Press report of ARGE Lateinamerika e.V.

for ITB 2010

Review of 2009 and planned activities for 2010

Successful Roadshow 2009
ags/ Annual seminars and training work are among the most important tasks of
the association “Arbeitsgemeinschaft (ARGE) Lateinamerika e.V.”. In 2009, over
160 employees and managers of travel agencies took part in the Roadshow in
Berlin, Hamburg and Düsseldorf.

During the evening events, with the motto “On a journey of discovery through
Latin America”, the participants received extensive product information and first-
hand information about the different countries. Latin America specialists impar-
ted information about popular and less-well-known areas, special activities, spe-
cial flight details, health and safety issues, hotels, rental cars, museums, pyram-
ids, beaches, country, people and a wide range of insider tips. Numerous ARGE
members introduced themselves and presented their destinations and travel
programmes at the so-called “Mercado”, a mini-trade-fair held at the event.

In addition to the Germany Roadshow, a training course for Swiss travel agen-
cies was held in Switzerland for the first time, on 20 October 2009, in Zurich.
“Despite the global crisis, Latin America has maintained and consolidated its po-
sition as a premium destination in the German-speaking market. For this
reason, ARGE Lateinamerika wishes not only to take part in trade shows in
Switzerland, but also to share to over 25 years of expertise with professionals

March 2010 1
Arge Lateinamerika e.V. Press Office • Contact: Birgit Bienhaus•
Ringstr. 11 • 85232 Bergkirchen• Tel. +49 (0)176 5409 6398• Fax +49 (0)8135 994 852
e-mail: presse@lateinamerika.org, www.lateinamerika.org
from travel agencies,” says Andreas Gross, Chairman of ARGE Lateinamerika
e.V. More than 30 interested travel agents from all over Switzerland, some of
whom had travelled a long way, took part in the informative one-day seminar.

As in the previous year, there was great demand and long waiting lists for the
Argentina seminars held by the association on behalf of the Instituto Nacional
de Promoción Turistica de Argentina. On 22 and 26 October 2009, around 140
travel agents informed themselves in Dresden and Munich about what this
South American country has to offer tourists. The representatives of the tourist
industry were given a taste of Argentina with a live tango show and culinary
specialities.

Furthermore, in cooperation with BEST RMG as part of their WeltKlasse Expert

Academy, two training courses were held for employees of BEST RMG travel
agencies. These took place in November in Munich and Frankfurt.

All in all, we were able to provide some 360 travel agents with expert training
about the Latin American regions in 2009.

For these travel professionals, participation in the seminars offered by the asso-
ciation constitutes the first step on the way to becoming certified “Latin Amer-
ica Experts”, a seal of approval for which they can qualify by taking part in vari-
ous training courses. The objective of this certification is to build up a pool of
qualified travel agency employees to whom the association and its members, as
well as the representatives of the countries concerned, can have recourse.
There are meanwhile more than 100 Latin America Experts in Germany, whose
certificates enable them to market their particular expertise in providing advice
about Latin America. The certificate is valid for three years and can then be re-
newed, ensuring that the individual adviser’s knowledge of Latin America is kept
up to date. Further information about the Latin America Expert programme can
be found under http://www.lateinamerika.org/touristiker_guetesiegel.php .

March 2010 2
Arge Lateinamerika e.V. Press Office • Contact: Birgit Bienhaus•
Ringstr. 11 • 85232 Bergkirchen• Tel. +49 (0)176 5409 6398• Fax +49 (0)8135 994 852
e-mail: presse@lateinamerika.org, www.lateinamerika.org
Vocational school seminars provided by the association
Since 2001, ARGE Lateinamerika e.V. has also been holding regular seminars
for future employees of the tourist industry at vocational schools. Regional geo-
graphy, travel options, insider tips and a hint of Latin American flair are imparted
here in an entertaining way. In 2009, around 120 budding tourism professionals
were trained in two one-day seminars.

Planned activities for 2010

In 2010, vocational school seminars are on the association’s seminar pro-
gramme once again. One date has already been set for a seminar in the
Merkur-Akademie in Halle.

The popular Roadshow, with its programme of evening events, is being held
from 26 to 29 April 2010 in Mannheim, Stuttgart, Munich and Salzburg. Due to
the positive feedback from the event in Vienna in 2008, Austria is back as a
venue on the association’s training programme.

Thanks to the major success of the Argentina seminars, the Instituto Nacional
de Promoción Turistica de Argentina will be hosting four of these evening
events together with the association in Germany in 2010, and, for the first time,
four more in Switzerland.

With its training courses, the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Lateinamerika e.V. aims to

provide general information about the entire region and to compensate for the
lack of information about the destination areas.

In the coming trade show season 2010/2011, the association will also be rep-
resented again at the important trade shows for the travel branch.

March 2010 3
Arge Lateinamerika e.V. Press Office • Contact: Birgit Bienhaus•
Ringstr. 11 • 85232 Bergkirchen• Tel. +49 (0)176 5409 6398• Fax +49 (0)8135 994 852
e-mail: presse@lateinamerika.org, www.lateinamerika.org
Seventh issue of the Latin America magazine
published for ITB 2010
ags/ First published in 2000, a seventh issue of the magazine “América Latina”,
produced by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Lateinamerika e.V., is being published in
time for the ITB. The magazine is the only brochure that reports on all countries
in the Latin American subcontinent. In addition to interesting reports by journal -
ists on a variety of tourism-related and cultural topics, it also offers detailed
travel information about the individual countries. The topics in the new issue in-
clude “Magical Latin America”, “Colonial towns with flair”, “Columbia as an up-
and-coming tourist destination”, a cruise to Antarctica/Tierra del Fuego, and
many other exciting reports about and from the different regions. The reader will
also find the traditional country info pages and numerous travel tips for Latin
America.

The informative magazine, with its attractive design, regularly enjoys great de-
mand in the travel sector, and also from customers. People interested in travel-
ling can obtain the magazine on request from ARGE Lateinamerika, via www.re-
isekatalog-welt.de, or at one of the many tourism trade shows. Tourism profes-
sionals in travel agencies can order the required number of copies quickly and
easily via the INFOX ordering service.

The magazine “América Latina” is also available in large quantities, free of

charge, for interested travel agencies or other tourism service providers, for dis-
tribution to interested customers. Interested parties can request the magazine
from the ARGE Lateinamerika office by e-mail at info@lateinamerika.org or on
the Internet at www.lateinamerika.org.

March 2010 4
Arge Lateinamerika e.V. Press Office • Contact: Birgit Bienhaus•
Ringstr. 11 • 85232 Bergkirchen• Tel. +49 (0)176 5409 6398• Fax +49 (0)8135 994 852
e-mail: presse@lateinamerika.org, www.lateinamerika.org
Latin America at the travel trade shows
Information for trade show visitors
ags/ The new magazine “América Latina” will also be available, fresh off the
press, for visitors to the association’s booth at ITB in Berlin. From 10 to 14
March 2010, ARGE Lateinamerika e.V. is presenting the countries of Latin
America at Booth 211, Hall 1.1.

For the current trade show season 2009/2010, ARGE Lateinamerika e.V. and its
members can look back on successful participation at the travel trade shows
in Vienna, Stuttgart, Zurich, Hamburg and Munich. Despite the financial crisis
from autumn 2008 onwards, this also applies to last season 2008/2009. Associ-
ation members at the booths received many interested visitors. At the trade
show booths, various representatives of the destination areas, specialist tour
operators and airlines provided information and tips and presented their new
travel programmes and current range of services.

A particular highlight for all Latin America fans at various trade shows was the
presentation “Fascination Latin America” by Andreas M. Gross, Chairman of
ARGE Lateinamerika e.V. Whole audiences were transported to Latin America –
albeit only in their thoughts.

Latin America Forum

This year, the well-established Latin America Forum, which has been held at
the ITB each year since 2004 in cooperation with Messe Berlin, will be address-
ing the topic “Sustainability in Latin America – Fad or Future?”. Expert
speakers will be offering their opinions, considering various points of view,
presenting sustainable concepts and their way to the customer. Co-hosts this
year are Brazil and Ecuador, whose representatives will be reporting on the
definition, strategy and implementation of sustainability in their respective coun-
tries. This will be followed by a panel discussion where the audience will also be
able to ask questions. The Forum is being held as part of Destination Day 2 on
Thursday, 11 March 2010, from 10.30 am to 12.30 pm in Hall 7.1a, Auditor -

March 2010 5
Arge Lateinamerika e.V. Press Office • Contact: Birgit Bienhaus•
Ringstr. 11 • 85232 Bergkirchen• Tel. +49 (0)176 5409 6398• Fax +49 (0)8135 994 852
e-mail: presse@lateinamerika.org, www.lateinamerika.org
ium New York 1. More detailed information can be found at www.itb-kon-
gress.de.

At this year’s ITB, two new activities are being offered for the first time in co -
operation with Messe Berlin: the first of these, a special sales and marketing
course for operators from Latin America, is being held on 10 March 2010 at
5.00 pm. In addition to cultural issues relevant to Europe, and in particular Ger-
many, the event will also provide extensive information about the structure of
the German travel market. The second new activity is a guided tour of the
trade show for exhibitors from Latin America. From 12.30 pm on 11 March 2010,
the association and Messe Berlin will be accompanying participants through the
halls to selected booths to provide them with stimuli in terms of market position-
ing and communication strategies.

The association “Arbeitsgemeinschaft (ARGE) Lateinamerika e.V.”, founded in

1982, is committed to supporting tourism to the countries of Latin America. The
association has more than 70 members from all branches of the tourist industry
and campaigns for improved understanding of this unique cultural and natural
environment. Travel agencies, interested tourists and media representatives
can find information about ARGE Lateinamerika e.V. and the countries of Latin
America on the association’s Internet site www.lateinamerika.org. A photo
archive can also be downloaded here free of charge by industry insiders and
editorial departments.

March 2010 6
Arge Lateinamerika e.V. Press Office • Contact: Birgit Bienhaus•
Ringstr. 11 • 85232 Bergkirchen• Tel. +49 (0)176 5409 6398• Fax +49 (0)8135 994 852
e-mail: presse@lateinamerika.org, www.lateinamerika.org