ITB Berlin 2012– A field report
A delegation of MU staff, faculty, and students recently attended the ITB Berlin, the world's leading travel trade show. Students Domonkos Kekesi, Susanne Klepsch, Natascha Pröschel, and Petra Tominz shared their experience:
''ITB Berlin is a not-to-be-missed event for the world’s tourism sector and an absolute must for all who plan on working in this industry in future. This is the place where you can get a feeling of the scope of the tourism industry. Aside from the colorful and lively stands of the countries and tourism destinations from all over the world, there is the ITB Berlin Convention, the world’s largest tourism convention following the slogan: ''Top knowledge for free”. The ITB is big business: “ITB Berlin is the leading B2B-Platform of all tourism industry offers. According to exhibitors, sales with a value of just over €6 billion were finalized at and around the ITB Berlin,” said Dr. Christian Göke, COO of Messe Berlin.
More numbers about Europe’s biggest Travel Trade Show? The overall area of the venue is 160.000 m², which equals to 23 soccer fields. There were 10.644 exhibitors waiting for 172.132 visitors this year.
The ITB Berlin convention came to existence in 2004, and since then more than 14.000 participants listened to 250 leaders of the industry, politicians, panel guests and opinion leaders. The convention is divided into parallel sessions on three consecutive days. The highlights of the program this year were the ITB Future Day, with major trends and latest forecast figures, and the ITB Hospitality Day focusing on market developments, changes in supply and demand as well as human resource issues. The ITB Marketing and Distribution Day provided insights on managing brands and luxury markets, and of course touched on the hot topic of social media. The CSR Day discussed best practices and economic prospects for sustainable tourism. The ITB Mobility Day and the ITB Destination Days presented the challenges and key issues facing global travel behavior and international destination management. The ITB Berlin hosted a special stage for PhoCusWright, a travel industry research authority, holding its Travel Technology Conference during the ITB convention.
If you missed it, you still have the chance to download all the published presentation slides, and watch the recorded speeches on the ITB Convention Website
Österreich Werbung offered a private tour of the Austrian tourism booth, which was highly informative in many ways. The booth had a size of 1230 m² where all regions of Austria and various partners were represented. A special highlight of the Austrian booth this year was the “Dirndlgschäft” with traditional dresses designed in a modern way by the young and famous designer Lena Hoschek.
The icing on the cake was the reception of the Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) at the Kempinski Hotel Adlon, to which the CEO and former MODUL University Vienna Tourism and Hospitality Industry Advisory Board Member Christopher Hartley invited the MU delegation. Outstanding networking opportunities, culinary highlights, and the glamorous atmosphere of Kempinski’s flagship hotel made this event unforgettable. We give many thanks to Mr. Hartley for providing us with the opportunity to experience such a unique event.
All in all, attending the ITB enriched our studies and our careers. Furthermore, we enjoyed the company of the participating MU students and MU faculty who both contributed to the enjoyable atmosphere of the whole trip. The next ITB takes place from the 6th-10th of March, 2013, and we hope that even more students will be able to find the time to attend the ITB. The fair should definitely be considered as a must for all who are interested in tourism.''
