The European Tourism Industry Conference on 15 May 2007 in Berlin, about two months after the ITB 2007, is the next significant event for the international travel industry. Michael Glos, Federal Minister for Economics and Technology, and Ernst Hinsken, Federal Government Commissioner for Tourism, have issued a joint invitation to international experts from the realms of politics, business and academia to discuss the topics currently shaping European tourism and those likely to be affecting its development in the future.

The conference, organised by the German National Tourist Board (GNTB), is part of the EU Tourism Conference, held to mark Germany`s presidency of the EU Council, which also comprises an informal conference of EU tourism ministers on 16 May 2007.

According to Ernst Hinsken, the German Federal Government Commissioner for Tourism: “Tourism is an important growth engine for Germany, as well as for the rest of Europe. The EU Tourism Conference provides us with an ideal platform to demonstrate this even more emphatically than before. We would like to use this distinguished gathering of government representatives, industry experts and academics to discuss which measures must be put in place in order to enable us to utilise the great potential of European tourism even better.”

The first part of the event will focus on the topics “How major international sporting events can boost tourism” and “City partnerships – cross-border marketing of art and culture”, followed by discussions with prestigious panellists from the European tourism industry on the subjects of “Business tourism – growth potential in Europe” and “Demographic change as an opportunity for the European travel industry”. The event is hosted by Udo van Kampen, head of ZDF TV`s Brussels studio.

Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive Officer of the GNTB, stated: “I am delighted that the GNTB has been given the opportunity to organise such a prestigious event as the European Tourism Industry Conference in conjunction with the Germany Travel Mart (GTM), the most important sales event for Germany`s inbound travel industry. This provides a useful communications platform for international visitors to the GTM as well as another important source of information.”