Brazil was one of the first countries to exhibit at the ITB Berlin, which was created in 1966 under the heading of the “1st Tourism Exchange”. Nowadays all the countries of Latin America, together with service providers, come to the Berlin exhibition halls each year as exhibitors. The ITB Berlin is now acknowledged as the most international trade show anywhere in the world, with 70 per cent of its exhibitors and 40 per cent of its trade visitors coming from abroad. Representatives of every stage in the value-added chain of the travel industry meet in the 26 halls on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds. Each year in March more than 180 countries and regions and just under 11,000 exhibitors attend this event in the German capital.

The other winners of the award are the director of the Panamanian tourism institute IPAT, the country’s Minister of Tourism Ruben Blades, and the Brazilian airline TAM. Blades is also the winner of several Grammies, and has interrupted his musical career to take political office. Since 1961 TAM has evolved from being a small regional air taxi company to its present position as the Brazilian market leader with a staff of 9,400, serving 72 domestic and nine international destinations.