Travel trends 2016
City trips and Maldives are the focus at the ITB Berlin 2016.
Zimbabwe or Rajasthan, Nepal or St. Lucia, or the Vatican for the first time: at the International Tourism Exchange ITB Berlin, the largest trade fair for the international travel industry, around 10,000 exhibitors from nearly 200 countries annually present their travel destinations. In 2016 the focus is on Maldives as a partner country of the ITB Berlin. In the contemporary ecotourism sector, the island nation in the Indian Ocean is now one of the most successful holiday providers in the world with more than a million visitors a year. German visitors contribute a large share to making tourism the most important industry of the country. Around 100,000 German tourists visit Maldives annually and constitute the second-largest total group of visitors. In addition to the opening ceremony, Maldives, which has been an exhibitor at the ITB Berlin since 1984, will give many views of its colorful culture at an expanded fair booth.
Berlin takes third place in Europe
But not only exotic long-distance travel tempts holiday-makers. The biggest growth segment in tourism, according to the ITB World Travel Trends Report 2015/16, is city trips. In 2014 Europeans alone went on holidays abroad in nearly 70 million city vacations and booked around 400 million overnight stays. “In recent years both German and foreign cities have gained immensely in attractiveness”, confirms Martin Buck, the Division Manager of the Berlin fair. “For most of the guests it’s about getting away for a few days from everyday life. The trend for short holidays shows this. For that purpose a city is an optimal destination.” Paris and London are Europeans‘ favorite cities, followed closely by Berlin in third place. Munich makes it into both the European and the international top ten. At the ITB 2016 the Bavarian capital presents itself as, among other things, a city to visit in the spring and a home of the art of brewing.
ITB, 9 to 13 March 2016 in Berlin
