Rimini (Italy), 14th October 2021 – Confidence has put tourism back on track. This is the message that arrived loud and clear, yesterday morning at the opening ceremony of Italian Exhibition Group’s TTG Travel Experience, ongoing until 15th October at Rimini Expo Centre together with SIA Hospitality Design and SUN Beach&Outdoor Style.

The inaugural meeting saw introductory greetings from Lorenzo Cagnoni, President of Italian Exhibition Group, Jamil Sadegholvaad, Mayor of Rimini, and Andrea Corsini, Councillor for Tourism.

This was followed by a talk show hosted by Simona Ventura with Massimo Garavaglia, Minister for Tourism, Giorgio Palmucci, President of ENIT – Italian Tourist Board, Fabio Lazzerini, Chief Executive Officer of ITA – Italian Air Transport, and Bernabò Bocca, President of Federalberghi.

Speaking to a large audience of institutional representatives and sector operators, Simona Ventura opened the meeting with an effective phrase: “We’re the re-starters.”

“The theme of confidence is fundamental and must be based on numbers,” began Tourism Minister Massimo Garavaglia. “In 2021, our GDP will grow by 6% and by a further 4% next year, which will allow us to reabsorb these two years of pandemic. But in Italy, tourism can easily reach 20% of the GDP, the important thing is to get organised and plan. The fundamentals are there in the NRRP, even for digital technology, and then there are the two billion euros to invest in the quality of the hospitality system, which should be put before the Council of Ministers on Friday.”

“The many operators I see here are certainly the best sign of recovery,” said President Cagnoni, “This is the real marketplace for the whole tourism supply chain. Foreign buyers come to TTG to close their tourist packages; Italian tour operators come to update their offer for Italian travellers. And then we find the constant renewal work that designers are developing for the hospitality sector with two fine exhibitions at SIA. And, lastly, at SUN, the ferment of seaside tourism and campsites, ever more attentive to style and catering and peculiarities of Italian tourism products. You see the words TTG, SIA and SUN and you read Italian tourism industry.”

“The work carried out in Rimini over the last ten years can be a model to apply on a large scale,” explained newly-appointed Mayor, Jamil Sadegholvaad . “At a national level, we have a great opportunity to make the most of the important resources of the NRRP, a unique opportunity that Italy must seize in order to equip itself with adequate infrastructures and to make its beauty flourish again. To win this challenge, after an unrepeatable season of domestic tourism, in the near future we will have to be able to intercept and manage European and international flows in the best possible way to meet the high expectations that the rest of the world has of our country. And I am certain that we will succeed.”

“Confident is starting a remodelled airline in 90 days,” explained ITA CEO Fabio Lazzerini, “with an order for 80 new-generation aircraft. Digitalisation, people and environmental and economic sustainability are our cornerstones in a changing scenario. The traveller is moving away from the city break model in favour of stationary tourism. Longer stays require direct flights. Until recently, 62% of every 100 people requesting a direct flight would fly via a European airport. Our aim is to redress the balance.”

“Italy needs normality, the tourists will come back,” assured Bernabò Bocca, President of Federalberghi “For 2022, we need to implement a reorganization plan after a year in which hotels missed the intercontinental component from the Far East and Russia. Businesses lost about 70% of their turnover. We are first in Europe for the number of hotels with 33 thousand hotels and 1.3 million rooms. The only thing that needs to be done is to re-organize and give selective aid based on turnover”.

“A great atmosphere at TTG,” commented Andrea Corsini , Emilia-Romagna’s Regional Councillor for Tourism. “Thanks to vaccines and the Green Pass we are looking to the future with great confidence. For Emilia-Romagna, 70-75% of tourists and the sector’s turnover comes from the seaside offer, but we have other qualities that need to be enhanced: cine-tourism, the foodvalley and motorvalley. We have launched new measures to support businesses, such as the revolving fund for hotel companies, and in addition to the NRRP, we will also be able to draw on European structural funds. In order to get going again, it is important to innovate the tourism offer so that Italy can continue to be competitive on an international level”.

“During the year in which the pandemic accelerated processes that were already underway and Italians rediscovered Italy,” said Giorgio Palmucci, President of ENIT, “we supported digital hub activities by developing communication and a strategy for arriving at tourists from all over the world. Now it is important to work together to put Italian excellence back on top and retrieve our tourist flows, especially intercontinental ones. We are working with the Middle East, Asia and America. The important thing is not to forget that tourism is also outgoing.”

TTG Travel Experience, SIA Hospitality Design and SUN Beach&Outdoor Style take place alongside Superfaces Lite, a brand-new marketplace with innovative materials for interiors, design and architecture.

As at all IEG exhibitions and events, TTG, SIA, SUN and SUPERFACES will take place in total safety, thanks to applying the #SAFEBUSINESS by IEG protocol and GBAC STAR™ accreditation, the global certification programme for international standards of cleaning, sanitisation and prevention of infectious risks for trade show staff.

Rimini Expo Centre. Photo: Official website of the event.