World Tourism Event 2023, ENIT invests in UNESCO sites: starting today more recognisable and smarter for travellersCopia

WORLD TOURISM EVENT 2023, ENIT INVESTS IN UNESCO SITES: STARTING TODAY MORE RECOGNISABLE AND SMARTER FOR TRAVELLERS

PIEDMONT WILL BE THE HOST REGION THIS YEAR

AMONG THE INNOVATIONS WORLD HERITAGE SITES BECOME CULTURAL AND SUSTAINABLE HUBS

UNESCO sites are becoming modern cultural hubs: no longer perceived as untouchable monads viewed with reverence by tourists but to be fully experienced.

This is one of the innovations of the fourteenth edition of the World Tourism Event at World Heritage Sites, which this year for the first time will be hosted by Piedmont from 21 to 23 September 2023 at the Museum of the Italian Risorgimento in Turin.

ENIT is investing in the event with a partnership involving hundreds of international buyers. Many activities have been organised by the National Tourist Board including a global workshop on Thursday 21 September at Palazzo Carignano for selected national and international buyers mainly from Italy, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain, the United States, Switzerland, and Australia. The sellers will be Italian tourism and accommodation operators based and operating in the areas included in the UNESCO World Heritage List and aiming to promote the areas’ territory, accommodation facilities, experiences, and culture.

The 2023 WTE is organised with the contribution and collaboration of the Piedmont Region, the patronage of the Ministry of Culture, and the patronage and collaboration of ENIT - the Italian National Tourism Board, the Italian Federation of UNESCO Clubs, Fiavet - the Italian Federation of Associations, Travel and Tourism Enterprises, ICOMOS Italy - the National Committee of the International Council of Monuments and Sites, the Italian Association of World Heritage Sites and Visit Piedmont.

The challenge for Italy, which has the highest number of World Heritage Sites in the world – a good 58 – to transform UNESCO sites into modern spaces suitable for large and sustainable events starts from Piedmont

A brand-new initiative will feature a lively series of in-depth discussions on topical issues related to tourism and the conservation, promotion and enhancement of World Heritage sites.

Special attention will be paid to Intangible Cultural Heritage, by virtue of the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Paris on 17 October 2003. The Expo aims, in fact, to celebrate this important anniversary with a lively series of in-depth studies and presentations to raise awareness of Piedmont’s and Italy’s great intangible heritage. On Saturday, performances will be held outside Palazzo Carignano aimed precisely at promoting the traditions that these distinctions aim to protect, such as the art of hunting horn players, and the traditional arts of the Neapolitan pizzaiuolo and Murano glass beads.

Specific activities will be targeted at schools in the area to raise awareness among the younger generations on the protection of UNESCO heritage and, at the same time, offer them new opportunities for growth and work.

The choice of Turin as the venue for the World Tourism Event is prompted by the city’s and the Piedmont Region’s wide range of World Heritage properties and sites, such as the 5 World Heritage recognitions (Residences of the Royal House of Savoy, The Sacred Mountains, The Prehistoric Pile-Dwelling Sites, The Vineyard Landscape of Langhe, Roero and Monferrato, Ivrea, Industrial City of the 20th century), the 4 intangible heritage recognitions (The Art of Building Dry Stone Walls, Mountaineering, the Musical Art of Cacca Players, Truffle Hunting and Extraction), the 3 Biosphere Reserves (Ticino Val Grande, Monviso, Collina Po), and the Sesia Val Grande Geopark.

Completing the Piedmontese UNESCO panorama are the 3 creative cities of Alba (Creative Cities for Gastronomy), Biella (Creative Cities of Crafts & Folk Art) and Turin (Creative Cities for Design).

The event in Piedmont will include, in addition to the wide range of World Heritage sites of the city and the Piedmont Region, the participation of more than 100 UNESCO sites from 8 different countries including China, Croatia, Cuba, Dalmatia, Japan, Jordan, Spain and Switzerland, and 10 Italian regions: Campania, Calabria, Marche, Liguria, Lazio, Tuscany, Umbria, Veneto and Sicily including Piedmont.

‘This initiative establishes new quality parameters and makes it possible to better identify and promote a specific product such as UNESCO sites around the world. ENIT specifically supports the development of the meeting between supply and demand to lay the foundations for new opportunities. There is an excellent recovery in visitor arrivals and value tourism, and we are seeing the numbers exceed those of 2019 from Europe, the USA, Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico. The real challenge is to attract tourists who are aware of the national and local cultural heritage, which translates into respect for the territory and responsible behaviour,’ stated ENIT President and CEO Ivana Jelinic and Marketing Director Maria Elena Rossi.

‘Turin has experienced, in the last two years, a spate of major events such as the Eurovision Song Contest, and the ATP tennis tournament that have seen cultural sites sold out. The WTE must be an opportunity to work on attracting arrivals in a smooth and spread-out way. With this Expo, we want to increase awareness of Piedmont’s UNESCO sites for the general public, but also strengthen the awareness of those who live their heritage on a daily basis, of which they should be proud but also responsible. The inner courtyard of Palazzo Carignano will be the setting for numerous cultural events that will make our Expo even more lively and dynamic,’ emphasises Regional Commissioner for Tourism Vittoria Poggio.