With the opening of the virtual ITB Berlin Convention, which will take place online from Tuesday, 8 March to Thursday, 10 March, the World’s Leading Travel Trade Show is launching a new event concept. Over the next three days, high-ranking experts will examine the most pressing topics of the global tourism industry from every perspective. The focus is on the pandemic and its impact as well as the challenges of geopolitical conflicts and crises. The trade show opens in challenging times: the world has already experienced two years of the coronavirus pandemic – now the terrible war in Ukraine is overshadowing global events.
The opening press conference moderated by Katie Gallus will kick-off events on 8 March at 9 a.m. Joining her will be Martin Ecknig, CEO of Messe Berlin, H.E. Prof. Dr. Levan Izoria, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Georgia to Germany, who represents this year’s Convention & Culture Partner Georgia, Peter Kautz, MD of Statista Q, and Norbert Fiebig in his role as president of the German Travel Association (DRV). Over the three days of the convention, the focus on Tuesday is on the pressing topics of resilience and the future, on Wednesday the topic is digitalisation, and on Thursday sustainability. In a total of 102 panels, lectures, presentations, exhibitors’ press conferences, and discussions, 223 leading experts and companies will assess the global challenges facing the travel industry. On 8 March at 11 a.m., Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Dr. Robert Habeck will hold this year’s ITB Minister’s Keynote speech.
“About two years after the pandemic began it seems it may finally be coming to an end“, said Martin Ecknig, CEO of Messe Berlin. “However, the world is making an almost seamless transition to another global conflict, whose consequences we can only vaguely imagine at the moment. What is clear, however, is that we live in a world of constant change. As a firmly established member of the tourism industry and against the backdrop of all the challenges and uncertainty, with ITB Berlin we are least able to offer the industry some orientation and a corresponding space for dialogue.”
In 2022 Georgia is the Convention & Culture Partner at ITB Berlin, and next year it will introduce itself to a wider audience as the Official Host Country of the Leading Travel Trade Show.
ITB Berlin 2022 will by no means be over after the three-day convention, which will be followed by Digital Business Day on 17 March. As a networking platform, this offers one-on-one networking opportunities, audio-video meetings, information on global travel trends and forecasts, as well as on-demand corporate news and automated speed-dating.
At the Digital Business Day on 17 March, taking the findings of the latest World Travel Monitor® survey of more than 60 countries around the world, Rolf Freitag, CEO of IPK International, will report on the year in travel in 2021. How did international travel fare globally in year two of the pandemic? Which travel and holiday markets are already witnessing a recovery? In addition, Rolf Freitag will also talk about people’s current desire to travel. What are the chances of the tide turning in 2022? Which destinations will be particularly in demand over the coming months? And what types of holiday will be most popular this year? The World Travel Monitor® is the world’s most comprehensive survey on outbound travel trends in Europe, Asia, North, South, and Central America. With its surveys, it covers more than 90 percent of the global demand for international travel.
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