Sunshine Matters

Last week, VISIT FLORIDA’s International Sales & Market Development and Global Public Relations teams attended ITB Berlin, the world’s leading travel trade show.  The international travel market proved to be highly competitive, with 186 countries on hand to promote their destinations to 175,000 attendees.

The VISIT FLORIDA booth was the largest in the Brand USA pavilion, with more than 90 Florida industry representatives. Not only was the Florida Pavilion grand in size, but this year VISIT FLORIDA brought new destinations to Berlin including: Natural North Florida, a task force representing north central Florida, along with Visit Citrus, Visit Gainesville and Ocala/Marion County VCB.

The first three days of the travel show are dedicated to trade professionals only, while the latter two days are designed to spotlight destinations to consumers.  For the first-time, ITB Berlin allowed exhibitors to sell travel on the tradeshow floor and, with the help of our German receptives, the Sunshine State did a brisk business with the more than 60,000 members of the general public who flocked to the display halls over the weekend.

VISIT FLORIDA staff had a full schedule of over 40 appointments with major airlines, tour operators and online travel agents.  In addition to the trade appointments, VISIT FLORIDA’s German representation, LMG Management, scheduled appointments with key journalists and bloggers on the trade show floor.  VISIT FLORIDA’s Director of Global PR, Tim DeClaire, also participated in the Speed Blogger Event and the ITB Media Breakfast which offered even more one-on-one time with some of ITB Berlin’s 5,500+ accredited journalists and bloggers from nearly 100 countries.

For the fourth year in a row, VISIT FLORIDA hosted our signature travel trade and media event, providing partners the opportunity to network with nearly 220 key European travel trade representatives and journalists in a unique atmosphere.  The event was held in the Pan Am Lounge at House Eden, the apartment building used in the 60’s and 70’s to house flight crew from the famous Pan American Airways.  The lounge has retained the furnishings, atmosphere and staff uniforms to reflect the era of its heyday.  VISIT FLORIDA would like to thank The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel for their headline sponsorship of this memorable  event, which was the only U.S. destination’s function to be named to the official “Best ITB Parties” list.

Also during ITB Berlin, VISIT FLORIDA and three of our industry Partners  – Visit St. Petersburg/Clearwater, Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB and The Florida Keys & Key West – sponsored the Tom on Tours and Diversity Tourism LGBT Party.  In our second year as the exclusive destination sponsor for the “360 Degrees Over Berlin” event at the exclusive Panorama37, VISIT FLORIDA has established a partnership dedicated to serving the LGBT travel community on a global scale.

According to the official closing report, this year’s ITB Berlin reported a three percent rise in trade visitors and an increase in business volume, which Messe Berlin estimates reached 6.7 billion euros.  The total number of exhibitors was 10,096, represented in 26 display halls which were fully booked.

To learn more about VISIT FLORIDA’s international marketing efforts, check out our online Marketing Planner or contact me at agonzalez@VISITFLORIDA.org.