After performing the official inauguration and taking part in the opening press conference, the Minister will host participants at the Italy tourism stand for a welcome cocktail and to answer questions from Italian and international journalists.
The Minister for Tourism Michela Brambilla will cut the ribbon to officially open the 26th BTC, during the inauguration ceremony to take place at 11.00 on 1 July. The Minister’s attendance at BTC, the Italian trade show for the meetings, events, conferences, incentive travel and business tourism industry, bears testimony to her support for Italy’s meetings industry, in light of its recognised key role in the national tourism market.
After cutting the ribbon, Minister Brambilla will speak at the opening press conference, scheduled for 11.30. Afterwards, she will host participants at the Italy tourism stand for a welcome cocktail, and will be available to answer questions from Italian and international journalists.
Other speakers at the BTC opening press conference will be Regional Councillor for Tourism for Emilia Romagna Maurizio Melucci, Chairman of the Rimini Fiera GroupLorenzo Cagnoni, Managing Director of Exmedia (the company that organises BTC)Paolo Audino and the Chairman of Federcongressi Paolo Zona.
“We are very pleased to be hosting BTC in Rimini, because the conference industry is a strategic one for Emilia Romagna,” said Regional Councillor for Tourism Maurizio Melucci. “We are perhaps Italy’s leading region in terms of investment in facilities and infrastructure: our objective is to boost the internationalisation of the sector, and we will work on the airport and railway network to make our destinations increasingly more accessible”.
“BTC is a reflection of the Italian conference market, which is small partly because of its lack of large, modern, purpose-built conference facilities,” explained Lorenzo Cagnoni, Chairman of the Rimini Fiera Group. “Now, with Rimini’s new Palacongressi (which will triple the total attendance figure of the current conference centre) and, in the future, those of Rome and Venice, Italy is equipping itself to compete on the international stage. Rimini is well placed, with the Fiera exhibition centre and Palacongressi that will operate in synergy and cooperate with the Riccione Conference Centre: we therefore expect market growth and forecast that BTC will grow in tandem with and as part of an expanding industry”.
“BTC 2010 is the result of some innovative decisions taken to reflect market trends and meet its demands,” said Paolo Audino, Managing Director of Exmedia. “The new summer date and the choice of Rimini as the venue will be positively received by the industry, which has undoubtedly been hit by the unfavourable economic environment, but which has not lost its vitality: BTC is therefore continuing its mission to support growth in the sector, with a show on a European scale designed to bring together supply and demand in an effective and productive manner”.
“BTC is not just the marketplace for the meetings industry in Italy”, commented Paolo Zona, Chairman of Federcongressi. “It is also an event full of opportunities for professional education, focused on content, discussion and debate within the sector and with institutions. Federcongressi, which is organising seven educational events at BTC, actively supports a show that has become the key occasion for bringing the national meetings community together”.
