Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

The promotion strategy implemented by Milano&partners with the Municipality and the Milan Monza Brianza Lodi Chamber of Commerce was illustrated today at the Tourism Table - High resolution photo

Milan, May 24 2022 – Target large events, conferences and young people. These are the focuses of the international promotion of Milan for 2022, which emerged from the Tourism Roundtable which met today at Palazzo Giureconsulti.

Analyzing data and indicating what actions the city is implementing in this area were some representatives of the municipal administration together with Elena Vasco, General Secretary of the Milan Monza Brianza Lodi Chamber of Commerce, and Luca Martinazzoli, General Director of Milano&partners. Furthermore, the meeting saw the intervention of representatives of the main players in the Milanese tourism-cultural system.

Once the health emergency was over, Milan returned to recording attendance equal to pre-Covid levels. The month of April, in fact, closed with over 587.000 arrivals, effectively equaling the 594.000 arrivals recorded in the same month of 2019. A performance that has a positive impact on companies in the sector and that stimulates the players in the field to develop effective strategies to support the trend.

"The tourism sector, which today in Milan has more than 31.000 businesses and over 173.000 employees, provides opportunities for development and regeneration of the territories, giving life - thanks to interconnections with many other commercial sectors - to new models of growth, sustainability, of quality of life. A positive and incremental value chain, which influences the competitiveness of the entire economic system, and whose absence we have strongly felt in these two years of emergency - declared Elena Vasco, Secretary General of the Chamber of Commerce of Milan Monza Brianza Lodi -. In this phase of recovery, the joint commitment of the Chamber of Commerce and the Municipality, through Milano&partners, is to implement concrete and effective actions capable of accelerating the virtuous mechanisms of the tourism sector - such as the Room Block initiative signed today, the result of the synergy between institutions, associations, the business system and economic operators - to make Milan increasingly international, welcoming and attractive, strengthening its brand as a global destination".

Having confirmed some strategic promotional assets, from major events (sporting, entertainment and cultural) to thematic weeks, for 2022 the promotional action of the Municipality of Milan and the Milan Monza Brianza Lodi Chamber of Commerce will focus on the Meetings, incentives sector , conferences and exhibitions (MICE). Thanks to the support of the YesMilano Convention bureau, Milan presents itself as an international conference destination also through participation in the main trade fairs in the sector.

After the BIT, the next event is the IMEX in Frankfurt, the most accredited MICE event in Europe which takes place from 31 May to 2 June. Here the Municipality will have a corner inside the Italia stand, created by ENIT and on May 31st it will present its policies on tourism at the "Policy forum", a moment of meeting and exchange between local political representatives, leaders and government officials, which will take a representative of the municipal administration leaves.

In October, Milan will be at IMEX America, in Las Vegas, and between the end of November and the beginning of December it will be at IBTM World in Barcelona.

The "Room Block" convention was also presented at the table, promoted by Milano&partners, which was joined by Assolombarda, Confcommercio, Confesercenti, Federalberghi Milano and ATR, thanks to which the Convention Bureau - in addition to carrying out promotional activities for the city of Milan in world through collaboration in the city's candidacy for international events, participation in fairs and roadshows, the launch of promotional campaigns and communication via social media and website - is identified as the local actor who offers the intermediation necessary to ensure the organizers of large events will be given appropriate spaces at the accommodation facilities in the area.

"Tourism is central to the economic development of the area, spending by international tourists alone in Milan in 2022 is expected to be 1,38 billion dollars and will grow to 1,95 billion dollars in 2023 (source Tourism economics). The birth of Convention bureau within Milan&partners has allowed the city to have a direction with all the local players to compete on the international market of large events and conferences. The goal is to bring Milan among the top 10 cities in the ICCA ranking, the global ranking of cities that host MICE events in the world", declared Luca Martinazzoli, General Director of Milano&partners, who added that "Milan's hospitality system works with strong synergy, as demonstrated by the Room Block framework agreement signed with Assolombarda, Confcommercio, Confesercenti , Federalberghi Milano and ATR: each international operator will have the opportunity to secure the rooms and services of the city's hotels through a digital platform promoted by the Convention Bureau of Milan & partners".

In the last year, thanks to a widespread communication campaign launched with the YesMilano brand, the focus has been on relaunching the area, not only through the image of iconic places, but also and above all with the discovery of the Milanese neighborhoods that represent the identity and the soul of the city.

For the summer the city is focusing on a campaign to attract young international visitors, who recognize Milan as a lifestyle destination. The campaign, with the YesMilano brand, will be launched in June on the European and North American markets, with the aim of putting Milan at the center of travel desires for a new generation of young people.

As part of the Roundtable, the Chamber of Commerce underlined the direct support actions for operators in the tourism and culture sector, to respond to the needs of the entrepreneurial fabric and offer stimuli and incentives towards new business models, organization and innovation, with a view to relaunch investments and competitiveness of the entire supply chain.

In particular, the "Innovaturismo 2022" call is being launched, aimed at promoting business projects and business partnerships capable of improving the use and making the tourist experience safer and more sustainable, and encouraging digital innovation processes with a view to communication and marketing, internal reorganization; and the "Energy efficiency line for micro and small businesses in the hospitality sector" tender, to support investments with a view to energy efficiency and saving.

Inbuyer tourism continues this year too: the Chamber of Commerce's business matching platform between local tourist operators and foreign buyers in the form of B2B meeting sessions. From 2019 to 2021 there will be almost 2.500 B2B meetings between operators in the tourism chain of Milan Monza Brianza Lodi and foreign sellers carried out through the Inbuyer tourism project. The new hybrid program (online B2B and family trips in the area) will be launched imminently, with a focus on the MICE and luxury sectors.

The specialized advanced training program continues for companies in the tourism sector to provide useful skills to respond to new demand trends, which has involved over 2018 companies since 900. The focus of the training proposal will be on the topics of proximity tourism and conference tourism.