Kiribu

I read a quote somewhere recently that said something along the lines of: “If you’re in travel and you’re not attending the ITB in Berlin, then you’re not in travel”.

With that in mind, we decided we should check it out!

We found a lovely hostel, Die Etage, where we stayed during our visit, which is located a couple of stops from the exhibition center and is only 30 minutes from Tegel Airport.

ITB Berlin is the world’s biggest trade fair spread over 160,000 square meters and, with over 180 countries exhibiting their attractions, there was a lot of walking to be done in the 2 days that we were there.

Alex and myself, Robert, spent the entire weekend at the show, visiting booths for many countries. In the end we managed to speak to representatives from the Tourist Boards of almost 50 countries. The feedback was very enthusiastic. Many are keen to sign up, and we expect they will join over the next few months. Many were also keen to send details of Kiribu to their contacts in the private sector.

The fair is well worth a visit, even if you aren’t in the travel industry, as each nation puts on plenty of traditional performances which are great to watch and you can get excellent information about each country from local experts – a bit like here on Kiribu.

A funny moment occurred when I mentioned to the Tongan Marketing Manager that we had one Tongan business member, Fins ‘n’ Flukes. She knew the company – in fact there was a massive pile of promotional leaflets for them in front of me that I hadn’t even noticed!

We are optimistic that there will be significant growth in Kiribu Business membership over the next few months, to the point that we can start marketing Kiribu as the place to go for travellers if they want the latest local information about their next holiday destination.

If you haven’t signed up with Kiribu already, have a look round our website, and if you do sign up now we will offer support to help you make the most of your account.