Capital region as a magnet for visitors / Award for the visitBerlin Berlin Convention Office
Berlin, 13 March 2012, Success for Berlin: Around 175,000 travel experts and visitors from all over the world came to the International Tourism Exchange Berlin (ITB) during the five trade fair dates as guests to the German capital. Of the more than 113,000 professional visitors – and hence 2,200 more than last year – around 40% came from abroad. Some 7,000 journalists from 94 countries covered ITB Berlin.
Hall 12 of the Trade Fairgrounds was in particular demand amongst visitors: here visitBerlin and TMB Tourismus-Marketing Brandenburg GmbH presented together, for the second time, the tourism offerings of the capital region Berlin-Brandenburg. “The interest from all over the world in the capital region is overwhelming – the popularity of our metropolis continues to increase,” visitBerlin CEO Burkhard Kieker sums up. On the 1,600 square metre large exhibition stand 74 co-exhibitors from Berlin and Brandenburg were represented.
Awards: double gold for Berlin
Berlin was not only an excellent host at ITB – the metropolis on the River Spree was also elected best city in Europe: on Friday the popular destination was presented with the Zoover City Award in Gold. 85,000 visitors on the hotel rating portal Zoover had voted in favour of the city. The decisive elements were in particular the diverse cultural offering, the special ambience of the city and the excellent quality of its hotels.
Second award: The Berlin Convention Office of visitBerlin was presented with the “Golden City Gate” award which recognises creative concepts in the tourism industry. In the category “Best Roadshow in Germany” Berlin convinced with the Germany road show “Berlin – a neighbourhood residential community”. With a moving box installation Berlin presented itself in 2011 as a six room apartment with the 12 districts in a creative and typical manner.
Large demand from future-proof markets
ITB was used by visitBerlin and the Berlin providers intensely for professional talks with the international travel industry. The opening of the new airport Berlin Brandenburg Willy Brandt (BER) was a focal theme. This will result in an increase in long haul flights, and the German capital will become even more attractive for international event planners.
Future-proof markets such as Russia, China and Brazil showed an increasing interest in the German capital as a travel destination.
