Rimini Fiera’s European appointment dedicated to the tourist chain continues to grow.
At the expo over three thousand companies, key players on a growing market.
Great rise in the international profile and full representation
of most innovative trends for the vacation business,
the hospitality system and outdoor furniture.
Watch the video: http://bit.ly/1R3JCqN
Rimini, 10th October 2015 – Innovation, new business, internationality and a wave of optimism. The three-day event at Rimini Fiera dedicated to the tourist industry, which in Italy almost reaches a turnover of 100 billion euros, ended today with a very positive balance.
The 52nd TTG Incontri, 64th SIA Guest and 33rd Sun were attended by 63,045 trade visitors (4.8% more than 2014), who fully met the expectations of the over three thousand exhibitors who occupied the expo centre’s sixteen halls. There was a great increase in the participation of foreign trade members, which rose by 19%. 130 tourist destinations took part in the expo, over 1,000 buyers from 85 countries, 700 journalists accredited in the pressroom with 300 bloggers gathered at TDBItaly, selected to participate in B2B sessions with destinations, tourist boards and trade members.
Inaugurated last Thursday by Undersecretary Francesca Barracciu, with the participation of Rimini’s mayor Andrea Gnassi and Rimini Fiera chairman Lorenzo Cagnoni, the expos showed strong signs of dynamism, which were also confirmed in the contents proposed by the most authoritative players: the number of tourists visiting Italy is rising (Source – Federalberghi: 2.8% more Italians and 3.6% more from abroad); two thirds of the travel agencies estimated a higher turnover in 2015 (source: Milan Polytechnic’s Observatory of Digital Innovation in Tourism).
Rimini Fiera chairman Lorenzo Cagnoni comments, “Rimini, with its international expos dedicated to the tourist trade, confirms its role as a reference point for the enterprises that feed a market that is constantly growing worldwide. We are also particularly satisfied with scoring a bull’s eye with the idea of combining the three expos, adding SUN this year and thus also ensuring their expansion. The result was a very solid business platform, exactly what every exhibitor and every visitors looks for in an expo.”
Four mainstays formed the launching pad for such a edition positive: the effectiveness of a single venue for the whole chain, the double-digit increase in foreign participants, the quality of the business relations set up, the contents made available to trade members by the most authoritative players on the international scenario, to also give an idea of the dimension of the “digital revolution” involving tourism.
Rimini Fiera Tourism business unit manager Paolo Audino confirms, “The ‘crossover’ between the expos generated a multiplier of interest and business for the enterprises. SIA Guest and Sun integrate perfectly with TTG Incontri and confirmed the signs of an upswing for which we have worked hard in recent months. This resulted in a complete representation of the market, completed by the profile of the contents, featuring technology and advanced training, that make Rimini Fiera a key European player in this sector.”
Numerous events were held at TTG Incontri 2015, opened by the announcement of the Federalberghi figures regarding hotel clients in Italy in the first nine months of 2015. From the expo, Chairman Bernabò Bocca also stressed the uncertainty that weighs heavily on the entire sector and afflicts the balances of hospitality enterprises, from which the hotel sector’s employment figures emerge, showing a drop the workforce of 1.3%, divided into -0.6% among employees with a permanent contract and -1.9% among those with a fixed-term contract.
The expo hosted the debut and the first initiatives resulting from the agreement signed between the NetComm Italian e-commerce consortium and TTG Incontri, aimed at training in e-commerce and its implementation in the tourist trade. In coming months there will be other appointments, including a training course for tourist trade enterprises travelling round the major Italian cities; a market analysis is also scheduled and will be presented in 2016 at TTG Incontri and the E-Commerce Forum.
From Euromonitor, at TTG Incontri, there was the analysis of what is described as The online revolution. The tourism industry accounts for almost 10% of the world’s GDP. Tourist arrivals throughout the world have increased from 900 million in 2009 to 1,200 million in 2015 and the annual growth will continue at a rate of 4% until 2019.
For Euromonitor online travel analyst Angelo Rossini, “Europe is loosing market share compared to Asia, which is growing. However, Italy has a good growth margin if it improves its services and facilities and works on fine-tuned marketing. The online e mobile revolutions can be allies. The new business models arrive from the revolution launched by the OLTAs, which have compelled tour operators and conventional agencies to re-think their modus operandi. Online travel is the force that’s changing tourism: nowadays, information on destinations and the purchase of services is not only received or done before travelling, but also and above all during travel and, from this point of view, are not online, but the mobile aspects are revolutionizing the very way in which vacations are sold.” A revolution that caught many people unprepared, but certainly not the OLTAs, such as Expedia and Booking.com, who offer an increasing number of personalized mobile services.
At TTG Incontri 2015 the spotlight was on Sri Lanka, Cultural Focus Country. The country’s cultural tourism has been rewarded by international trade members, and boasts a growing attention on behalf of the market, thanks to its lively attractive proposals for international tourism.
Last year over 21,000 tourists arrived from Italy in Sri Lanka, which aims at doubling the number over the next two years. Italy is one of the country’s seven most important incoming markets, with China at the top of the ranking, followed by India, France and Germany.There are also numerous initiatives on behalf of the ministry for tourism and the possibilities of accommodation are increasingly suited to the requirements of western and international tourists.
Expectations were met with the figures reported by the Digital Tourism Innovation Observatory of Milan Polytechnic’s School of Management, also supported by TTG Incontri. In 2015 it is estimated that purchases for tourism and travel Italy connected with Hospitality Facilities, means of Transport and Travel Packages will exceed 51 billion euros, considering Italians who stay in Italy and those going abroad, as well as foreign tourists coming to Italy. There was therefore a rise of 3% on 2014, generated by both traditional tourism (+1%, compared to figures that were substantially steady in 2014) and above all the more innovative tourism that uses digital channels (+11%, slightly higher than the growth compared to that of the previous year, of 9%). In 2015, the digital market reached an overall value of 9.5 billion euros.
The successful TTGNext area, the Innovation Village of TTG Incontri, which featured the most innovative enterprises (proposals from start-up companies taking part met with success) and contents that the tourism world is able to offer today for the prospects of development of the industry’s enterprises. An area of over 1,200 square metres dedicated to innovation, new ideas for products, business, communication and technology for tourism.
The expo was “invaded” by bloggers. There was great excitement, at TDBItaly, with over three hundred national and international bloggers and video makers, selected to take part in B2B sessions with destinations, tourist boards and trade members as well as having the possibility of participating in training seminars and post tours.
There was real business substance at the MeetYourBlogger meeting, at which the tourist trade’s B2B members and national and internationalbloggers from the Culture, Wine & Food, Outdoor and Luxury clusters got together to plan future business.
The TTG Incontri showcase was chosen to present #FattiPrenotABILE, an online portal dedicated to the vacations of 13 million Italians (source: Istat) with disabilities.
In fact, a 2015 Doxa survey estimates that 16.4% of Italian families has accessibility needs during their vacations and Istat also adds that the 13 million Italians (over the age of 15) with disabilities, invalidities or serious chronic illnesses, represent 25,5% of the resident population of the same age.Of them, approximately 3 million have serious limitations, i.e. maximum difficulty in at least one of the motor or sensory functions or in the essential activities of day-to-day life. On Friday, there was also a flash mob to attract the attention of the tourist trade to the sector’s needs, but also its potential.
Another significant project presented at TTG Incontri was Signa Maris, organized by the intermediary body of the POIn “Attrattori culturali, naturali e turismo” of the MIBACT, with the collaboration of Invitalia. Signa Maris was founded to favour the promotion and exploitation of local areas by means of the development of nautical tourism. The project is a means of promotion not only of the coasts, but also of the entire landscape, cultural and gourmet heritage, as well as the enterprise situation of the areas to which tourist ports are the ideal “gateways” for access.
The initiative involved 38 tourist ports in Calabria, Campania, Puglia and Sicily, with the intention of promoting the southern Italian areas by means of the set-up of a new system combining tourist facilities of a traditional nature with nautical tourism.
The appointment with the tourism expos is at Rimini Fiera in October 2016
