Rome hosts first international travel fair

By Nelson Alcantara
ROME (eTN) – The Italian capital is hosting its first ever international tourism fair this week from Thursday, March 22, to Saturday, March 23, at the New Fiera di Roma. Presented jointly by Fiera Roma and Rimini Fiera Gruppo via a new company called ExpoGlobe, the new entrant to the international travel exhibition scene (called Globe) covers a space of no less than 38,000 square meters.

For its inaugural effort, Globe has attracted more 1000 buyers, of whom 45 percent are Europeans and 55 percent from the rest of the world. Companies from southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East are representing their tourism products, with Italy occupying an entire exhibition hall.

Attracting a large delegation from the Mediterranean region, Globe organizers are aiming to establish Globe as the biggest tourist marketplace in the Mediterranean. This year's edition, Globe has set aside two separate halls for Italy and Mediterranean destinations including Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Tunisia, and Jordan.

Rome-based journalist Mario Masciullo, who attends travel fairs all over the world, praised Globe organizers. While he intimates that a few things need to be ironed out, he is optimistic about the prospects of Globe becoming a mainstay in Rome's tourism industry.

In conjunction with this year's Globe, the annual Italian Art Cities Exchange presented it twelfth edition. This year, Italian Art Cities Exchange attracted 250 participants.

Globe is unique in that it is utilizing the exhibition to lure investments in tourism, a practice organizers refer to as "lobby fair." To be held on March 23 at the Sheraton Golf Hotel, "Investment Globe" is expected to attract banks, real estate development companies and institutional agencies.

Like its Berlin and London counterparts, Globe offers attendees the chance to take part in discussions of the day's most relevant issues. "Tourism: As a Vehicle for Peace" and "Tourism: As Alternative Energy to Economy" drew the biggest attendance during this year's meet.

The latter turned in a heated debate among the speakers about Italy's tourism vision and objectives. "Italy has a great potential to tap tourism," said Angelo Balducci, head of the department for the development and competition in tourism. "We need to think and stimulate in terms of quality." He said the Italian government is cooperating with regions and stakeholders in tourism to make sure this is met.

Contazo Janotti Pecci , chairman of Italy's Federturimo, said Italy does a good job in projecting itself as a dream destination, and that it must do more to make sure that it delivers on this promise.

Centro Italiano Studi Economie Turistico (Ciset) director Mara Manente pointed out that Italy's tourism products are becoming harder and harder to identify from the many messages that get put out by other destinations. To prove her point, she cited a study that analyzed the region's marketing efforts in hopes of identifying Italy's tourism products. The study wanted to find out if Tuscany, being one of Italy's products, could be identified from a series of pictures. "We could not identify which pictures were of Tuscany," she revealed.

For his part, Tralliance CEO Ron Andruff noted the significance of making the distinction between mature markets, which he identified Italy as being, and emerging markets. According to him, Italy should focus on features that make its tourism industry unique.

The Tralliance chairman also mentioned that tourism has become an integral part of society in that it has become a "need" instead of a "want."

March 26, 2007   Posted in: Italy