Imagine the trade fair grounds in Naxxar and multiply them by 10. This might give you an indication of the size of the ITB fair in Berlin, a yearly appointment for countries and companies to show their tourism wares to others and possibly reach new deals to improve their business and, in so doing, attract more visitors to their country.

But simply explaining the size of the fair does not do justice to its magnificence and significance. Because it is easy to say that it takes one at least half an hour of fast walking to make it from one point to another on one of the floors where the 184 countries – including Malta, through the Malta Tourism Authority – had their stand, but it is much harder to describe what was on offer and the great lengths each country went through to provide the best image.

And, in spite of the visible instructions leading visitors from one area to another, it is easy to get lost as one gets easily distracted by the colour, activities and displays that take place. We did get lost, in fact, as we tried to make it to one of our appointments in time, but this enabled us to see other stands that we would have otherwise missed. We were there for two full days, but of course we did not manage to see everything.

The Malta stand was, as expected, placed right in heart of the European area, in the same hall together with Italy – still happy with their World Cup win to place two giant posters of Fabio Cannavaro lifting the trophy and of the whole team celebrating their victory, posters that immediately hit you as you enter the Italy zone.

One characteristic that became immediately clear is that the bigger countries prefer to market their tourist attractions from a regional point of view, rather than a national one. This is probably done to enhance the different aspects of each region, and to highlight the diversity of their product.

Of course, Malta’s stand at the ITB fair was not large when compared to that of the Italians, but it was big enough and well-positioned enough to receive a fair share of attention by visitors. Large photos of some of the most popular attractions that Malta can offer surrounded the outer part, with representatives of local companies who shared the stand sitting right below them on special desks where they could meet their prospective clients.

At any given time, most of the Maltese companies represented at the fair were involved in discussions with tourist-related companies in a bid to attract more visitors to use their services. And, the MTA and Air Malta offices within the stand were constantly occupied by clients who wanted to know more about what Malta can offer.

The MTA left no stone unturned to promote Malta in the best way it could, and although the results of its efforts cannot be gauged now, their simple presence there was extremely crucial in the endeavours to push forward the country’s tourism industry. As Joseph Galea, MTA director – Germany said, Malta simply could not afford to be missing from the fair. It is crucial for the country to be present in what is considered as the most important tourism fair in the world, when all countries display all they can offer under the same roof.

During the fair, the MTA also took the opportunity to launch its website in the German language in the presence of a good number of European journalists, most of them working in Germany.

Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech, present for the launch, took the opportunity to speak about the German market, which is the second biggest for Malta after the United Kingdom. He admitted that there were capacity problems from Germany last year – more Germans wanted to come to Malta but there were no aircraft to carry them over. These problems have been addressed, with Air Malta increasing its flights from Germany and the addition of low-cost carrier German Wings, which will be flying from Stuttgart and Cologne as from the end of this month.

The code-sharing agreement reached between the national airline and German carrier Lufthansa was also aimed at increasing the opportunities for German tourists to come over to Malta. These arrangements have already had the desired effect, Dr Zammit Dimech said, as the number of tourists visiting Malta from Germany increased by nine per cent between November and February.

Dr Brock Frieser, Air Malta chief commercial officer, and Arthur Grima, Air Malta manager for Germany, gave more details in this respect. Air Malta is now flying daily to Munich and four times a week to Dusseldorf, and so far has five flights a week to Frankfurt.

For summer 2007, the flights to Frankfurt will be on a daily basis while Dusseldorf will get an extra flight a week. Air Malta will also fly to Berlin three times a week, Mr Grima said. This will, no doubt, increase the seating capacity from Germany to Malta.

What both Air Malta and the MTA are very much aware of is the fact that there is a growing trend of shorter, more frequent breaks in the travelling world, a trend that was highlighted by several eminent speakers in some of the conferences that we attended. Travellers today are also moving away from taking tours – although this market is still big, many today are opting to plan their own travelling, mostly via the internet, and visiting the country they want on their own.

Added to this, travellers today are also going for what are known as experience breaks – and although of course Malta cannot offer ice-fishing, ski-biking and safaris, it has its own niches that it could promote, such as, for example, scuba diving. What must be kept in mind however is that today, travellers expect more and, most of all, expect value for the money they are spending, giving great attention to the infrastructure and transport system of the country they intend visiting before making up their mind.

MTA chairman Sam Mifsud believes that the MTA must take into account the increase in the number of so-called individual travellers, while of course also giving its due attention to those who come in groups.

He insists that the MTA is not ignoring tour operators, as their segment still makes up a sizeable portion of the local tourist industry. Yet, at the same time, the MTA must also focus on the ever-increasing number of people who come over to Malta on their own steam. The recent launch of the MTA website – and now its German version too – is specifically geared towards this kind of tourist.

The MTA is working closely with tour operators, but it cannot ignore the fact that today, IT literacy is pushing people to book their holidays on their own, he said.

He also emphasised the fact that the MTA is working hard to attract more visitors in the so-called winter months. For a country like Malta, the “summer season” should be promoted as being longer than in other countries – not April to October as is the norm, but March to November, since the local mild weather allows for such an exercise.

Mr Mifsud said Malta must also focus on short stays, as this will also be beneficial to the industry.

The growth of ITB

Each year, the ITB Berlin becomes an even more international event. Whereas in 2003 approximately one third of all trade visitors came to Berlin from abroad, this year they accounted for 43 per cent of the total, a further two per cent rise over the previous year.

The world’s largest travel trade did not only set new records for the number of exhibitors: 10,923 companies from 184 countries presented the latest products and services from the travel industry (previous year: 10,856 companies from 183 countries).

The number of trade visitors broke the 100,000 barrier for the first time. Between Wednesday and Friday, 108,735 trade visitors were recorded, a 15 per cent rise. (2006: 94,553 trade visitors). The ITB Convention Market Trends and Innovations proved to be a major attraction, with participation up by a quarter and a total of more than 9,000 trade visitors.

On Saturday 68,419 members of the general public came in search of ideas for their next vacation, compared with the 68,270 who attended on the Friday afternoon and the weekend at last year’s ITB Berlin. Over the five days of this trade show, the halls on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds were visited by a total of 177,154 visitors.

Exhibitors at the ITB Berlin were positive about the commercial success of their involvement as well as being very satisfied with the progress of this event. Ninety-two per cent are provisionally planning to attend again at the ITB Berlin 2008 (2006: 92 per cent). Ninety-seven per cent of exhibitors are satisfied with the commercial results of their participation, which is a five per cent improvement over the previous year (2006: 92 per cent).

Visitors found the range on offer at the ITB Berlin even more attractive than at last year’s event. It was described as very good or good by 95 per cent of visitors, the same level as last year. Ninety-four per cent of visitors (previous year: 88 per cent) would recommend the fair to acquaintances or colleagues and 89 per cent intend to return next year (2005: 88 per cent).

The ITB Berlin is an international media event. In addition to international news agencies, it was also attended by some 8,000 journalists from 91 countries (previous year: 85 countries).

Politics and the diplomatic service were also well-represented at the ITB Berlin 2007: In addition to Princess Ubol of Thailand, four other members of royalty attended the ITB Berlin 2007, along with 137 representatives of politics and the diplomatic corps: 125 ambassadors and chargé d’affaires, two minister presidents, 65 ministers and deputy ministers and 17 permanent secretaries. From Germany, 23 ministers and permanent secretaries, two state minister presidents and a senator attended the ITB Berlin.

In accordance with the new arrangement, the next ITB Berlin 2008 will take place from Wednesday to Sunday, 5 to 9 March. From Wednesday until Friday, admission will again be restricted to trade visitors only.