Keep your pants on, folks - or maybe not

by Yeoh Siew Hoon

You could say my ITB experience started even before my touchdown in Berlin.

The flight I was on was filled with dozens of travel industry colleagues from Singapore and a handful from Indonesia.
So you can imagine the conversations …

From one hotelier to another:

“Wa, you going? Budget not cut ah?”

“Yah, but must sell more.”

“I tell you, I am not looking forward to it. Sure will get knocked down on rates …”

“Ya, pants must come down this time.”

Yes, it’s going to be an ITB unlike any other, taking place as it is during the worst recession the world has known since World War II, to quote Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve.

True, the numbers look impressive – according to Messe Berlin, the event has been sold out since February and all space sold out, a total of 11,098 exhibiting companies (2008: 11,147) from 187 countries occupying 26 halls – but it is clear the mood is different, as are the conversations.

Suppliers are jittery. They know they will be squeezed for rates.

Tour operators are nervous – their demand is down and they know they need good prices to get their clients traveling again.

Every destination, from Incredible India to Amazing Thailand, is proclaiming “there’s no better time than now” to visit them.

Yet I also sensed a mood of unity, almost a camaraderie, that says, “Hey, we are all in this together.” It is, after all, the first time in my memory anyway that there is this amount of collective suffering at ITB.

Not all are suffering equally though. I ran into the boss of an Indonesia-based destination management company who told me he will do record sales this year.

His March sales are up 40%, and mainly from Europeans. I suspect his gain is someone else’s loss though, and that’s the name of the game at ITB 2009 – market share.

Another happy person was the taxi driver who drove me to the fairgrounds this morning. “ITB. Good. Good. Kick business again.”

He then told me he would be visiting the fair over the weekend.

“My wife and I always have one holiday a year and we have booked for Sardinia. But now she says, maybe with the low prices, we can take two holidays.”

One man’s pants-down is another man’s extra-holiday.

Catch Yeoh Siew Hoon every week at The Transit Cafe – .