Travelers eager to experience adventure

The market for expeditions and adventure travel is booming. “Travelers are after something different,” is how David Ruetz, senior manager ITB Berlin, commented on this trend.

The market for expeditions and adventure travel is booming. “Travelers are after something different,” is how David Ruetz, senior manager ITB Berlin, commented on this trend. “Everyone wants to experience something nowadays – adventure travel paints a different picture of the world, away from beaten paths, and lets tourists experience holidays that are special.”

At Trends & Events in Hall 4.1, the global industry’s leading trade show will be offering a genuine foretaste of the various ways to experience adventure and nature. Tour operators, tourist boards, and organizations from almost every continent will be offering information on expeditions, diving holidays, and nature trips, as well as on sustainable tourism and eco-travel.

During the three days reserved for trade visitors, a pow-wow will be taking place in the “Experience Adventure, ECOtourism & Expeditions” section for the fourth time. This year’s slogan for the various sessions with leading international speakers is “Desert, destruction, and sustainable tourism.” Mary Amiri, the well-known journalist on the VOX holiday program, “Wolkenlos,” will kick off the series. As an enthusiastic globetrotter she will be presenting various regions from around the world.

Warm-up sessions with flash interviews, chat shows, presentations and discussions, as well as a festival entitled “Rendezvous with the desert” welcoming visitors with musicians and dancers from Panama, Kenya, and other countries will make sure the events are informative, exciting, and entertaining. Two photo exhibitions will visually round off the events. Impressive images of “the deserts of this world” and “Kenya’s northern deserts” will reveal nature’s secrets and mesmerize the visitor.

The focal point of the Trends & Events hall will be a large stage hosting lively events, which will act as a platform for workshops and events during the days reserved for trade visitors. On the open days for the general public, the stage will be transformed into an entertaining venue with international groups performing music and shows. Kazakhstan Performance; Korean dancers; and Ritmos y Raices Panameñas, a folk ballet from Panama, will be showing off their artistic skills. Miss British Virgin Island will be enchanting visitors with her beautiful smile. For many years the fashion show “WeltGewänder“ organized by Welthungerhilfe (World Famine Relief) has been among the attractions popular with the general public. The colorful and innovative “global couture” collections are designed by students from leading international fashion schools. On Sunday afternoon, the motto will be “live on stage,” when Deutschlandfunk’s program, “Sonntagsspaziergang,” goes live on air.

The Adventure Camp will be inviting visitors to take part in curling and an XL table football game, where the focus will be on fun and skills. Attaining new heights is what the high ropes course is about, where adventurers and globetrotters can demonstrate their courage at dizzying levels high above the ground. Total enjoyment with all the senses will be the motto of the public cooking and cocktail mixing displays organized by the SOS-Kinderdorf kitchen for healthy foods.

ITB Berlin 2009 will be taking place from Wednesday, March 11 to Sunday, March 15. The period from Wednesday to Friday is reserved for trade visitors. Additional information is available at www.itb-berlin.com. ITB Berlin is the global travel industry’s leading trade show. Last year 11,147 exhibitors from 186 countries presented innovative products and services and a total of 177,900 visitors attended the 2008 event.

ITB Berlin and ITB Berlin Convention

ITB Berlin 2009 will be taking place from Wednesday, March 11 to Sunday, March 15 and will be open to trade visitors from Wednesday to Friday. Parallel with the trade fair, the ITB Berlin Convention will be taking place from Wednesday, March 11 to Saturday, March 14, 2009. For full program details, click on www.itb-convention.com.

Fachhochschule Worms and the US-based market research company PhoCusWright, Inc. are partners of the ITB Berlin Convention. Turkey is co-hosting this year’s ITB Berlin Convention. Other sponsors of the ITB Berlin Convention include Top Alliance, responsible for VIP service; hospitalityInside.com, as media partner of the ITB Hospitality Day; and Flug Revue as media partner of the ITB Aviation Day. The Planeterra Foundation is premium sponsor of the ITB Corporate Social Responsibility Day, and Gebeco ist premium sponsor of the ITB Tourism and Culture Day. TÜV Rheinand Group is basic sponsor of the session “Practical Aspects of CSR.” The following are partners collaborating with the ITB Business Travel Days: Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG, Verband Deutsches Reisemanagement e.V. (VDR), Vereinigung Deutscher Veranstaltungsorganisatoren e.V., HSMA Deutschland e.V., Deutsche Bahn AG, geschaeftsreise1.de, hotel.de, Kerstin Schaefer e.K. – Mobility Services and Intergerma. Air Berlin is the premium sponsor of the ITB Business Travel Days 2009.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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