordics, Google Enterprise, as well as at the PhoCusWright@ITB Berlin Technology Convention with
Javier González-Soria. The paper due to be held by the CEO of Google Travel Spain, entitled “What’s New With Google“, promises fascinating insights and a look ahead regarding the latest developments of the enterprise heading the World Wide Web.