Exhibitors pleased with ITB Berlin 2015

ITB Berlin 2015 took place from March 4 to March 9 in Berlin, Germany. It is the world’s largest specialist convention for the travel and tourism industry, and the exhibitors who participated this year were quite satisfied with the event. Here’s what a few of them had to say:

Uwe Müller, Head of Sales, Deutschland & Verbundmärkte Deutsche Lufthansa AG: “For Lufthansa, this year’s ITB was an all-round success. We had more talks and meetings with our business partners on our stand than in any other year. For us as a global airline, the fact that there are so many visitors from around the world means that ITB is an outstanding platform for presenting our key topics and products directly to our customers. That is something we only succeed in doing on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds.”

Thierry Antinori, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Emirates: “Over the last two decades ITB Berlin has been a must for Emirates. ITB 2015 was an all-round success as well and we are very satisfied with the results. The show is the ideal platform for showcasing our products and services and for exchanging views with our customers and important industry interest groups. ITB Berlin is the largest trade show Emirates participates in away from Dubai. That underlines our commitment to the European and German markets.”

Dr. Tahsin Yilmaz, Embassy Counsellor responsible for Culture, Embassy of the Republic of Turkey: “Turkey hosted the largest display at ITB and our participation was an all-round success. We had excellent meetings with the travel industry and the press. Our 120 exhibitors also said the show was the world’s most important meeting place for the industry. For Germans Turkey is a very important travel destination, and the keen interest shown by visitors underlined this once again.”

Navin Dissanayake, Sri Lankan Minister of Tourism and Sport: “This is the 47th time that Sri Lanka has been at ITB Berlin, and each year our experiences here are very good. Annual visitor numbers from Germany are currently more than 100,000, with growth at around 20 per cent, so that the German tourism market is very important for us. We are here to see that the market expands even further and are very optimistic that we will succeed.”

Evelyn Dathe, Representing Agent, NYC & Company: “For us at New York City & Company the fair was an all-round success and we were delighted with the many visitors in the hall showcasing North America. The reactions to New York City’s new stand were very positive and there were always lots of visitors. It was not just our topics that people were interested in, but also special events such as the presentation of Thomas Cook’s VR goggles which let visitors take a virtual tour of New York. That drew a lot of attention. We were happy to draw inspiration from many sources and took numerous opportunities to make our presence known in other places, away from our stand, including at the press conference, the Visit USA breakfast and at various other events. We had a very busy ITB and are extremely confident that we can benefit in the long term from the good results.”

U Htay Aung, Minister for Hotels and Tourism of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar: “ITB Berlin is one of the most important international travel trade shows and for many years tourism companies from Myanmar have been exhibiting at ITB. 2015 was a very good year for us. Why? Tourism in Myanmar has been booming since 2011 and 2014 was the first year that we had over three million visitors. This year we expect growth to continue, as tourism companies in Myanmar now maintain very close ties with your international customers and partners. Let us hope for a positive future.”

Otto Aufleger, Marketing Head, Regensburg Tourismus GmbH: “We were very much in demand with tour operators on the days open to trade visitors. We were practically overrun. That is a completely new quality to ITB.”

Axel Biermann, Managing Director, Ruhr Tourismus GmbH: “For us, ITB was an all-round success. We were able to convince tour operators of how attractive the Ruhr is, which is something that not many people know. Numerous new operators have now included us in their programs. Our new meeting lounge with its industrial loft design was very well received by our business partners.”

Gordana Plamenac, CEO National Tourism Organization of Serbia (NTOS): “Once again, ITB Berlin 2015 gave Serbia the opportunity to make progress, to spread the word about new products, to build on the success of new communication channels and to promote our products. We are also convinced of the future success of initiatives such as the Danube and ’Holidays for everyone’ projects, as they have met with growing interest and are key topics at ITB.”

Andreas M. Gross, Chairman of the South America Working Group: “An outstanding show, for us as exhibitors, but also as organizers of the South America Forum at the ITB Convention. Many of our members said the response was good, as were the contacts and business.”

Klaus Ennen, Marketing Head of Amadeus Deutschland: “The feedback from all of our four companies was good. Our stand was always packed. The number of appointments and spontaneous visits were about the same. The decision to return to ITB Berlin, which was what both our customers and sales representatives wanted, was definitely a good idea. It was also good to ‘feel at home at the fair.”

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