Macau Government Tourist Office(MGTO) and the Macau travel trade participated at the ITB Berlin 2012 to strengthen ties with the international travel trade and to promote the positioning of Macau as a World Center of Tourism and Leisure. MGTO deputy director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes led the Macau delegation to the exhibition, held from March 7 to 9 in Berlin, capital of Germany. MGTO's 90 square meter booth at ITB this year showcased the latest updates and tourism products in Macau, so to uplift the destination awareness of Macau and to tap more overseas markets. During the exhibition, travel trade representatives from Macau, Germany and around the world met for business. This year, the exhibition booths of MGTO, China National Tourism Administration and Hong Kong Tourism Board located beside each other for better promotional impact. Besides taking part in various activities promoted by the organizer, MGTO and HKTB jointly invited key media and travel trade partners to a cocktail reception on March 8. This event helped benefit the long-term tourism development of both regions. During the three-day exhibition, deputy Director Fernandes took interviews with the media and appointments with tourism executives, in order to attract more visitors from Europe to experience Macau's unique blend of East and West cultures. As a world's leading travel trade show, ITB Berlin has a history of over 40 years. This year, the gigantic display area of 160,000 square meters welcomed about 11,000 exhibitors from 180 countries and regions in the exhibition, which is hailed as one of the largest travel fairs in the world. Over 170,000 visitors, among which 108,000 trade visitors and over 7,000 media representatives were present.