Refugees, gender equality and overcrowded destinations hot topics for ITB

Key topics at global tourism event include overtourism, refugees, financial viability of social tourism projects, barrier-free tourism and gender equality.

Overtourism, integrating refugees, gender equality, the financial viability of social tourism projects – just some of the key topics that this year’s ITB Berlin will examine in a feast of sustainable tourism.

"Our aim is to make use of the unique international platform that ITB offers to give sustainability and responsibility in tourism a voice", said Rika Jean-Francois, CSR officer at ITB Berlin. "Against a backdrop of climate change, growing ocean pollution, alarming human rights abuses, overtourism and global warming the need for this has never been more urgent."

On Destination Day1 Based on a survey conducted by the German Society for Tourism Research and the Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism representatives of a number of iconic destinations, including Barcelona, Amsterdam and Dubrovnik, will present their respective measures to counter overtourism.

On 7 March at 4pm in ITB’s new awards venue, Palais am Funkturm, overtourism, positive sustainability measures and community involvement will be discussed at the Top100 award ceremony where the world’s top sustainable destinations will be awarded for their sustainable innovations and initiatives.

Also on 7 March under the heading of ‘Smart Destinations’, speakers will talk about technology for controlling visitor flows. And this year’s Studiosus discussion will examine the impact of the recent tourism boom in Greece.

In his keynote speech on Thursday, 8 March, Doug Lanski will ask whether, faced with overtourism, digitalisation and new forms of travel, destination managers should start thinking in terms of ‘smart destinations’. On the same day at 2.30 p.m., speakers on the eTravel stage will ask whether overtourism has also become an issue in Germany.

ITB Berlin 2018 will see a continuation of last year’s theme, the International Year of Sustainable Tourism declared by UNWTO, in the shape of the Sustainable Development Day.

Once again, the show will dedicate a day to barrier-free access – on 8 March 2018 at the CityCube the DZT will hold the Accessible Tourism Day.

8 March is International Women’s Day, appropriately the seminar on Gender Equality in Tourism will take place then at the Palais am Funkturm. On average, women in the tourism industry continue to be paid less and seldom occupy higher positions. This seminar, which will be the start of a new series, will deal with this topic and let women from various parts of the world have their say.

Directly after the seminar, the ‘Celebrating Her’ award ceremony will take place, held for the third time, the event is organised by the International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT) India in cooperation with ITB Berlin and will honour five women from around the world for their important contributions to tourism.

Also taking place at the Palais am Funkturm, , will be the ToDo! Award on Thursday, 8 March. Presented by the Study Group for Tourism, this award recognises participation by local communities in tourism projects. Numerous activities by partners

Mecklenburg Vorpommern, the official partner country of ITB, will feature numerous sustainable tourism projects. Attractions will include a solar-powered boat on which visitors can take round trips of the National Park in the Peene region. Together with ITB Berlin the partner country is organising this year’s opening event on Tuesday, 6 March, which for the first time in the show’s history will leave a zero carbon footprint. In addition to specifically choosing local products ITB Berlin has become a forest shareholder in Fleesensee, a town in Mecklenburg Vorpommern, in order to offset any unavoidable CO2 emissions.

Zambia, the Convention and Culture Partner 2018, has organised the Zambia Forum on Friday, 9 March, the focus will be on the sustainable development of culture tourism and promotion of cultural heritage sites in remote rural areas.

As in previous years, the events on both stages in Hall 4.1 will focus on ecological and social responsibility. Thus, at the Youth Forum a workshop held by Prof. Heike Bähre, HWR Berlin, will invite visitors to examine the opportunities for integrating refugees in the tourism industry. Also taking place on the large stage will be a discussion organised by The Code and the working group ECPAT on the dangers of voluntary tourism work. Key topics will include protecting children from sexual abuse.

This is the fifteenth year that the PowWow for Tourism Professionals will take place on the small stage in Hall 4.1. On Wednesday, 7 March, the main topic will be coastal protection. Taking the North Sea as an example, a presentation by Universität Oldenburg will examine ocean pollution by plastics.

Other programme highlights will include a panel discussion on ‘Land and Resource Rights of Coastal Fishing Communities in the Era of Tourism Development’ as well as a presentation on sustainable fishing practices.

On all the days open to trade visitors it will be possible to gain an insight into sustainable activities at numerous destinations, including Iran, the Oder Delta, the Azores, Formentera, Dominica, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, as well as Kenya, which has much more to offer than ‘Big Five’ game hunting.

On Friday, 9 March, ITB Berlin will host Cycling Day. Coinciding with the anniversary of Hall 4.1, where sustainability is the key topic, will be the invention of the bicycle, which took place 200 years ago. Over the course of the day numerous themed lectures will promote eco-friendly travel by bike, ranging from cycle tours in Iran’s deserts to riding side by side with elephants in Kenya.

Rounding off the trade visitor days, ITB will be inviting visitors to the international Responsible Tourism Networking Event on Friday, 9 March at 6 p.m., which this year will take place for the tenth time at ITB Berlin on the small stage in Hall 4.1b.

Valere Tjolle

@ValereTjolle