Travellers Eager To Experience Adventure
Adventure and nature experience at Trends & Events in Hall 4.1 – 4th pow-wow for trade visitors, under the slogan “Rendezvous with the desert”, moderated by TV star and globetrotter Mary Amiri
Berlin -- The market for expeditions and adventure travel is booming. “Travellers are after something different”, is how David Ruetz, Senior Manager ITB Berlin, comments this trend. “Everyone wants to experience something nowadays – adventure travel paints a different picture of the world, away from beaten paths, and lets tourists experience holidays that are special.” At Trends & Events in Hall 4.1 the global industry’s leading trade show will be offering a genuine foretaste of the various ways to experience adventure and nature. Tour operators, tourist boards and organisations from almost every continent will be offering information on expeditions, diving holidays, nature trips, as well as on sustainable tourism and eco-travel.
During the three days reserved for trade visitors a pow-wow will be taking place in the “Experience Adventure, ECOtourism & Expeditions” section for the fourth time. This year’s slogan for the various sessions with leading international speakers is “Desert, destruction and sustainable tourism”. Mary Amiri, the well-known journalist on the VOX holiday programme “Wolkenlos“, will kick off the series. As an enthusiastic globetrotter she will be presenting various regions from around the world. Warm-up sessions with flash interviews, chat shows, presentations and discussions, as well as a festival entitled “Rendezvous with the desert” welcoming visitors with musicians and dancers from Panama, Kenya and other countries will make sure the events are informative, exciting and entertaining. Two photo exhibitions will visually round off the events. Impressive images of “the deserts of this world” and “Kenya’s northern deserts” will reveal nature’s secrets and mesmerise the visitor.
The focal point of the Trends & Events hall will be a large stage hosting lively events, which will act as a platform for workshops and events during the days reserved for trade visitors. On the open days for the general public the stage will be transformed into an entertaining venue with international groups performing music and shows. Kazakhstan Performance, Korean dancers, and Ritmos y Raices Panameñas, a folk ballet from Panama, will be showing off their artistic skills. Miss British Virgin Island will be enchanting visitors with her beautiful smile. For many years the fashion show “WeltGewänder“ organised by Welthungerhilfe (World Famine Relief) has been among the attractions popular with the general public. The colourful and innovative “global couture” collections are designed by students from leading international fashion schools. On Sunday afternoon the motto will be “live on stage”, when Deutschlandfunk’s programme “Sonntagsspaziergang” goes live on air.
The Adventure Camp will be inviting visitors to take part in curling and an XL table football game, where the focus will be on fun and skills. Attaining new heights is what the high ropes course is about, where adventurers and globetrotters can demonstrate their courage at dizzying levels high above the ground. Total enjoyment with all the senses will be the motto of the public cooking and cocktail mixing displays organised by the SOS-Kinderdorf kitchen for healthy foods.
ITB Berlin 2009 will be taking place from Wednesday, 11 to Sunday, 15 March. The period from the Wednesday to the Friday is reserved for trade visitors. Additional information is available at www.itb-berlin.com. ITB Berlin is the global travel industry’s leading trade show. Last year 11,147 exhibitors from 186 countries presented innovative products and services, and a total of 177,900ö visitors attended the 2008 event.
ITB Berlin and ITB Berlin Convention
ITB Berlin 2009 will be taking place from Wednesday, 11 to Sunday, 15 March, and will be open to trade visitors from the Wednesday to the Friday. Parallel with the trade fair, the ITB Berlin Convention will be taking place from Wednesday, 11 to Saturday, 14 March 2009. For full programme details click on .
Fachhochschule Worms and the US-based market research company PhoCusWright Inc are partners of the ITB Berlin Convention. Turkey is co-hosting this year’s ITB Berlin Convention. Other sponsors of the ITB Berlin Convention include Top Alliance, responsible for VIP service, hospitalityInside.com, as media partner of the ITB Hospitality Day and Flug Revue as media partner of the ITB Aviation Day. The Planeterra Foundation is premium sponsor of the ITB Corporate Social Responsibility Day and Gebeco ist premium sponsor of the ITB Tourism and Culture Day. TÜV Rheinand Group is basic sponsor of the session “Practical Aspects of CSR”. The following are partners collaborating with the ITB Business Travel Days: Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG, Verband Deutsches Reisemanagement e.V. (VDR), Vereinigung Deutscher Veranstaltungsorganisatoren e.V., HSMA Deutschland e.V., Deutsche Bahn AG, geschaeftsreise1.de, hotel.de, Kerstin Schaefer e.K. – Mobility Services and Intergerma. Air Berlin is the premium sponsor of the ITB Business Travel Days 2009.
Michael T. Hofer
Group Press and Public Relations Director
Messe Berlin GmbH
