Benelux

No. 1

Meetings with tourism professionals, editorial partnerships, press trips and digital communications are among the initiatives carried out by ENIT’s Brussels office to promote Italy’s tourism offering in Belgium and across the Benelux.

ENIT’s Brussels office continues its promotion and marketing activities for Italy’s tourism offering across the Benelux market through initiatives aimed at tourism professionals, specialist media and travellers. The programme includes professional meetings, collaborations with local media, digital communication activities and projects dedicated to increasing awareness of Italian destinations.

As part of its relations with the tourism industry, the office has planned a series of meetings dedicated to the prospects and opportunities for promoting Italy across the Benelux market during 2027.

The first event was held at the Bar Magritte at Hotel Amigo in Brussels, with the participation of a selected group of tour operators, travel agents and journalists. The format is designed to present destinations, itineraries and new developments in Italy’s tourism offering, encouraging direct dialogue with local market stakeholders.

The next event will take place on 1 December at the La Louise Hotel, a five-star property located in central Brussels. The initiative will be organised as a Press Day for journalists specialising in tourism, during which data and updates on tourism flows to Italy will be shared and the prospects for Italy’s tourism offering in the Benelux market in 2027 will be explored.

The collaboration with ANTOR, the association bringing together national tourism offices operating in Belgium, is also continuing. Participation in the network enables the office to take part in workshops, professional meetings and opportunities for updates and discussion with tourism industry operators. As part of this collaboration, the traditional Media Workshop will take place on 26 November, with ENIT Benelux participating with its own dedicated desk. The event will provide an opportunity to meet journalists, media representatives and tourism professionals, helping to develop contacts and partnerships for the promotion of Italy as a destination.

In the field of communications and promotion related to food and wine, ENIT’s Brussels office will launch an editorial campaign across the three Benelux markets to mark the Week of Italian Cuisine in the World. The initiative includes a collaboration with June.be, a Flemish digital magazine dedicated to travel and gastronomy. The campaign will also reach Luxembourg and the Netherlands through partnerships with the Luxembourg specialist magazine Kachen and the Dutch digital magazine Elegance. Editorial activities will be complemented by newsletters and social media content, with the aim of promoting three Italian destinations by highlighting the connection between territory, culture and gastronomic heritage.

Also as part of the promotion of Italian food-and-wine excellence, on 20 and 21 September 2026 Belgium hosted the event “Io Amo la Cucina Italiana – Le Eccellenze Enogastronomiche Italiane”, organised by the Italian Federation of Chefs in Belgium with the support of ENIT’s Brussels office. The programme included show cooking sessions, masterclasses, tastings and meetings between industry professionals.

On 29 and 30 November, the Association of Italian Chefs in Belgium will also organise an event at the Afrikapaleis in Tervuren, under the patronage and with the support of Sistema Italia, dedicated to local products, short supply chains and Italian gastronomic culture.

Regular communications represent another important means of engaging with the market. The office has planned two monthly newsletters, respectively targeting approximately 800 tourism professionals and 400 information and communications professionals across the Benelux, including journalists, bloggers and content creators. These channels will share information about Italian destinations, travel opportunities and regional initiatives, with links to further content on Italia.it.

Media activities also include press trips and collaborations with local content creators for the production of content dedicated to specific destinations, contributing to the promotion of Italian destinations through specialist publications and widely distributed media outlets.

These include a reporting project by journalist Ringo Gomez focusing on the works of architect Carlo Scarpa in Veneto, aimed at Belgian audiences interested in art, architecture and cultural tourism.

In particular, two journalists from the magazine Op Weg, specialising in outdoor tourism and active travel, visited Emilia-Romagna, while the magazine Bahamontes, dedicated to cycling and cycle tourism, carried out a trip to Trentino. The first editorial results were published at the beginning of October, with a six-page feature in the print supplement Liefhebber Gravel, dedicated to Trentino’s gravel itineraries, which were also featured on the cover.

A journalist from the Belgian magazine Libelle also visited Verona, while additional press trips are currently being planned for 2027.

Another initiative focuses on Genoa, which is at the centre of a project with Belgian content creator Sigrid Rijckoort, designed to showcase the city’s cultural and natural heritage and highlight opportunities to visit during periods of lower tourist demand.

Also as part of collaborations with content creators and bloggers, Ruxandra Ionescu produced content dedicated to Lake Como and Emilia-Romagna following trips to the two destinations, contributing to their promotion through her digital channels. At the end of November, a trip to Sicily is also planned for travel blogger Veggie Wayfarer, aimed at producing content for her blog and subsequently publishing a downloadable digital guide to the region.

During 2026, ENIT Benelux also continued its collaboration with the other members of Sistema Italia operating locally, taking part in a number of institutional and promotional initiatives.

These initiatives form part of the ongoing activities of ENIT’s Brussels office, which combines relations with tourism professionals with media partnerships, digital communications and coordination with local institutional stakeholders, helping to increase awareness of Italian destinations and promote Italy’s national tourism offering across the Benelux markets.