A short résumé and report on the ITB Berlin

The ITB in Berlin the world’s leading travel and trade show. It opened its doors for about a week for trade visitors and during the last weekend the public had been allowed as well. I went there and tell you about my experience.

Luckily, very spontaneously I found some time to the the ITB in Berlin on the weekend. Unfortunately, not a trade visitor but instead I used the student discount ;). The trade show is huge and thus it is inevitable to spend some time on planning beforehand. Especially, if you’re staying just for a day.

All in all I would say that the ITB is a very cool convention. There was a variety of shows and performances and a lot of just new input. Many exhibition stands were designed beautifully and had plenty to offer.

Exhibition stands Japan and Vietnam.

The exhibition stands were grouped by country. I really liked those that focused on information regarding the different countries and places. It seemed that most of countries had exhibition stands with hotels and tour organizations. As I’m focusing on Backpacking those weren’t that interesting for me. I Think it’s pretty unlikely for me to stay in one of those hotels. But presenting at the ITB probably costs a lot of money.

Exhibition stand of Marokko

I found it very interesting that there have been an entire segment about the Iran which offered plenty of new information..

Iran segment.

Also Romania have had a strong representation and the people there informed me very well about porcelain and the tinder fungus. The later can be used as tinder but also to make bracelets and other small objects. It also feels very soft.

Art from Romania. A coaster made of tinder fungus in the front.

The exhibition stand of Azerbaijan had been closed due to protest. A paper informed that a conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan regarding the “Karabach”. An information paper stated that Armenia occupied this region a while ago and is not leaving. A stand on the ITB would “operate with internationally false allegations”.

All in all the convention was very inspiring and I collected plenty ideas where to travel next like Kosovo, Lithuania, Iceland or Romania. I also intend to do a feature about German castles and palaces.

Stand from Latvia focusing on forest and nature.

Where are you traveling next?

Don’t Panic!