4. Berliner Tourismusmesse 2012

As I am ready for new adventures, I felt the need to finish with the updates from previous weeks. One of my big debts was the tour I made two weeks ago at the 4. Berliner Tourismusmesse, organized by Woerlitz, who reminded me when I used their services and sent me a kind invitation for two persons. The invitation included the entrance and a free tour of Berlin, outlining the "criminal history" of the city. The topic was revealed later, when I was already in the cozy Mercedes Benz bus. As I never went on a tour of Berlin I was curious to try it once, and most probably I would not have been interested in such a niche topic. But, after one hour and maybe 20 minutes, I may confess that I enjoyed the idea - with the exception of some ridiculous remarks of the guide about why there are so many English works in the German advertising and on the German streets in general. The tour was in German, for an audience of over 60 yo, but still this is not an excuse for ridiculous remarks. People enjoyed so most probably I was the only one out of common.

The venue was very busy with visitors, most part of them arrived in big groups of over 60. This is one of the reasons why the fair was focused primarily on health tourism, featuring many spa resorts from Germany, Austria or Poland. Among the exhibitors there were hotels, resorts and touristic regions.

The ambiance was friendly, with welcoming guides ready to introduce to your services. Those booking on place were the happy beneficient of substantial fees. The focus was Germany and the German-speaking countries, but there were also displayed interesting offers from Croatia, Turkey, Italy or some Middle Eastern countries. 

For the entertainment, there were lots of drink tasking moments. Wines, local drinks - Becherovka is a German-Czech drink based on herbs - and other Polish spirits. As I didn't try I cannot give any special insights about this activity. But people were smiling and this was important, after all.

Another tasty corner of wine, featuring German wines. As a wine drinker, I prefer the sweet red wines from the Middle East, but the weather conditions decided a different fate for the German wines, that despite my exotic choices are highly appreciated abroad.

If the holiday hopping was too much, some massage was available for curious customers. As usual in public events in Germany, people are not very happy to see an innocent girl with a camera wandering around. 

A honest TV crew was registering the opinions of the participants about the fair and the tourism in Germany and Berlin. In a city without significant industry, tourism represents one of the main assets and one of the most important source of revenue. 

At the end of the fair, the happy winners of a tombola were announced at open stage. Again, relaxed people, looking happy at their colourful leaflets and thinking about their next holiday abroad from home. From many points of view, I fully envy the quiet life of many retired Germans. 

Berlin, the world capital of tourism

For the next four days, Berlin will be (another) the beating heart of the world tourism, with the famous ITB opening its gates first for professionals, and after (during the w/e) for the large public. As this year my schedule for the next week is extremely complicated, I will miss this event, but I will share shortly my last year experience.

First of all, the place - the usual destination for the big fairs in Berlin - is huge...You need more than 4 hours to see 80% of everything...And to swim across people, long lines for free gadgets and various events meant to attract the attention of potential tourists - live concerts and dance performances - last year I assisted to one from Macedonia and one from Turkey. The most populated places were the exhibitions of North African and Asian countries. Most probably, given the current turmoil from the Middle East, the Asian destinations will win more clients. The public was of all ages, but the reliable clients were, obviously, couples of 50+, especially for long, exotic and also expensive trips. 

Shortly, before embarking for the ITB experience, be ready to: spend there like a working day, be fit enough for walking for hours and waiting for various gadgets - from leaflets, pens, CDs, various bags, TShorts... - and be sure you have a good budget dedicated to travels for this year, otherwise you'll resent a deep frustration to see the world opening in the front of you without being able to go out of your Berlin winter (which is better than the permanent sun in other parts of the world, sometimes). 

Happy travels!

Related articles

• BODRUM at ITB BERLIN, TOURISM EXHIBITION (bodrumnews.wordpress.com)

Art Forum Berlin

As scheduled, I spent a couple of hours yesterday at the Art Forum Berlin. Lots of people, with or without kids, relaxed gallerists - in comparison with the last year, when many of them were a bit disapponted by the negative effects of the economic crisis on their businesses. Some of the galleries - from the US, Italy, Austria, France, Hungary (the new entry this time, I think), the Netherlands - were present this year too, but I was feeling a different wave of optimism. And, in comparison with the last year, I've heard more people asking about prices and artists. Even, in my opinion, some of the prices were impressively high - 13.000 EUR. for a big nature photography, pretty normal, with some trees and some green grass around. A matter of taste, of course.

The price of the ticket, during the day was of 18 EUR., the normal price, but I think it was worthy, as I gathered several free arts magazines, all together making more than 20 EUR. Good food for thought for getting more insights about the new and old trends in the contemporary arts. 

What I liked about this edition? A lot of interesting photographies and video installations, some of them, as I've heard later on, hunted for the new generation of collectors, including for private use, as part of their home designs. It was about time for this too, isn't it?

What I didn't? The contemporary trends of focusing more on the innovative use of various materials and settings than on representation of figurative images. I don't have nothing against the abstract and post-modern art, but I believe that there are still lots of imagistic opportunities to explore and recompose the fragments of reality into coherent images. 

Here, a couple of fragments from some artistic corners I discovered:

I am already curious about the next year fair!

My plans for the w/e

There are still another two days until the week-end, but given the busy cultural life of my host city, I have to prepare everything extremely carefully. A must will be the Art Forum, which I attended also the last year. 

The experience of the last year: a lot of participants, artists and galleries, mostly from the German speaking countries but also from Italy or Latin America, covering almost all the trends of arts. I attended with great pleasure the seminars and workshops dedicated to analyse the mainstream business and creative ideas in the world of galleries. One of the main aim of the participants is to find potential clients for the artworks, but the usual visitor, as me, found a lot of opportunities to think about art in the 21st century.

Can't wait to spend there a couple of hours, together with a very good artist friend - in this way I will have as well a professional perspective and a guarantee of challenging conversations.