ITB - Berlin (Internationale Tourismus Börse)

Die Planungen für die ITB 2014 sind in vollem Gange.  Nur noch 104 Tage, bis sich die Tore zur weltweit größten Tourismusbörse  öffnen und Gäste aus aller Herren Länder dazu eingeladen sind, auf mehr als 150.000m² Ausstellungsfläche die Welt zu entdecken. 

Was mit nur fünf ausstellenden Ländern im Jahre 1966 begann, zieht nun  jährlich mehr Aussteller an. Die ITB 2013 zählte 10.086 Aussteller aus 188 Ländern. Mit mehr als 43 % ausländischen Fachbesuchern kamen neben Repräsentanten weltweiter Tourismusorganisationen auch Tourismusminister  und Staatsoberhäupter. 

Die ITB 2014 findet vom 5.-9. März statt und schon jetzt befinden sich zahlreiche Hotels, Verkehrsträger, Zielgebiete und Veranstalter in Vorbereitung. 

Das nächste Meeting der am WelDest-Projekt teilnehmenden Länder mit ihren Vertreter wird in Bad Saarow stattfinden. Da der Kurort unweit von Berlin entfernt ist, wird auch der Besuch der ITB Bestandteil des WelDest Meetings sein. http://www.itb-berlin.de/

The ITB is the World’s Leading Travel Trade Show.

The process of planning and coordinating the ITB 2014 is in full swing. Just  104 days until the gates open for the world's biggest tourism fair and guests from all over the world are invited to more than 150,000 square meters of exhibition space to discover  the world.

What started with only five countries exhibiting in 1966, now attracts more exhibitors every year. The ITB 2013 counted 10,086 exhibitors from 188 countries. With more than 43 % of foreign visitors, representatives of worldwide tourism organizations, tourism ministers and heads of state arrived.

The ITB 2014 will take place from 5 - 9 March and already there are numerous hotels, modes of transport, destinations and operators in preparation of the event. 

The next meeting of the participating WelDest project countries with their representatives will be held in Bad Saarow. As the health resort is located not far from Berlin, a visit to the ITB will be part of WelDest meetings.

http://www.itb-berlin.de/

Can travel actually be bad for your health?

According to SRI international (2013,I), travel today can be bad for your health. As we all know waiting at the airport, transporting and especially jet lag and poor sleeping, disruption of exercise routines, and excessess in eating, drinking, and sun exposure can leave a traveller more stressed and less well after a trip.

Many of us travel to get away from our everyday life, seeking new experiences and stress free life. In this context travelling seems almost the wrong thing to do. However, as more and more people pay attention to their health, they increasingly want to keep up their healthy habits when they travel. SRI International (2013,I) claims that a growing segment of travelers are taking trips specifically focused on maintaining and improving their personal health and well-being. WelDest customer survey conducted between May and September 2013 supports this idea. The research report is out in just a couple of weeks at this blog with results from Finland, U.K. Austria. Germany and Czech Republic.

A wellness consumer tries to integrate healthy habits into their travel

Many of us try to seek better ways to take care of ourselves, trying to change our lifestyle and taking responsibility for maintaining a good health. This trend is driving the wellness industry - that includes e.g. complementary and alterntive medice, nutrition and weight-loss, spa, fitness and mind-body activities, beauty and anti-aging, preventive and personalized health, and wellness tourism. (SRI International, 2013, II).

So when we travel, we try to integrate these lifestyle habits into our trips. The primary purpose for travel can be wellness tourism - so the whole idea is to travel is about being active and to take care of your mind, body and soul. Sometimes we may engage in wellness-related activites as part of a trip ("secondary purpose wellness tourism"). In both cases we represent important business opportunities for tourism destinations, regions and even countries who all fight to attract us as a customer segment.

The wellness tourism economy means big bucks

Wellness tourism economy is all expenditure  made by tourist who seek to improve or maintain their well-being during or as a result of their trip. It can be divided into "international wellness tourism receipts" and "domestic wellness tourism expenditures".

The sub-categories are featured below:

The source of this blog post is "Global Spa & Wellness Summit, The Global Wellness Tourism Economy, prepared by SRI International, October 2013" and you can purchace the full report from GSS site (link here).

WelDest Meeting in Brussels

The beautiful city of Brussels, unofficial “capital” of the EU, saw a very productive 3-day meeting by the WelDest team recently when partners from 5 countries gathered to discuss their project.

WelDest, which aims to create a development framework to be used by public bodies, destination management organizations and private companies, when developing holistic health and well-being destinations (H&WB), is now at the halfway point of this 2-year project funded by the EACEA.

Exciting news came from the Daniel Binder and Kai Illing, leading the research team. They presented preliminary results from the primary research that had been carried out with both consumers and stakeholders in the industry.

Consumer research focused on such questions as, what exactly attracts guests to Health & Well-being destinations?, which services or elements of the destination do they value the most?, and perhaps most importantly, are their needs being met?

Stakeholder research was conducted through interviews with policy makers, regional developers, hospitality managers and other influential persons involved in shaping and providing the services that make up Health and Well-being destinations. The research focused on finding determining the role that H&WB currently plays in these places and what role it will play in the future.

The WelDest team is looking forward to the upcoming focus groups to be held with those in the industry in order to discuss the results, which will be used to create the e-handbook and self-assessment tool to be used in the development of H&WB destinations. These will be piloted when the team comes together again, this time with the industry partners, in March at ITB Berlin.

WelDest at the 2013 IHM Conference on Hospitality, Tourism and Education

The WelDest project was in the spotlight in two separate presentations last week at the annual conference on Hospitality, Tourism and Education at the Institute of Hospitality Management. Lucie Plzakova and Donna Dvorak spoke in the plenary session about the preliminary research results that had just been shared with the entire project team in their recent meeting in Brussels. Vera Fiserova also presented information on the project during the afternoon section on Tourism.



Those at the conference were introduced to the data collected from consumers and stakeholders in research that spanned five countries. Lucie Plzakova pointed out some interesting findings and emphasized the differences in garnering support and cooperation in the different countries. She also outlined the plan for the next half of the project,how it will progress and the research results will be used in the creation of the e-handbook and self-assessment tool for Health a Well-being tourism destinations.

The response after the presentations was extremely positive, with many individuals working in the field showing their interest and offering their future assistance in the project.



photos: Kristýna Brožková