IRTW 2018 will take place in Assisi
The IRTW 2018 has been presented in the ENIT head quarter in Rome. The 4th edition of the International Religious Tourism Workshop will take place in Assisi from 24th to 27th November 2018.
- Assisi Mayor Stefania Poletti,
- ENIT Executive Director Giovanni Bastianelli,
- IRTW 2018 Director Nicola Ucci,
- Executive Assisi Tourism Manager Giulio Proietti Bocchini,
- Federalberghi Perugia President Simone Fittuccia,
- Discover Assisi Convention Bureau President Elena Angeletti.
attended the press conference and presented the new program of this important event and of the workshop.
IRTW 2018: what’s new
In the past editions the IRTW (2015 and 2016 in Padua and 2017 in Rome), revealed itself as an important event for those who work in religious, cultural and historic tourism. The “religious packages” are changing, by including nature-related contents, art cities and cultural experiences and, more in general, becoming a branch of experience-based tourism.
IRTW is addressed to all those who work in the religious tourism, pilgrimages, cultural, historic and artistic tourism in order to show the excellencies of the various territories, the best of hospitality sector and to offer the opportunity to all the different operators of meeting, sharing experiences and doing business.
The aim of the International Tourism Workshop
Religious tourism is composed both by its faith dimension (pilgrimages, religious paths) and by its cultural dimension. Over the years, the number of travelers who experienced religious destinations without being believers increased. Religious destinations attract travelers for many different reasons including art, nature, culture, personal spirituality and social ethic. By traveling around the world it is possible to visit thousands of destinations that could be defined “religious”, but that diversify greatly from one another. According to WTO (Word Trade Organization) there are over 300-330 million religious tourists around the world and the turnover is esteemed in 18 billion dollars with an increasing trend.
Italy and IRTW 2018
Italy is one of the favorite final destinations, especially for the catholic world, considering the presence of the Vatican and Rome, and the presence of other realities such as Assisi, Padua, San Giovanni Rotondo, Loreto and many others. In the “Bel Paese” the religious offer is composed by over 1.500 sanctuaries, 30.000 churches, 700 diocesan museums, and many other monasteries and cloisters. Within all these places is gathered a huge part of the Italian cultural and artistic heritage and they represent some of the most important destinations both for religious and cultural travelers.
“Religious paths’ presence numbers confirm the tendency of an increasing personal and spiritual research. – ENIT Executive Director Giovanni Bastianelli said – This increase is confirmed by a positive trend of +71,4% travelers from 2016 to 2017 (estimated by ENIT Statistic Department based on Bank of Italy data).
IRTW 2018 in Assisi
“The local administration in Assisi is honored to host IRTW 2018. – Assisi Mayor Stefania Proietti said – This event has the ambition of helping the market to grow, creating new relations and ideas and new business opportunities. The goal is to understand and intercept the global flows, offering an experience that is religious, moral, artistic, cultural, ethic and environmental at the same time.”
As partners members also Federalberghi Umbria and “Discover Assisi – Convention Bureau”, represented by their presidents – respectively Simone Fittuccia and Elena Angeletti – cooperated to organize this 4th edition of IRTW.
“IRTW in Assisi is a perfect opportunity to enhance the visibility of the variety of the religious destinations. – IRTW Direct Nicola Ucci said – The religious, cultural, artistic and historical values of Assisi are the reasons why we decided to bring IRTW there and we hope to create at least a 3-years collaboration with the Assisi administration, the regional and local authorities and all the business partners.”
The program of IRTW 2018
IRTW takes place in Assisi from 24th to 27th November 2018 with the presence of 50 Buyers (both Italian and coming from abroad) and over one-hundred Sellers coming from Italy and many other countries, including non-European ones. Saturday 24th the Mayor will meet all the Buyers in the City Hall during the first official moment. On Monday 25th there will be a promotional meeting reserved for institutions, associations and professionals where religious destinations will be presented and they will introduce their future projects. During the afternoon there will be a visit of the city including the moving Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi. On Monday 26th both Buyers and Sellers will meet in a B2B Workshop that will take place in Monte Frumentario Palace. Buyers will participate and visit the roman-medieval path and after that a traditional medieval dinner will take place.
