ITB Berlin 2023 focuses on responsible tourism, youth travel and accommodation

Monday, February 20, 2023

Generation Wanderlust is the focus of the Youth Travel and Accommodation and Adventure Travel and Responsible Tourism segments.

The entire spectrum of youth travel, adventure travel and sustainable tourism is represented in the Youth Travel and Accommodation and Adventure Travel and Responsible Tourism segments at ITB Berlin, the World’s Leading Travel Trade Show, from 7 to 9 March 2023 in Hall 4.1. Workshops, discussion rounds and keynote speeches will take an in-depth look at these in-demand tourism markets.

Among young people, unique and individual travel experience is becoming more and more popular. According to the only recurring global youth and student travel survey New Horizons by the WYSE Travel Confederation, they are travelling further, staying longer and spending more money than ever before. Adventure and sports travel is also becoming more attractive and is a growing market in the travel industry. From 7 to 9 March at ITB Berlin, trade visitors can find the Youth Travel and Accommodation segment, the main platform for tomorrow’s travellers, and the Adventure Travel and Responsible Tourism segment, the international forum for nature experience and environmentally and socially responsible tourism, in Hall 4.1.

Since 1999, national and international companies and associations representing the youth travel market have been coming together in the Youth Travel and Accommodation segment in order to jointly present youth travel. In partnership with the Student Travel Agent Network (STAN), the European network for incoming tourism operators, leading school trip organisers such as alpetour and Klühspies, pioneering holiday camp operators such as ruf Jugendreisen, HORiZONTE Reisen and GO Jugendreisen, accommodation and camp providers such as the sports camps of Bayrischer Landes-Sportverband, Young Austria, Austria’s accommodation specialist for youth travel, as well as specialist youth travel associations such as BundesForum e.V. and Reisenetz e.V. will be represented in Hall 4.1.

Numerous international companies will be represented on the stand of the WYSE Travel Confederation, the global association and network for organisers of international youth travel and accommodation, including hostel and hotel chains such as Meininger, Generator, Joe & Joe, Swiss Youth Hostels and Hans Brinker Hostels, as well as organisations offering student travel, exchange programmes, voluntary services abroad and student accommodation such as SYTA, Green Lion and Cornwall Plus. Travel specialists with experience of the latest travel trends will provide an insight into the importance of the under-thirties travel market. Trade visitors can exchange views with experts from around the world specialising in hybrid hostels, digitalisation, sustainability and youth travel trends. On the WYSE workshop stand every hour on the hour, brief and informative presentations will be held on a number of youth travel topics.

At a session entitled ’GenZ and the transformation of travel’ at the Youth, Adventure & Outdoor track of the ITB Berlin Convention, David Chapman, director general of the WYSE Travel Confederation, and Shayna Zand, director of WeTravel, will share their experiences since the pandemic ended and discuss how motivation and behaviour will influence international travel and tourism in the years to come. The session will take place on Wednesday, 8 March at 2 p.m. on the Green Stage in Hall 3.1.

Trade visitors can look forward to additional events in the wide-ranging programme on youth travel in the workshop area of KiJu-Reisen on Stand 121 of Reisenetz e.V., including daily student tours featuring company presentations, discussion rounds on youth policy topics and presentations on staffing and career prospects, as part of the Teamerwerden.de campaign for instance.

All actors representing the youth travel market will have an opportunity to meet and exchange views at the youth travel get-together on Stand 121 of Reisenetz e.V. on Wednesday, 8 March at 6 p.m. in Hall 4.1.

Programme of stage events in Hall 4.1: a wide-ranging programme on the new ITB Lighthouse Stage under the heading Adventure Travel and Responsible Tourism

The new ITB Lighthouse Stage in Hall 4.1 will feature informative keynote speeches and presentations on adventure travel and responsible tourism topics. On Tuesday, 7 March, the session entitled ’Adventure Tourism and Genuine Sustainability – Enjoying the Great Outdoors the responsible way’ will look at how sustainable adventure travel can succeed. People travel to the remotest parts of the world to follow cosmic events. On Wednesday, 8 March, at the session entitled ’Astro-tourism – Journey to the stars’, Dr. Andreas Hänel, astronomer, Dark Sky Group, Vereinigung der Sternfreunde Kommission e.V., will provide an insight into space tourism and highlight the opportunities the global emergence of space tourism offers for a socially responsible and sustainable future. On Thursday, 9 March visitors can gain an impression of cycle tourism at the session entitled ’Cycling tourism – How to benefit from a growing segment’. The speakers taking part will be Jill Warren, director, European Cyclists‘ Federation (EuroVelo) and Agathe Daudibon, EuroVelo manager, European Cyclists‘ Federation (EuroVelo).

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