An interim assessment of the world’s leading trade fair for the international travel industry reveals an extremely positive situation. David Ruetz, Senior Manager ITB Berlin: “During the first two days the number of trade visitors was at the same level as in 2009.” The figures for international trade visitors, who account for around 45 per cent of the total attendance at ITB Berlin, are also equivalent to those of last year. “One welcome development is the fact that the proportion of foreign trade visitors from Asia and Africa has more than doubled”, Ruetz reports. They now make up 27 per cent of the total, compared with around 13 per cent last year. “This is largely attributable to the impending FIFA World Cup in South Africa, and to the ITB Asia”, Ruetz concludes, following initial discussions. He also emphasises that “bosses are coming back again.” The proportion of trade visitors occupying senior management positions has risen from 53 to 67 per cent.

The ITB Berlin Convention has also recorded a slight increase. The individual events that are attracting the highest attendances, each with more than 500 participants, are “Social Media: Lessons from the Leaders” and the presentations by the “ITB World Travel Trends Report”. Ruetz: “These outstanding figures provide impressive confirmation that the ITB Berlin Convention is the leading think tank for the global travel industry.”

Brief new items about all areas of ITB Berlin are available to journalists in the regularly updated Dailies, which can be downloaded at www.itb-berlin.com/ Media Centre/ Publications. Here are some of the latest extracts:

Turkey: Germany remains the most important source market +++ Egypt: Mystic and magic as a new brand +++ Dominican Republic: Delight with slight increase +++ Croatia is becoming a lifestyle destination +++ Poland: Partner country of ITB Berlin 2011 celebrates major anniversary +++ ITB Berlin Convention, CSR Day: Performance promotes sustainability +++ DRV: Cruise operators are surfing on a wave of success +++ GfK: Slight increase in sales, but falling prices.

The Dailies are produced by an English and a German editorial team. In addition a new generation of journalists at the Thomas-Morus Academy Benzberg has been commissioned by ITB Berlin to produce a blog which can be found at www.itb-berlin.de/publikum. The Dailies provide details about current press conferences, the ITB Berlin Convention and also about highlights for the general public.