One of the largest travel trade shows in the world

One of the largest travel trade shows in the world — ITB Berlin — kicks off on Wednesday with strong participation from a number of Middle East companies such as Emirates airline, Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA) among others. The five-day travel show will feature 10,644 exhibitors from 187 countries and is expected to attract some 110,000 trade visitors from all over the world. The event this year will focus on subjects like the European debt crisis, turmoil in the Arab countries, climate protection and sustainability, as well as EU emissions trading, according to the organisers, who said yesterday in a statement that all these topics will be discussed at the ITB Convention by leading figures from the travel industry. It added that the official partner country of ITB Berlin in 2012 is Egypt, the country that took the sharpest hit in tourism business in the last couple of years since the start of the Arab Spring. The future development of tourism in Arab countries will be discussed by the tourism ministers of Egypt, Morocco and Jordan in conversations with political and business representatives," Christian Göke, Chief Operating Officer of Messe Berlin, said in a statement. Meanwhile, the show will see Emirates showing more of its A380 product in Berlin on its globe-shaped stand than at any other international travel trade event outside its Dubai home base.