ITB Berlin 2023 – A walk through Central Asia’s booths
After a break of three years the ITB Berlin 2023 is back and we used this opportunity to visit the booths of the Central Asian countries.
On March 8th, Info Shymkent had the opportunity to attend the world’s largest tourism trade fair, the ITB Berlin 2023 (Internationale Tourismus-Börse Berlin), held in the capital of Germany. The ITB Berlin is the world´s biggest travel and tourism exhibition so close to every tourist country is taking part. This year’s theme of the exhibition was Open for change. Our main goal at the travel show was to visit the booths of the Central Asian countries, namely Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan. As informative media about Central Asia, we were excited to see what these countries had to offer.
The exhibition was vast and filled with a diverse range of booths from various countries worldwide. As we made our way through the exhibition hall from the huge halls for Europe, the Americas and South East Asia and Australia/Oceania, we were already impressed by the elaborate designs and the creativity put into each booth. However, our main focus was on the booths of the Central Asian countries at the far end of the exhibition in the small hall 7.2b. That was already a pity because we expected to see the Central Asian countries more in the center of one hall with all Asian countries together.
The Kazakhstan booth was decorated with traditional Kazakh mattresses and a round table filled with Kazakh national snacks. Among the snacks were fried small bread Baursak, one of the dairy products Kurt (Qurt), and some dried fruits like dried apricots and grapes. These delicacies were offered to visitors as a sign of Kazakh hospitality, and we were not disappointed.
The booth was jointly presented by Kazakh Tourism and other travel agencies and hotels. We were able to have a conversation with Kazakh tourism agents about the current state of the tourism industry in Kazakhstan, and we found them to be friendly and welcoming.
And we were able to learn more about the country’s top tourist destinations, which included the Kazakh steppe, the Tian Shan mountains, Altai, Baikonur and many other beautiful places of Kazakhstan. We were also informed about the various outdoor activities that Kazakhstan has to offer, such as trekking, hiking and horse riding. One of our personal highlights was biking through one of the beautiful regions of Kazakhstan – through the Almaty region, an experience we would love to have.
The Kazakhstan booth unfortunately only had one large video screen that gave the visitor an impression of the magnificent and diverse landscapes of Kazakhstan. Other countries, on the other hand, presented additional large-format photographs of the landscape and culture in their booths to give visitors a preview of a potential trip.
After we had a look on the Kazakhstan booth we visited the booths of the other Central Asian countries as well, and we were pleased to see their efforts in promoting their countries tourism. Each booth had unique features and showcased their respective countries cultures and traditions.
We learned more about additional tourist attractions along the famous Silk Road, which connected Central Asia with the rest of the world, and the significant impact it had on the region’s history and development.
Attending the ITB Berlin 2023 was an enriching experience for Info Shymkent, and we were glad to see some friends after a long time again and we had the pleasure to visit Central Asian countries tourism booths. We were impressed by their efforts to promote their tourism industry and the hospitality that they extended to their visitors. We hope to see more tourists exploring the beauty and diversity of Central Asia in the coming years.
More information about the ITB Berlin 2023: