So these were some hectic days. The ITB conferences or congress events were quite informative. Some of them were also quite unnecessary. However, the outcome makes me ponder whether it is the right time to step a foot into the tourism direction. Every little industry seems affected by the recession (except for the weapon industry and this is an outcome of the IWA – unfortunately no further details from me).
Berlin is a tremendously multifaceted city, now – during the days of the ITB – more than ever. Today for me was just checking out the scene a bit, finding the right destinations and visting a few conferences … oh, and lurking into hall # 6 where all of my “colleagues” sit and eagerly type their latest findings into their MacBooks, quickly sending them off to their newspaper, radio or TV station: “Press and Media” can be read on their little badges. Surprisingly it’s not them asking questions during the conferences, for instance when a certain Mr. Bittner from Switzerland lectures on “New innovative approaches in marketing and sales” which translates into “measuring people by their color preference.” On his company’s website he provides an utterly innovative test which – supposedly – enables tourism multipliers to offer their customers the right holiday at the right time. Please feel free to take the test. His company sends me off balooning and driving around in a vintage car. I am not quite sure if they got me right.
However, there are really interesting and rather pleasant conferences, such as the one on the future travel market with the recession, where I would like to quote Dr. Poon saying “We see recession like a common cold – eventually we’ll get over it. […], the weak will suffer the most. […] ” According to the Tourism Industry Intelligence, which she’s the managing director of, customers are not trading out but down, which means a closer focus on domestic travel. However, Europeans are expected to still travel Europe, though they are not expected to hit the common three number one destinations so often, which are Switzerland, Austria and Germany. A shift towards eastern Europe is expected. Domestic national German travel, however, will not counterbalance the decrease in incoming.
Oh and then I have to share the best destination slogan I came across today. “Columbia, the only risk: I want to stay.” Brilliant!
Einmal jährlich reist die gesamte internationale Reisebranche nach Berlin. Dafür gibt es mehrere Gründe. Sie fangen bei A wie Abgucken an und hören bei Z wie Zukunftsvisionen auf. Wie stellen sich die internationalen Reisemärkte dar? Wer bietet Nachhaltiges? Wer bietet mehr? Wie werden die Destinationen der “emerging markets” vermarktet? Beziehungsweise gibt es dort überhaupt etwas zu vermarkten – Palmölplantagen und rauchende Kautschukschornsteine sind nun mal keine amazing natural assets. Wer ist der Gast von morgen und was sind seine Wünsche? Und möchte ich diese erfüllen?
Von Mittwochmittag bis Donnerstagabend tummele ich mich – verkleidet mit einem Presseschild – auf der ITB in Berlin. Ich suche dann das Auge des Sauron, welches wahrscheinlich auf den vermeintlichen Märkten der Zukunft ruhen wird: lauernd und hungrig. Aber zuerst erkundige ich mich mal was die Schweiz gerade für schöne Projekte am Start hat, dann überlege ich ob ich dort arbeiten möchte. Etwas später schließe ich mich den ewigen Weltverbesserern an und schaue welche sinnvollen Konzepte es zu CO2-neutralem Reisen gibt. Vielleicht sage ich auch noch den Facebook Gruppen “Hallo!” Vielleicht auch nicht. Und erst ganz zum Schluss falle ich über das Buffet her.
Sollte ich zwischendurch Zeit haben, blogge ich ein bisschen über die Öffentlichen in Berlin, die ITB, Katharina Thalbach und andere Dinge.
Annas Weblog 