ITB ‘25 Trends and News

From ITB: Diversity as strength and the power to change the future.

We went to the Berlin Tourism Fair and learnt many things: we are sharing with you those related to gender, sustainability, communities, safety.

First of all, the Gender Equality in Tourism Champions were honoured: for travel cathegory the operator Responsible Travel from Ecuador, an initiative awarded for its design with women, thinking about the environment, empowerment as leaders in communities, and public declaration of equality values. For hospitality Community Homestay Network, with its valuable work in training and organising women in hospitality, welcoming, accompanying tourists, in the villages of Nepal. For future prospects, the brand new Amba Yaalu (Mango Friends) Kandalama hotel, entirely run by 70 women in Sri Lanka.

In another room, social enterprise was discussed, which, as Claudia Brozel founder of the Social Entrepreneurship Competition in Tourism said ‘is more a movement than a trend’. Some fantastic business inventors were present: Mirko Cipollone, Managing Director of Appennini for all for making the most beautiful paths in the Apennine mountains accessible to everyone; Cecilia Serravalle, Social Impact Manager of Amadeus for her support of social projects; Sonal Asgotraa who reported on the progress of his Astrostays astronomical tourism project.

In a panel discussion experts from the tourism industry urged the tourism industry to embrace female leadership, the importance of diversity in teams, the communication prowess of female leaders, and offered guidance for prospective women managers, often hindered by self-doubt and a desire to please everyone.

Christina Verhaelen of DERTOUR and vice president of the Travel Industry Club has helped to launch a mentoring program aiming to encourage women to communicate their ambitions clearly.
Anne Rösener, a team and organizational developer, advised women to scrutinize the interpersonal dynamics at potential workplaces and to focus on issues that can aid their progress.
Highlighting the merits of diversity, Steffen Butzkow, an event organizer, praised his female colleagues' communication skills and collaborative management style.
Uwe Sieblist, an HR consultant, agreed, noting that mixed-gender teams demonstrated superior performance. Despite this, Sieblist observed that women often had to outperform their male counterparts to attain recognition.

There were also more visitors and protagonists than ever before, at the two major European hubs of support for entrepreneurs new to the European market: both the German IPD and the Dutch C B I launched a number of young operators, from Peru to Eritrea. GRT met several female entrepreneurs and will make videos and articles with them soon for you.

What points have emerged from thousands of meetings?

Content with social media and AI are increasingly important, both for planning trips and for making oneself known.
The experiences decided on location are almost more important than the location itself.
Companies have great problems in training and retaining gen Z workers, who place great importance on the inclusion of diversity and work life balance.
Accessibility for all with new technologies.
The importance of doing real sustainability, both with the new certifications of the EU Green Claim Directive, and with the Tourism Sustsainability Certification Alliance, a union of tourism's major stakeholders to ‘ensure the maintenance of global best practice standards under a shared international brand’ (on tourismsustainability.org).