Italy at Hand, The Event the numbers of the success of the first edition

Italy at Hand, the most interactive b2b MICE event ever, organised by Convention Bureau Italia with the aim of promoting the Italian Congress offer in international tourism has closed with a great success. 888 business appointments between the 43 international buyers and 45 qualified national operators present. The many international guests and the involvement of 24 partners made possible this first edition of the format.

Paragon, American Express, BBC are only a few of the 43 buyers present at the event. The buyers, European decision makers from 18 different countries, met with 36 qualified operators from the whole national territory and 9 territories hosted by the Host Destination Corner of the Bologna Convention and Visitors Bureau, Italy at Hand's partner for the first edition. Among the exhibitors were the principal Italian Destinations, several conference centres, hotels and national hotel chains and some top agencies.

The winning move was the collaboration with the Bologna Convention and Visitors Bureau to identify strategic local partners and this opened the doors to the most beautiful and little-known palaces of the area; Palazzo Re Enzo, venue for the business appointments on both mornings; Palazzo Popoli, History of Bologna Museum where we held the opening ceremony; Palazzo Gnudi which hosted the gala dinner; FICO Eataly World, venue for the closing ceremony; Palazzo Isolani which welcomed the participants in Art, one of the four types of fun, interactive activities in the afternoon of 2nd November.

"I am very proud of the results of the first edition of Italy at Hand. Reaching this objective was for us at CBItalia a dream come true. Our aim for the four years since the founding of the company has been to provide a concrete support for the promotion of tourism for the national operators and for international tourism. At Italy at Hand we have shown that the best of Italy is within reach by promoting Bologna's unknown sites of incredible beauty and historical interest, thanks to the valuable local work with the Bologna Convention and Visitors Bureau, our Host Destination Partner 2018. For 3 days Ray Bloom, founder and owner of the IMEX Group was our guest and we conversed on stage on the subject of international tourism at FICO Eataly World with its founder Oscar Farinetti, to put the seal on a "new working marriage". A special thanks to all the partners who made the event possible, to TERRAEVENTS creative partner 2018 and to ENIT, National Tourism Agency and sponsor of the gala dinner" commented Carlotta Ferrari, President of Convention Bureau Italia.

The event was made possible thanks also to the 24 national and international strategic partners involved in the first edition: TERRAEVENTS creative partner, ENIT National Tourism Agency, sponsor of the gala dinner, Air Dolomiti, airline partner, HeadQuarters Magazine, international media partner, Nolo Stand, set-up partner, Dynamic Events, Office Pagani, Le Cesarine, interactive activities partners, Nio Cocktail and Carpigiani, food and beverage partners, The Factory PRD, photography and video partner, FICO Eataly World, CAT Publications, CIM, Edizione Jonglez, OCSA Service, Coopit and SDC Service, supporting partners.

www.conventionbureauitalia.com // www.italyathand.com