The second day of BTC, the Italian trade show for the meetings, events, conferences, incentive travel and business tourism industry, opens with optimism in the air, following the announcements of Minister for Tourism Michela Vittoria Brambilla and figures provided by the Italian conference market survey Osservatorio Congressuale Italiano (OCI).
Yesterday, at the opening press conference of BTC, the Minister announced that a she has started the procedures that will lead to the establishment of the national convention bureau, which will take the form of a publicly-owned joint stock company (S.p.A.), operating in partnership with meetings industry companies.
“Our country has risen from sixth to fourth place in the international ranking drawn up by ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association), and is now positioned just after Spain and the UK,” said Minister Brambilla.
“This is significant: it tells us that we have to invest in this sector, because it eases the seasonality of tourism. All the other countries already have a national convention bureau: we now want to improve our support for the industry, which, rather than one-off measures, will take the form of ongoing programmes to enhance Italy’s offer”.
Minister Brambilla’s second announcement concerned the issuing of a decree to establish a ministerial support committee for conference tourism, which will be tasked with creating tools to promote the sector, including a website and a paper guide on Italian meetings destinations and products.
Finally, Minister Brambilla revealed that Italian tourism will also have an institutional presence at the next international shows for the meetings industry: EIBTM in Barcelona in December and the new IMEX America in Las Vegas in October 2011.
Lorenzo Cagnoni, the Chairman of Rimini Fiera Group, recalled that Rimini’s new Palacongressi conference centre will be opened soon. This high-quality facility is yet another affirmation of the region’s commitment to the industry, and raises its profile in terms of dedication to excellence and international standing.
“Despite the present economic situation, we have maintained our forecast that the new Palacongressi will triple current conference occupancy rates” he said.
“We want to increase the size of BTC, a tool used in support of the growth strategy for this industry, which is already today worth around 30% of the entire tourism market in Italy".
“BTC 2010 occupies a whole exhibition pavilion: the 320 exhibitors and 300 buyers present will generate over 7,000 business meetings,” said Paolo Audino, Managing Director of Exmedia, the company that organises BTC.
“The meetings industry needs a political point of reference and a national convention bureau, but must also move closer to tourism so as not to waste its potential”. In this regard, Audino announced that the next TTG Incontri, the international B2B tourism show scheduled for October, will include a workshop specifically dedicated to the meetings industry.
“This will strengthen BTC, we will use the synergies generated by having brought the show to Rimini, and will provide operators with further continuity with the market”.
Federcongressi Chairman Paolo Zona also sounded a positive note: “In Rimini, BTC has rediscovered its balance and its spirit. The atmosphere is the best it’s been for two years. The meetings industry has emerged from a very difficult 2009 stronger and aware that it needs to rethink certain business models."
"BTC is more than just a marketplace: I think that this year’s focus on education, to which Federcongressi is contributing, is a perfect indication of how the show is taking a different route”.
The Region of Emilia Romagna very much believes in the conference industry, says Regional Councillor for Tourism Maurizio Melucci.
“We have decided toallocate EUR 8 million to upgrading conference hotels, and together with the regional convention bureaus, we will undertake to reorganise the promotion and marketing of the sector in order to trigger a further jump in quality”.
Italian Conference Market Recovering
The presentation of the Italian conference market survey Osservatorio Congressuale (sponsored by Meeting e Congressi magazine and Riviera di Rimini Convention Bureau) took place at BTC yesterday afternoon: Attilio Gardini, professor of econometrics at the University of Bologna – Rimini Campus and head of the survey, set out data on market trends in 2009.
The speakers at the presentation were Chairman of the Riviera di Rimini Convention Bureau Mauro Ioli, Chairman of Ediman Marco Biamonti and Chairman of Federcongressi Paolo Zona.
The figures were overall positive, and show that the Italian conference market is recovering: after its blackest period at the end of 2008, the strong performances of the second half of 2009 offset the declines in the first six months of the year.
2009 still closed with a negative figure in terms of meeting numbers, which came in at 102,515 (-7.76% versus 2008), but with two important indicators – participants and attendance – in positive territory. While the number of conference delegates neared 21.5 million (21,460,610 to be precise, up 2.82% on the previous year), attendance days grew by 2.92% and topped the 35.5 million mark.
Average event duration was also positive, rising from 1.62 to 2.6 days, thanks to the double-digit increase (+11.74%) posted in the second half of 2009.
An analysis of the different venues suggests that hotels “suffered”, even in the second half of the year. Meeting attendance at hotels rose (+2.09%), but not by enough to offset the decline in the first six months (-11.89%).
Conference centres (2.03% in the first half and +12.36% in the second), historic residences (+1.98% and +15.61%) and other conference rooms (-13.29% and +19.26%) fared better.
In the second half of 2009, the impact of the recovery was mainly evident in event size. The biggest increases were registered in meetings with 300-500 participants (+4.63% versus the January-June period), but the other categories also saw growth, albeit at lower rates: +3.41% for meetings with 50-100 attendees; +2.30% for those with 100-300 delegates; +2.26% for those with 500-1,000 participants and +1.90% for events attended by more than 1,000 people.
With regard to conference clients, the meetings promoted by corporate organisations again confirmed their “health” and constant growth (+5.73% in the second half of 2009 versus the first six months), followed by scientific associations (+2.58%) and organisations/political parties/unions (+1.89%).
Again in the second half of the year, national and particularly international meetings showed signs of recovery, with advances of 7.24% for the former and 9.08% for the latter.
The results by destination were extremely varied, with the big cities and cities of art experiencing a critical period at the start of the year before leading the recovery in the second half, with significant rises in all the main indicators (+13.29% in conference attendance days, +12.06% in the number of meetings and a healthy +30.73% in the number of participants).
