Berlin. Business is humming again, but there is still some scepticism. Particularly at the 14th International Hotel Investment Forum, it turned out that the financial world cannot keep up with the sector’s demand for new projects yet. There are still major regional differences. In contrast, the 45th ITB was more colourful and versatile: the largest tourism barometer in the world indicated “clear weather”, the mood was positive right from the start and significantly better than last year. However, order volumes during the five days remained on the 2010 level of more than six billion euros – at least according to a preliminary estimate. A comparison of statistics showed decreasing numbers of visitors, whereas the number of trade visitors remained on the same level. The convention supporting programme turned out to be an ITB magnet recording a 15-percent increase in visitors.
