ITB Berlin News - Review
FRIDAY 24 TH MARCH 2017 REVIEW EDITION NEWS ITB BERLIN CONVENTION EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS Alain St. Ange Former Seychelles Tourism Minister “Much will be done to face the challenges of each region as the UNWTO grows to respect the aspirations of each Member State” Read page 9 Dr Gerd Müller Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation, Germany “Local inhabitants must not be mere onlookers at luxury resorts.” Read page 22 YB Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri bin Abdul Aziz Minister of Tourism and Culture, Malaysia “On average, we have seen a 40% increase in the number of tourists flying to Malaysia via Singapore from Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands.” Read page 24 Rudi Jagersbacher President, Middle East & Africa, Hilton Worldwide “Since 2011, we have worked further on innovation, looking for example at Mecca as a destination.” Read page 27 ITB Berlin 2017: Hike in International Visitors This year’s edition of the World’s Leading Travel Trade Show puts an optimistic spin on sales As the world’s marketplace and the trendsetter of the global travel industry, ITB Berlin this year once again impressively underlined its standing as the World’s Leading Travel Trade Show. Overall trade visitor numbers were down on last year due to strike action at Berlin’s airports, however international trade visitor numbers increased significantly and at 28,000 delegates (an increase of 7.7%) participation in the 14 th ITB Berlin Convention reached a new record. Now that the five-day show of industry products has come to an end the conclusion one can draw is this: face-to-face meetings between business partners from around the world have become increasingly important, especially at a time of uncertainty and geopolitical challenges. Meeting these challenges, the ITB Berlin Convention, and a number of other events at the show aided attendees in better comprehending the trends. A leading light again at this year’s ITB Berlin was Taleb Rifai, outgoing secretary-general of the UNWTO, who made a moving speech at the opening ceremony, insisting that tourism is a force for good, and that the world should be building bridges, not walls. Read our exclusive interview, page 23. Taleb Rifai Secretary-General, UNWTO AROUND THE WORLD @ ITB BERLIN © Messe Berlin GmbH In this review edition, we look back at some of the key highlights from around the world, with a flashback to a number of the press events held at this year’s ITB Berlin. Our journalists toured the countless stands at the show and “harvested” feedback from exhibitors on their sentiment this year. Check out our “world tour @ ITB Berlin” from page 28.
