Germany: ITB Berlin 2016 Registers New Record in Professional Visitor Numbers
After five days, this year’s tourism trade show ITB Berlin, which took place in the German capital, ended yesterday. The trade fair’s organizer Messe Berlin is satisfied with the results: Attended by some 120,000 professional visitors, the world’s leading trade show for the international travel industry, of which the official partner country were the Maldives this year, attracted the largest number of professional visitors since it was launched in 1966. The visitors encountered around 10,000 exhibiting companies from 187 countries and regions that presented their products and services in 26 exhibition halls.
The percentage of qualified buyers also increased: Two thirds of the professional visitors stated that they have direct authority for purchasing decisions. The value of the business transactions closed during the trade show rose from 6.7 billion euros in 2015 to around seven billion euros. A new attendance record was also registered at the world’s largest conference for the global travel industry, which was held for the 13th time already. More than 26,000 visitors took part in the "ITB Convention"’s 200 events. This year’s main topics were "Travel 4.0" and the complete digitalization of all the various business processes of travel companies. In addition to the professional visitors, some 60,000 private visitors took advantage of the wide range of information provided by tour operators, including those representing niche markets, according to Messe Berlin’s preliminary estimates. Thus, a total of 180,000 guests were welcomed during the show.
The next ITB Berlin will take place from 8 to 12 March 2017. The Official Partner Country will be Botswana. (eap)
