SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 26 Oct. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Italian Federation of Travel and Tourism Business Associations has chosen the island of Tenerife to celebrate its annual convention, in which some 60 professionals have gathered to share strategies to reactivate the tourism industry from innovation and analyze the transition towards sustainability economic and environmental, as well as the outlook for 2023.
The president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Pedro Martín, participated in the inauguration of this meeting, which has the collaboration of Turismo de Tenerife and Turespaña. Pedro Martín referred to connectivity with Italy: “At the moment we have connections with nine Italian airports, which we intend to expand in the future. This winter, around 150,000 seats will be offered”.
The president added that the Cabildo is working “to renew the destination in a very powerful way, from many areas, to consolidate Tenerife as an intelligent destination, which is committed to sustainability and digitization to be increasingly competitive and value our natural wealth, gastronomy, culture and traditions”. “What we are doing is preparing ourselves to live up to what the 21st century tourist and the European visitor in particular are asking of us,” he added.
The president also said that Tenerife is the island with the highest volume of air traffic and Italian tourism arriving in the Canary Islands, with 45% of all travellers. “This year, until August, almost 100,000 people from Italy had stayed on the island, a figure that places us 10% above the data for 2019, referring to a year of tourist normality, before the pandemic” said.
The opening ceremony was attended by the Federation’s president, Ivana Jelinic, the Italian vice-consul in Tenerife, Gianluca Cappelli, and the director of the Spanish Tourist Office in Rome, Gonzalo Ceballos. The opening was also attended by the island’s Director of Tourism of the Cabildo, Laura Castro, and the CEO of Tenerife Tourism, David Pérez.
The Italian vice-consul in Tenerife, Gianluca Cappelli, highlighted the important relationship between Italy and the islands, “both because of the high number of travelers of that nationality who spend their holidays here, where more than half repeat, and because of those who decide to settle Permanently”.
For her part, Ivana Jelinic indicated that this is the Federation’s first official convention abroad since the pandemic, “an outstanding celebration for us because our agents can experience this wonderful island in an authentic way, in the first person. For this I want to thank the president of the Cabildo, Pedro Martín, and the authorities, thanks to whose sensitivity all this has been possible”, he stressed.
The agenda has been marked by two discussion tables, under the title Italian tourism to Tenerife, overview and perspectives for 2023 and Air connectivity: perspectives for 2023. It is completed with a work session so that Italian travel agents can establish contact with representatives of fifteen active tourism companies, receptive agencies and tourist accommodation on the island.
The Federation brings together and represents 17 regional or supra-regional associations of travel agents with a total coverage of the Italian territory. It has around 1,500 travel agencies and tour operators, which makes it the most representative association of Italian tourism distribution and production.
