The 49th edition of ITB Berlin, a leading global travel trade show opening tomorrow, is witnessing a high demand by exhibitors from the Arab countries, reflecting the growing popularity of these destinations for travellers.

Running from March 4 till March 8, the event will take place at Messe Berlin.

Around 10,096 exhibitors from 186 countries will be offering visitors a representative overview of travel products and services from around the world and of growth-intensive niche markets and expects more than 100,000 trade visitors to attend.

The focus this year is on Mongolia, the official partner country of the show. Around 30 exhibitors from Mongolia will have information about their products and services and will be exhibiting sustainable tourism products.

Dr Christian Göke, CEO of Messe Berlin, said: “ITB Berlin is a strong marketplace and provides the international travel industry with an ideal platform for negotiating and doing business. In turbulent times and against the backdrop of a weak euro and uncertainty in the wake of terrorism and worldwide conflicts, this is a particularly valuable and important aspect.”

“This year we have continued to expand the already well-established ITB Buyers Circle and will be holding the first Buyer Seller Speed Dating event in an aim to give exhibitors’ business an extra sales boost. Furthermore, the ITB Convention will be debating all the important industry topics. The industry’s largest convention is an indispensable knowledge platform that highlights best practices as well as exclusive survey results and the latest tourism topics,” Göke said.

The sharing economy will be a key topic at the ITB Berlin Convention, where seven events will be highlighting the challenges and the prospects for the tourism industry. The ITB Future Day will be debating the future of commercial aviation and of the online travel market. At the numerous ITB Hospitality Day sessions experts will be highlighting the security problems that hotel managers must look out for and looking at the lifestyle experience that budget and luxury hotels have to offer.

Some 850 buyers representing the business travel, MICE and leisure travel sectors have been accepted to join the ITB Berlin Buyers Circle. Close to 80 per cent are from European countries and around eight per cent are from the Middle East. Seven per cent of the buyers are from North America.

Moreover, for the first time the spotlight will be on tour operators, touring organisations and destinations that drive global change in the travel industry on the basis of sustainable tourism principles and practices. In cooperation with National Geographic ITB Berlin will be honouring the best projects by presenting the newly conceived World Legacy Awards. The awards will be presented in five categories: Earth Changers, Sense of Place, Conserving the Natural World, Engaging Communities and Destination Leadership.

The show will also see a growing number of international exhibitors for Travel Technology with around 30 newcomers and more than 170 companies showcasing their latest products. In the age of the digital revolution there is now an increasing demand for web-based tools, across industries and individual sectors alike and companies from China, UK (Intuitive Systems, Hotel Room Auction), Finland (Frosmo), India (Travel BPO, Moxiter), France (Flatswire) and Turkey (Yield Planet) have secured a place at the show to cater to that market. – TradeArabia News Service