This article is sponsored by ITALIA.

The unique experience in the Italian lifestyle drives the strategies of the Italian Tourist Board for recovery. Taking part in the virtual fair of Dubai will be, first of all, an opportunity to review an evolving to a tourist offer and to measure the new trends of the luxury market as well as an opportunity to confirm our institutional presence alongside the Italian companies involved. We must keep on believing that tourism is the primary source of economic well-being, and not surprisingly this industry covers 13 percent of GDP. Made in Italy is on the wish list of the world: before lockdown, tourists coming from the main countries of the Middle East ( Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Syria, Yemen) were over 1.5 million and most of them were heading to five regions: Lombardy, Lazio, Tuscany, Veneto and Emilia Romagna. The attractive power of Italian culture, fashion, design  and good living are peculiar combinations that the world will find nowhere else than in the Bel Paese, up to the point that last year tourists from the Middle East invested over 303 million euro for enjoying their holidays in Italy. The Peninsula is able to satisfy the travel desires of demanding tourists of all age groups and targets. The Arab world recorded exponentially growing arrivals, mainly from Saudi Arabia. A definitely up-level incoming, which also increasingly looks to leisure. Extended families, which are demanding and looking for experiences of thorough comfort and wellbeing: so that Italy meets these requirements through the five-star hospitality of hotels with high-class spa and golf courses and unusual tailor-made experiences between glamorous itineraries and health-related well-being packages.

On top of all, however, the shopping experience, so much so that many Italian cities offer their map of high-end stores, printed in Arabic. Now probably at the international level, the first tourism sector to start again will be the one linked to affluent tourists and the luxury segment that guarantees a recovery in faster times. Just the exclusivity of the luxury experience gives you access to travel in complete safety. Enit, the Italian Tourist Board, developed a dashboard to monitor data and markets in order to support companies, operators and other institutions in gathering insight to real-time trends and to allow for the correct rescheduling of promotional actions to support the marketing of businesses in order to be able to restart in the most effective way.

At the same time, the Agency implemented a platform for the creation of webinars with international operators through foreign branches to resume the connection between Italian tourism companies and major world buyers, in particular for niche tourism such as the segment of luxury and cultural experiences and our lifestyle. Italy is still the leading country in the luxury sector, with hundreds of companies related to Italian fashion, design and lifestyle with the best trend performances. The last three years recorded an explosion of luxury tourism from Middle East countries towards the main art and culture capitals such as Milan, Rome, Florence and Venice and, before the lockdown, it was expected that international arrivals generated from the Middle East were bound to duplicate over the two decades, exceeding 81 million in 2030.

The ATM of Dubai will also be a key appointment or improving the tourist services aimed to Arab visitors with the spreading of shared internationalization rules for operators of hotels, catering, services, spas, beauty salons, hammams, hairdressers, barbers and make-up artists , in addition to personal trainers, luxury shops, perfumeries, jewellers and, moreover, tailors, personal shoppers, drivers, body guards, tourist guides, restaurants, for an increasingly Muslim-friendly tourism that responds well to the cultured, young, hyper-technological public which is used to travel throughout the year such as the Arab tourist. Italy is able to offer a travel experience which respects the culture and traditions of its visitors, identifying accommodation facilities suited to the needs of customers and supporting the tours with language-speaking guides, who know how to enhance the magnificent aspects of our country.

Our tourist system invites rich Emirati tourists to visit the beauties of the Peninsula, meeting the space requirements of the large Arab families. Appreciate the charm of the beauties for which Italy is famous in the world, the Amalfi Coast, Capri, the Garda, Como and Maggiore Lakes at the foot of the Italian Alps, and at the same time grant private and exclusive access to the lesser known and advertised places, where you can experience the mystery of the origins and traditions of our country, which writes timeless pages of history.

Diving into the uncontaminated Italian nature of parks protected as a world heritage is a way to spread a new vision of slow and eco-friendly tourism. Following the gourmet itineraries away from the paths followed by mass tourism and then heading towards the paths of the “masters” to discover the works of the masters of science and musicians who have entered into the history of the world. Italy, with the highest number of Unesco sites, 55, is therefore the closest experience to Heaven.

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