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The three top stories on Friday, 08 March 2013
Tourism in Germany is booming
Germany as a tourism destination is becoming evermore popular. Speaking at ITB Berlin 2013, Ernst Burgbacher, the industry 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. Among regions, Bavaria and Baden-W?rttemberg were especially popular, as well as the cities of Hamburg and Berlin. Read more here .
Silk Road: border entry and cooperation talks are progressing
East and West are continuing to grow closer together. Last year, the countries along the Silk Road made substantial progress on the subject of easing border entry, establishing better transport links and cooperation in general. This was announced at ITB Berlin by Alla Peressolova, UNWTO?s officer responsible for the Silk Road, at a meeting of ministers and experts from 20 countries. The Silk Road consists of numerous historical caravan routes, the main one connecting the Mediterranean with Eastern Asia. Thus, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Tajikistan, Iraq, Bangladesh, China, Japan, Thailand and Indonesia are also among the countries on the Silk Road. More and more countries in Central Asia are now also issuing foreigners with visas on arrival at the airport. Read more here .
Indonesia looks towards a bright future
The world?s largest archipelago is launching a tourism offensive. Under the leadership of Indonesia?s Minister of Tourism Mari Elka Pangestu, the goal is to ensure the long-term growth of the tourism industry. Aided by the campaign “Wonderful Indonesia. The World’s Hearts of Wonders” the aim is to achieve this with a clear infrastructure and destination management strategy. “There are people who think Indonesia is part of Bali”, the tourism minister said with a smile at ITB Berlin 2013. “We want to change that: we want to show that Indonesia has more to offer than Bali, which is just one of 17,500 islands. “Pangestu emphasised that, first and foremost, it was Indonesia?s people who stood for the “World’s Hearts of Wonders.” Read more here .
This year ITB Berlin launched a new source of information for international trade visitors and journalists: The ITB Berlin News. This magazine provides readers with an overview of information and news items on a daily basis, as well as a review of planned events and is produced by the publishing company Cleverdis. The e-magazines can be downloaded at http://www.itb-berlin.de/en/MediaCentre/Publications/
About ITB Berlin and the ITB Berlin Convention
ITB Berlin 2013 will be taking place from Wednesday, 6 to Sunday, 10 March, and from Wednesday to Friday will be open to trade visitors only. Parallel with the trade show, the ITB Berlin Convention, the largest travel industry event of its kind in the world, will be held from Wednesday, 6 to Friday, 8 March 2013. More details are available at www.itb-convention.com . Azerbaijan is the Convention & Culture Partner of ITB Berlin 2013. Basic Sponsors of the convention are the World Tourism Forum Lucerne and Studiosus. ITB Berlin is the world?s leading travel trade show. In 2012 a total of 10,644 exhibitors from 187 countries displayed their products and services to 172,000 visitors, who included 113,006 trade visitors.
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