The international travel trade gathered in force at this year’s ITB Berlin, to pool its collective resources in the fight against climate change and other issues affecting the industry.
Representatives from international Ministries of Tourism, NGOs, associations and other tourism bodies all took part in the biggest instalment of the show yet.
Participants were involved in a range of conferences and seminars that ran alongside the exhibition, which tackled some of the key issues affecting the tourism industry worldwide.
“Over the past five days the industry has been able to form a picture of the changes that will take place in global demand as a result of climate change,” said Dr. Christian Göke, COO of Messe Berlin, home of ITB.
Climate protection was one of the key issues on the agenda, and UNWTO secretary general Francisco Frangialli (pictured) emphasised the importance of the development of strategies to prevent the damage that can be caused by tourism.
“ITB 2007 was a landmark event at which the industry began to support our call for a proactive global strategy to respond constructively to the new demands of climate change without compromising on the basic challenge of using tourism as a tool to fight poverty,” he said in his closing remarks at the end of the show.
“We are confident that by 2015 – the target date of the Millennium Development Goals – we will be able to show real progress on both fronts.”
Organisers of the event reported a massive 25% increase in the number of participants in ITB Convention, the seminar and convention programme that ran alongside the exhibition, with a total of 9000 participants.
ITB’s Business Travel Days included ITB Hospitality Day, ITB Aviation Day, and a travel technology convention; PhoCusWright@ITB; a series of forums and seminars, which acted as an industry think-tank to promote discussion amongst the trade.
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