| | Wednesday, 24 October 2012 | |
| WORKSHOP ITALIA COMES TO CANADA | | Italian suppliers visit Canada to showcase the destinations' offerings | | Zachary-Cy Vanasse |
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| Eugenio Magnani, director, North America, Agenzia Nazionale del Turismo & Tullio Guma, consul general of Italy in Toronto |
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Workshop Italia, a trade market involving Italian tour operators, Italian travel suppliers, Canadian tour operators and Canadian travel agents, took place high above the city of Toronto on Tuesday at Toula restaurant, located on the 38th floor of The Westin Harbour Castle.
With the city and Lake Ontario sprawling out below, more than 70 Canadian travel professionals were given the opportunity to exchange ideas, discuss strategies and create business opportunities with the 18 Italian travel suppliers who were in Canada specifically for these meetings.
“We think there are a lot of opportunities for the Italian suppliers, like hoteliers and tour operators, to meet with the Canadian travel industry because there is the dream of [travelling to] Italy in Canada. We want to give Canadians the opportunity to explore new possibilities, new hotels, new properties and new ideas,” Eugenio Magnani, director, North America, Agenzia Nazionale del Turismo told TRAVELHotNews.com.
The director also believes that Workshop Italia is important to demonstrate to the Italian travel suppliers that Canada is a vital travel market that they need to be pursuing to the best of their abilities.
“Canada is a very important market with a lot of opportunities for the future,” said Magnani. “I think it is important for us to meet with the public of Canada, but more importantly it is important for us to meet with who is generating that [travel] dream: the Canadian travel industry.”
In 2012, between 650,000 and 700,000 Canadians will travel to Italy and each Canadian visitor will spend an average €1,000 in destination, according to Magnani. While the number of Canadian visitors to Italy is a relatively small fraction of the entire international tourism market that visits the country each year, the average spend by Canadians in destination is quite significant.
Magnani added that the number of Canadians with Italian heritage allows the destination to strike a particularly strong chord within the market.
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| Eugenio Magnani, director, North America, Agenzia Nazionale del Turismo |
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“I think there is a very important relationship between Canada and Italy. There are a lot of Italian-Canadians who maybe want to visit this country,” he said.
Italy continually ranks as one of the world’s most popular travel destinations year in and year out. While the destination certainly has no complaints about its massive popularity, the constant travel attention forces Italy to continue to find new ways for people to experience it. Showcasing many of those newly created travel experiences is central to the idea behind Workshop Italia.
“We try to put together ideas that Italy is not just about culture or food or wine or fashion. It is a combination of experiences. We try to give the Canadian travel industry the possibility to generate new ideas of travel. We try to generate new experiences related to well being, to active holidays, to cycling, cooking courses, wine itineraries and many others,” Magnani explained.
The Italian suppliers present at Workshop Italia included Amanda Tour, Andiamo Travel, Arena Di Verona Opera, Associazione Albergatori, Polignano A Mare, Atlante Hotels, Baglioni Hotels. Gartour by HTS Group – Italy, GB Thermae Hotels, Grand Hotel Poltu Quata, Grand Hotel Principe di Piemonte, Hotel Romanico Palace & Spa, King DMC, Parma Incoming Tour Operator and DMC Per Parma, Podium, Sina, Starhotels and Tombolo Talasso Resort.
Also in attendance was the recently appointed consul general of Italy in Toronto, Tullio Guma, who shared his thoughts on the importance of the workshop and offered the Italian consulate’s assistance in generating Canadian travel to the country.
“As Italian consul general, I am ready and very open to all of you to do what we can do together,” said Guma. “I would like to encourage all Canadian representatives to do their best to promote Italian tourism, and I want to thank them and the Italian suppliers for being here for us for this event.”
Following the afternoon and evening of meetings, the Canadian and Italian travel professionals experienced a taste of Italy as traditional Italian dishes were served for dinner.
Workshop Italia will move on to New York City later this week.
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