A total of 10,923 companies from 184 countries and territories will be presenting their tourism attractions on a display area measuring some 160,000 square metres at ITB this year.The world’s leading trade show for the travel industry again takes place on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds from 7 to 11 March.

Visitors to the 41st ITB Berlin can obtain a complete review of everything currently on offer from the travel industry.

The exhibitors range from service providers such as hotels and airlines to tour operators, and individual countries and regions. The ITB Berlin continues to grow and the number of exhibitors has risen by one more percentage point since last year.

“The ITB Berlin not only claims to reflect the current state of this sector but, with the world’s largest convention for the industry, it also shows the rapid pace of change in this field. It helps to identify new strategies for constantly changing consumer demand,” in the words of Dr. Christian Goke, COO of Messe Berlin. “The ITB Berlin sees its role as providing a fresh impetus and pointing the way for the global travel industry. This has proved to be a successful concept, which is why the ITB Berlin is expanding into Asia and will be staging a specialist exhibition and convention for the first time in Singapore in the autumn of 2008.”

Increase in worldwide tourism demand is expected.

Coinciding with the start of the ITB Berlin 2007 the fair’s organisers, in association with the consumer research organisation Gesellschaft fur Konsumforschung (GfK), have produced a new edition of the ITB Tourism Indicator. This representative poll by the GfK provides a forecast of the rising demand for travel in 2007. “We do not expect the increase in the rate of value added tax to have a negative impact on the travel and spending plans of Germans. On the contrary, the public will probably spend around three per cent more on their holidays,” according to Goke. “The omens are good for the ITB Berlin 2007, which will help to give a substantial boost to demand. We therefore have every reason to expect positive business results during this trade show. In five days the scene will be set in the Berlin exhibition halls for a successful summer’s business.”
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