ITB travel and leisure exhibition concludes

The ITB, the largest travel and leisure exhibition in the world, concluded on Saturday with a record participation of spectators.

Sri Lanka fielded the highest ever deligation consisting of 164 members who were thrilled at the outcome.

During the three days reserved for trade visitors at the ITB Berlin, there was a slight increase in the number of buyer from the USA, Middle East and Africa.

Goa Tourism won the prestigious PATWA award in the Best Beach Destination category here on day 2 of the world's biggest travel and tourism exhibition - ITB Berlin.

The award was presented by Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA). India was among the winners in the tourism market. Last year, 6.65 million foreign visitors travelled to the Indian sub-continent, 5.4 per cent more than in 2011. They spent close to 18 billion dollars, an increase of 7.1 per cent. However, it was not sufficient for the Indian government.

The award for the Best Exhibitor Award (BEA), which was organized by students of the Cologne Business School (CBS) during the ITB in Berlin, was once again one of the top highlights. The future Tourism Managers of the CBS, evaluated the approximately 10,000 exhibitors at the CBS, according to numerous criteria, such as information content, interactivity, interesting effects and service quality.

Under the leadership of Indonesia's Minister of Tourism, Mari Elka Pangestu, the goal was to ensure the long-term growth of the tourism industry. Aided by the campaign theme "Wonderful Indonesia.

The Worlds Hearts of Wonders," the aim was to achieve this with clear infrastructure and destination management strategy. "There were people who thought Indonesia was part of Bali," the Tourism Minister said with a smile at ITB Berlin 2013.

In order to realize its ambitious tourism goals, Malaysia had been intensifying its promotional efforts and providing more services in order to attract business travellers.

The greater the percentage of big-spending tourists was, the higher the industry's overall earnings were. In 2020 Malaysia would be hoping for 36 million tourists and revenues equivalent to 40 billion euros.

It is certainly some increase: between 2011 and 2012 the number of foreign tourists visiting Myanmar had risen by some 20 per cent.

From 816,369 in 2011, the figure had now grown to over one million. "This increase shows that Myanmar had really changed," said Phyoe Wai Yar Zar, from the Myanmar Marketing Committee at ITB Berlin. Visitor numbers had originally not been expected to reach this level until 2015.

In some instances, the infrastructure in this Southeast Asian country, had not kept pace with this development.

Germany as a tourism destination, is becoming evermore popular. Speaking at the ITB Berlin 2013, Ernst Burgbacher, the industry's Secretary and Tourism officer of the Germany Government, noted that 407 million visitors from Germany and abroad, had spent overnights here in 2012, 3.6 per cent more than in 2011.

At close to 69 million, the number of overnight visits by foreign tourists had even risen by 8.1 per cent, he said.