TTG Travel Experience: Successful Gathering in a Battered Economy

By Massimo Terracina in Rimini

Just a few hours before Italian premier showed up on the TV screens, to follow up his constant appearances to talk to the nation -not really saying anything- TTG Travel Experience closed its doors. 

Three days of confrontations among all the players of a destroyed market where travel agents were asking tour operators what to do, while Italian regions were offering a revamped domestic product, airlines were showing off a little resilience, cruise lines were calling to action all across the market -dare if you can-, hotels are trying to snare guests and everyone was looking at one another for an unanswered question: what shall we do?

The fair brought around a thousand exhibitors, spread out in 15 pavillons, to hold the first event after the lockdown, “vis-a-vis” event to build up a project and rebuild the hardest-hit sector of the Italian economy.

Attendance has been high, more than anticipated. Gloria Armiri, group brand manager Tourism & Hospitality Division IEG, defined the experience with one word: “Exciting”. 

“TTG Travel Experience, three days of meetings, conferences and events showed we can look to the future in a pragmatic way, through innovation. It was a tough challenge and we overcame the commitment, according to attendance, comments and feedback,” she said.

And the human factor, one of the bases of tourism, was now more than ever another big game-changer in the interaction among players.

It is no doubt the beating heart of the sector, with the other two components: “Regeneration! by SIA” and “SUN Beach & Outdoor Style”,  the one and only marketplace where attendants can meet and talk to colleagues and competitors, all facing together the silent enemy of the crisis.

TTG has been the first “live event” on an international basis in 2020 and it is from Rimini that the travel industry has sent out strong signs of its determination to design what tourism will really be like in the years to come.

“It has had a strong emotional impact, above all, in a complex economic moment like today’s,” says Gloria Armiri. “The proposals were dynamic, in which all the exhibitors told everyone about cities, territories and experiences like they’ve never done before. The unexpected high attendance, a warm response from professional attendance and the operators eager to meet and a digital platform, dedicated to buyers hailing from countries from which it was problematic to get to Italy, and yet they huddled with exhibitors and that was guaranteed. All of this in complete safety, in full compliance with governmental regulations, following the #safebusiness by IEG protocols,” she went on to say.

These three days sent out a very clear warning: the world wants to travel to Italy and it is the reason why the system has to be supported through effective economic policies mapped out by the current government. The next travel concept will change. It won’t be anymore “equality in time and place”, but a transformable force thanks to the removal of time barriers that modern technology erases so easily.

The150 events held in the eight “arenas” during the three-day event, inspired by the Vision 2020 “Think Human”, laid the foundations for the new objectives to be achieved in 2021.

TTG brought together managers, politicians, technicians and all boldface names in the travel industry, ready to contribute for a common future, which, honestly, does not appear bright as it was just last year.

The show will follow up in a virtual edition on October 23, thanks to the activation of a virtual platform that allows exhibitors to sit down with international buyers, a privileged channel to improve international contacts.

There will be more events to come amid the pandemic, and the travel industry has not ended its struggle yet, but these three days brought together some strength never seen before, and as Gloria Armiri put it, “it was really emotional.”

While the world is fighting this pandemic demon back, we keep working and the appointment is set for next year’s edition on October 13-15, a new round of TTG Travel Experience, SIA Hospitality Design and SUN Beach & Outdoor Style.