Berlin, 27 July 2010 Berlin Tourismus Marketing GmbH (BTM) presents its new website for the travel industry in time for the RDA Workshop 2010. The B2B portal www.traveltrade.visitberlin.de provides information on everything of interest to the travel industry: from new events and Berlin highlights over the latest photos down to details of the comprehensive service offerings of BTM and its partners. The new concept features a fresh editorial approach and streamlined design. The new online portal is already available in German and English; other language versions are planned.

The new edition of “BusStop Berlin” can be downloaded from the website; it is an orientation guide for coach-friendly Berlin. The bilingual folding leaflet is published every year by the Berlin Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) and BTM. It contains up-to-date information on coach parking spaces, bus stops, bus lanes, bridge heights and the Berlin environmental zone. The city is particularly attractive to visitors who travel to the German capital by coach. It boasts an excellent infrastructure with numerous bus lanes and more than 650 downtown coach parking spaces. All of the city’s attractions can be easily reached by coach.

“Between five and ten percent of visitors travel here by coach. Coach tourists are therefore very important for the Berlin travel industry”, says Burkhard Kieker, the CEO of BTM. “Besides the special atmosphere in Berlin, visitors particularly appreciate the excellent value for money offered by the city.”

Christian Wiesenhütter, Deputy Director General of the Berlin IHK comments, “Berlin’s bus friendliness is a location advantage that must be maintained and enhanced. No other mode of transport conveys visitors more comfortably over long distances right into the downtown area. Berlin will need an overall concept to ensure that coach tourists will be able to easily reach the capital’s highlights in future, too. The innovative coach guidance system, which is currently being put in place for Museum Island, could then indicate to coaches throughout the city where the nearest available parking space is located.”

The current offerings of the German capital for coach tourists are the focus of BTM’s trade fair presence at this year’s RDA Workshop on stand F09 in hall 10.1. Europe’s largest procurement fair for international coach travel is held in Cologne from 27 to 29 July 2010.

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