Turkey and Social Media at ITB Berlin

Two things left their mark on this year’s ITB Berlin tourism fair: Turkey and social media. On the agenda were a Turkey that has now moved beyond questions like “do you wear a fez and ride camels?” and a new generation that plans all its travel interactively through social media. So how far did the two actually meet?

I already knew how good Germany is at organising trade fairs, thanks both to its position in Europe and to its experience, from the Frankfurt Musikmesse (music fair) I had attended before. After M3 Works organised the opening shows of the Emitt tourism fair, which is run so successfully in Turkey, and after a productive fair, we decided to attend ITB Berlin as well.

This time, having explored the modern side of Berlin, a city with excellent urban planning and management, I headed straight for the fair. Held from 5 to 9 March, the fair kept its first two days, as at Emitt, for tourism professionals, with the last two days open to the general public. Admission is also cheaper at the weekend.

You can feel Turkey’s influence even on the façade of Messe Berlin. The year’s sponsor country is Mexico, represented by a giant banner. But there are so many banners and roll-ups, large and small, with the “Türkei HOME” concept all around that you would think our country was another sponsor. I also liked the slogans, and the visuals that went with them, very much: Home of Simit. Home of Schwarzer Tee (tea), Home of Kapadokya…

At the fair, spread over some twenty halls, I set off with cries of “our first target is Turkey, forward!”, but all along the route one beautiful stand after another has you walking with your neck aching from turning your head.

In Hall 3.2, where Turkey was, a little Anatolia had practically been set up. İstanbul, Antalya, Çeşme, Kapadokya, Mardin… It had taken over the whole area with stands dedicated to each of our treasures. A few countries such as Armenia and Bulgaria had settled along the edges of the hall – to me it resembled the ratio of their surface areas. I don’t think any country had a larger stand area.

I should also say, by the way, that I very much liked the Kapadokya paragliding tour at the entrance to the Turkey hall, an augmented-reality application using Kinect technology.

As I toured the various stands I saw that two halls had been given over to technology. Many of the seminars, meanwhile, were about social media and changing consumer habits.

In the session chaired by Catharina Fischer, entitled Social Web Opportunities and Risks in the Tourism Industry, it was explained how important and influential bloggers are in setting new trends. The talk covered planning new campaigns together with bloggers, and the importance of that planning in keeping risks to a minimum.

In Thorben Grosser’s presentation, Event Apps, whether these apps are really needed was discussed with examples. It was shown that a bare-bones adaptation of a website is a disappointment and damages the perception of an event, and how effective a well-made, purpose-built app can be.

While we are on the subject, I liked the ITB Berlin app very much myself. As I read the descriptions of the categorised exhibitors, I added the ones that interested me to my favourites, took notes and visited them in turn. And because I could see the seminars hour by hour, I didn’t miss the presentations I wanted. I also told the Emitt officials, on your behalf, that we want something similar :) I hope we too will have successful apps like this at our events next year.