The Berlin ITB tourism fair defied the current economic crisis. According to the organizers, this year 110,000 expert visitors attended the ITB, 42% were visitors from abroad. In total 180,000 people visited the exhibition halls. Exhibitors were optimistic despite the global economic crisis and satisfied with the results of the exhibition. According to the organizers Messe Berlin, 91% of exhibitors would like to return next year.
Organizers counted 11,098 exhibiting companies from 187 countries (in 2008: 11,147 companies from 186 countries) and 110,857 expert visitors, 42 % of them foreigners. Last year there were 110,322 expert visitors, 38 % of which from abroad. A tourism congress which took place at the same time attracted more than 12,000 participants this year (in 2008: 11,000) which market a new record of visitors.
During the last fair weekend exhibition halls were once more crowded. About 68,114 private visitors (in 2008 67,569) informed themselves about a broad range of travel destinations and travel offers. In total, organizers registered 178,971 people by the end of the exhibition (177,891 in 2008).
A representative survey carried out by the University of Applied Science in Eberswalde showed that six out of ten exhibitors said that they were not affected by the current crisis. However, the travel pattern of people is expected to change. 52 % of exhibitors believe that people will go on shorter trips in the future, 60 % predict a boom in travels within Germany and 68 % think that demand for last-minute-trips is going to increase. More than fifty percent of all exhibitors are currently adapting their products and services to this new situation. 