For the second consecutive year, two major players from the travel industry – ITB Berlin and ABAV – Tourism Fair of the Americas – will join forces to make the 41st edition of the Brazilian event even greater, as it is considered the largest and most important event of this kind held in the Southern Hemisphere.

In addition to offering the required conditions to ensure interaction between travel agents and the more than 2,700 exhibitors already confirmed to attend, one of the main purposes of the fair is training, a keyword for the area where the Knowledge Village is located. There will be a total of 200 lectures given to participants, among which the training sessions promoted with the support of ITB Berlin, the world’s largest tourism fair, stand out.

Mega events

Under the theme “Product development and diversification of tourism destinations – the mega events and their effects on tourism and image of a country”, Margaret Grantham, director of the German Tourism Center in Brazil, will lead the training session scheduled to take place at 3:00 p.m. of September 4 (Wednesday).

LGBT Tourism

Given the growing demand for a tourism market for the gay and lesbian community, the lectures held on September 5 (Thursday) will be focused on this issue, with the participation of renowned professionals of the industry as coaches, such as: Rika Jean-François, Project Manager and LGBT segment coordinator at ITB; Thomas Roth, president of Community Marketing Inc., scientific partner of ITB’s LGBT segment; Ingrid Friz-Frizberg, from the Marketing department of the Vienna Tourism Board; and Marta Dalla Chiesa, president of the Brazilian Tourism Association for Gays and Lesbians (ABRAT GLS).

The training sessions will start at 2:00 p.m. and have a duration of two and a half hours. Soon after, between 04:30 and 05:30 p.m., a cocktail sponsored by Visit Berlin will be offered to participants at the ITB booth (K31 street of Pavilhão de Exposições do Anhembi).

Sustainable Tourism

The first training session held with the support of ITB Berlin on September 6 (Friday), at 02:20 p.m., will be given by Gopinath Parayil, the founder and executive officer of Indian airline The Blue Yonder. The session will be focused on the theme “Travel with awareness – trends from India” and will have a 20-minute duration.

At 02:00 p.m. there will be a Q&A session about the issue of “Adventure tourism: an overview of this segment of critical growth”, led by Jean-Claude Razel, a Product and Operations Safety and Development manager at Outdoor Business. After that, the following topics will be discussed: “2013 Report on eco-travel – new data”, through a presentation by Thomas Roth; “Sustainability as a key factor for business”, conducted by Nicolas Keutgen, founder of Tofiq House; and “The role of Braztoa’s Sustainability Program in the tourism production network”, led by Andrea Leone, Braztoa’s Social and Environment Officer.