Photo: ITB Berlin.

Focus on B2B customers and new dates: Tuesday, 7 to Thursday, 9 March 2023 –Big platform for the host country Georgia– Partner event Berlin Travel Festival will augment the leisure fair BOAT & FUN BERLIN in November 2022

Messe Berlin is planning a number of important changes next year to mark the first in-person edition of ITB Berlin since the pandemic began. Instead of running from a Wednesday to a Sunday, ITB Berlin 2023 will take place on three successive days, from Tuesday 7 to Thursday, 9 March. The demands placed on global trade fairs have changed considerably in recent years, which is why in future and in terms of customers, the World’s Leading Travel Trade Show is concentrating its efforts to focus on exhibiting companies as well as exclusively on trade visitors, buyers and the media. As in previous years, the internationally renowned ITB Berlin Convention will take place live parallel with the exhibition on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds, with selected sessions live-streamed on itb.com. Virtual services surrounding the live show will round off events.

“By positioning ITB Berlin exclusively as a B2B product we want to make the format future-proof and further significantly enhance the brand as a global catalyst of the tourism industry, said David Ruetz, head of ITB Berlin. “At the same time we are making sure to give our image a necessary boost and improve our existing ties and ability to attract new customers. In the past we have repeatedly observed that the majority of our exhibitors place a clear emphasis on addressing B2B audiences. In future, this move will make it possible to further concentrate their efforts.”

According to Ruetz, the new concept enables ITB Berlin to explore avenues for further developing the trade show and also targeting audiences with additional networking opportunities. Concerning exhibitors, the trade show is announcing the return of a popular event, with ITB Berlin 2023 once again planning to honour outstanding exhibitor representations with the ITB Exhibitor Award.

BOAT & FUN BERLIN is the new meeting place for consumer products

Messe Berlin also has new things in store for the general public and companies interested in B2C business. The Berlin Travel Festival, until now the consumer partner event of ITB, will in future represent the B2C element of the boating and leisure exhibition BOAT & FUN BERLIN, which will take place from 24 to 27 November 2022 on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds. The Berlin Travel Festival was previously held at Arena Berlin, parallel with ITB Berlin’s open weekend for the public. With its new concept, Messe Berlin has established dates for the general public, who will be able to focus on a single time period and find the whole range of leisure services, as well as boats, caravanning, camping and fishing products practically under one roof. For additional information: boot-berlin.de and berlintravelfestival.com.

Big platform for the host country Georgia

Georgia, the official host country, will play an important part at ITB Berlin 2023. Last year, it fascinated visitors as ITB Berlin’s Adventure & Sustainability Partner, and presented its cultural attractions in the role of Convention & Culture Partner in 2022. In May, Georgia was the first destination to host the new TRVLX by ITB event series. On Monday, 6 March, on the eve of ITB Berlin 2023, Georgia will kick off the trade show with a festive opening gala at the CityCube Berlin, which will be live-streamed. The country will also be strongly represented on the exhibition grounds, including at hub27 and in Hall 4.1.

Exhibitors can register soon for ITB Berlin

As of mid-June exhibitors will be able to register for ITB Berlin 2023. By registering no later than 31 August 2022 they can take advantage of an Early Bird stand rental offer, starting at EUR 205/m² (instead of EUR 209 209/m²). The offer applies as of stand registrations being officially announced (estimated to be mid-June). The deadline for registrations is 30 September 2022. Information on all other conditions of participation can be obtained when stand registrations have been announced. More details are available at: itb.com.

About ITB Berlin and the ITB Berlin Convention

Since 1966, ITB Berlin has been the World’s Leading Travel Trade Show. The ITB Berlin convention is the world’s largest travel industry event of its kind. In 2022 it took place as a virtual event on the brand’s website itb.com and registered 60,700 attendees from 125 countries who took part in more than 100 sessions featuring 223 speakers. Taking place on one day, the Digital Business Day gave 2,500 attendees from 96 countries an opportunity to exchange views and do business virtually from anywhere in the world. International attendance was high, with 78 per cent of buyers and providers taking part from abroad. A total of 20,000 business contacts were made, resulting in 14,000 leads and 3,200 business meetings being arranged. As a virtual industry platform, the Digital Business Day augmented the ITB brand family and rounded off the trade show concept. In 2022, under the heading ’TRVLX by ITB’, ITB Berlin is planning a series of B2B networking events in European markets – the kick-off event will take place in May in Georgia. Before the pandemic at ITB Berlin 2019, around 10,000 exhibitors from 181 countries displayed their products and services to some 160,000 visitors, including 113,500 trade visitors. Additional information is available at www.itb.com and from the ITB Newsroom & Social Media.

Photo: ITB Berlin.