aTP- Arab tourism portal- Activities of the Leading Travel Trade Show, ITB Berlin 2016 began in the German capital, Berlin yesterday, marking the 50th anniversary of the event.
The Sultanate’s delegation to the event is being led by Ahmed Al Mehrzi, Minister of Tourism.
38 tourism organizations are taking part in the event, in addition to the participation of over 180 countries.
It should be noted that ITB Berlin was opened for the first time in 1966 with participation of 9 exhibitors from 5 countries
H.E. Ahmed Al Mehrzi said that the Sultanate is keen to participate in this international exhibition, which is one of the biggest international exhibitions to promote tourism, noting that the tourism sector in the Sultanate is witnessing significant growth. Accordingly, the presence in such a world-class event is vital for the promotion of the tourism sector of Oman, in addition to deal-making between the Omani tourism companies and their international counterparts for propulsion of tourist groups from tourism exporting countries to the Sultanate.
H.E. added that the German tourism market is an important market for the Sultanate in terms of the number of tourists coming to the Sultanate and there are annual growth in terms of arrivals of German tourists to the Sultanate compared between 2014 and 2015, the number of German tourists to the Sultanate last year exceeded 66000 tourists with a growth of 11.7% compared to 2014.
H.E. pointed out also that that Germans are one of the world’s biggest spending tourists during their visits next to American tourists and Chinese, which makes us focus on these markets.