International Fair ITB (Internationale Tourismus-Börse) – is one of the oldest tourist events in the world. Hotel business is widely presented on the fair. During the ITB 2008 hotels and hotel chains were represented on more than 200 stands.
ITB is held in Berlin since 1966. Only five countries, including FRG, took part at the first ITB. After nearly half of a century ITB has grown to the biggest world fair in the field of tourism and recreation. At the recent ITB, which was taking place in Berlin from the 4th till the 9th of March 2008, a record number of participants was registered – more than 11 thousands. The number of visitors exceeded 170 thousand people.
The exhibition is taking place in the pavilions of Berlin trade and exhibition center Funkturm. Funkturm, or Radio tower, is considered to be one of the main sights of Berlin. The area of exhibition pavilions of ITB – is about 160 thousand square meters. The representatives of tourist industry from 180 countries are taking part in the fair.
Global hotel chains are represented at the ITB with several stands. Typically, every major region has its own stand under the corporation logo.
ITB, traditionally, is a place where hotel companies introduce their new directions and innovative technologies. Among the latest innovations in the field of hotel industry can be mentioned a presentation of a new type of hotels the ITB – eco-hotels.
According to the established tradition, the big hotel corporations slightly share their strategic plans. In the bounds of forums and presentations you can find out where in the nearest future a construction of new hotels will be started and where a growth of tourist traffic should be expected. For the hotel sector at the ITB special activities within a whole expo day are provided, which is called ITD Hospitability Day. Various questions are being discussed at it: from peculiarities of the behavior of customers of different nationalities to the changes in the design of the hotel room of the future.
ITB is not limited to Berlin. Not long ago, German fair brand appeared in Asia. In November 2008 in Singapore the ITB Asia fair took place.
