A spectacular conclusion to the World’s Largest Travel Trade Show®: the ITB Grand Finale on Sunday, 11 March 2018 will be the official final event of ITB Berlin, featuring dance performances from Zambia, Malaysia and the Dominican Republic. From 3.30 to 5 p.m., together with a host of different cultures, exhibitors, guests and visitors will be celebrating a spectacular ending to the 52nd ITB Berlin.
Mary Amiri, the award-winning event and television presenter, will moderate the colourful programme of events which is traditionally organised by exhibitors. Admission is free for holders of a visitor’s ticket on the Sunday of the show.
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, this year’s partner country of ITB Berlin, will bring events to a close in a maritime atmosphere with the all-male shanty choir ‘Plauer See’. Visitors are expressly invited to sing and join in. The tiny nation of Estonia will be represented with Nordic music. The eight-member female group ‘Naized’, founded in 2006, will sing a selection of traditional Estonian folk songs.
As well as to Nordic regions, the Grand Finale will also be taking visitors on a trip to exotic countries, for example Zambia, this year’s Culture & Convention Partner of ITB Berlin. The flowing movements of its traditional dance performances reflect the many different cultures of this African nation. The Kecak, a traditional dance from Indonesia, will have visitors longing for faraway destinations. It is one of Bali’s most famous artistic creations, and with its delicate hand movements the dance is also an expression of Hindu mythology.
Towards the end of the Grand Finale 2018 visitors can look forward to the ceremonial ‘passing of the baton’ from one partner country, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, to another, Malaysia, the partner country of ITB Berlin 2019. This country in southeastern Asia will be whetting visitors’ appetites with traditional music and dance performances for next year’s visit to the World’s Largest Travel Trade Show®.
The Delphic Games: a global stage for art and cultures
Ever since 2010 ITB Berlin has been organising the ITB Grand Finale in cooperation with the International Delphic Council (IDC), a global cultural organisation. The Delphic Games, which it organises, are literally the sister event of the Olympics. Just as fire stands for the Olympic Games, so their defining symbol is water. In ancient Greece the Delphic Games took place regularly for almost 1,000 years, always in the year preceding the Olympic Games. Nowadays, different venues host the Delphic Games and Delphic Youth Games every four years.
