Rimini. 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).
At the opening press conference of BTC, the Minister announced that 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”.