DRBerlin: Changing transportation systems and a shift in customer demands will be the key topics at the four-day ITB Berlin Convention 2019 to begin on March 6 besides overtourism conflicts and the impending climate catastrophe.
Mobility: A New Era Has Arrived
On March 6, day one of ITB Destination Days, Wolfram Auer, Deputy Director International Business Development, Doppelmayr Seilbahnen GmbH, Stephan Pfeiffer, Head of Strategic Partnerships & Public Affairs, ioki (Deutsche Bahn), and Christoph Weigler, Director General of Uber Germany, will discuss the major changes taking place in transportation with a view on concepts such as driverless vehicles, ride-sharing business models, mobility platforms, electric powertrains, minibuses, bikes for hire, cable cars and other modes of transport.
In the panel discussion on the topic ‘Future Ground Mobility Panel’, they will also highlight measures for promoting tourist attractions which cities and rural areas could implement now in order to meet the challenges of the future. ‘Future Ground Mobility’ will be the focus of the ITB Ministers’ Roundtable as well. Tourism ministers from leading travel destinations, such as Egypt, Costa Rica, Greece, Kenya, Namibia or Zambia will talk about transport problems and ways to improve the travel experience.
Shift in customer demands
A paradigm shift is taking place in the tourism industry as customers in the luxury market are now less interested in material wealth and more in non-material values. Nowadays, space, seclusion and self-expression are important to them, as well as experience instead of adventure. On March 7, on Marketing & Distribution Day at the ITB New Luxury Panel, experts will discuss how changing demands are influencing hotel and tourism services and the shape that luxury products will take in the future.
Overtourism Report
Sharry Sun, Global Head of Brand, Travelzoo, will present the results of the market survey carried out by Travelzoo and ITB Berlin on the impact of overtourism on March 6. The report would look at which tourist groups and nationalities thought overcrowded destinations gave a particularly negative impression, what they would do to avoid the problem, and what action they expected travel operators and destinations to take. The global survey is an important decision-making tool for industry managers in order to confront one of the biggest challenges facing the international tourism industry, now and in the future.
On March 7, on the eve of International Women’s Day, an ITB Berlin Convention seminar on gender equality in tourism will take place at the Palais am Funkturm, which will also present the second Global Report on Women in Tourism by UNWTO.
ITB Berlin Convention at the CityCube
In future, the ITB Berlin Convention will take place at the CityCube, the multi-purpose congress and trade fair venue. That means more room for events, improved access and better transport links. Visitors to the CityCube will be directly next door to the fair halls and only a short distance from light rail public transport (S-Bahn) at Messe Süd.
On March 6, after the official opening of the Medical Pavilion by Rika Jean-Francois, CSR and Medical Tourism Officer of ITB Berlin, and Thomas Bömkes, Managing Director, Diversity Tourism, and Consultant for ITB Berlin, the Medical Travel Quality Alliance (MTQUA) will present the Top 10 World’s Best Hospitals for Medical Tourists. Laszlo Puchko, Director of Industry Intelligence, Resources for Leisure Assets, RLA Global, will present the results of the new ETC/UNWTO report on ‘Exploring Health Tourism – the Executive Summary’.
ITB Berlin 2019 will be taking place from March 6 to 10 at Messe Berlin. Parallel with the show the ITB Berlin Convention, the largest event of its kind, will be held from March 6 to 9. In 2018, a total of 10,000 companies and organisations from 186 countries exhibited their products and services to around 1,70,000 visitors, including 1,10,000 trade visitors. Admission to the ITB Berlin Convention is free for trade visitors and exhibitors. For more information please visit www.itb-berlin.com, www.itb-convention.com and the ITB Social Media Newsroom.
