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Destination Florence CVB partners with City of Florence for international tourism promotion

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Destination Florence CVB is the new official partner of the City of Florence to promote the destination and better the quality of tourism.


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The Florence Municipality, The Florentine Chamber of Commerce and The University of Florence signed an agreement to outline new and effective strategies in the tourism field, relying on the governence of tourism and the ability to directly foster agreements between institutions and individuals, while defining and clarifying the roles of various on-site actors.

The agreement is dedicated specifically to the MICE tourism and to better the quality of tourism in all the Florenctine territories and it has the aim of choosing a partner to develop activities and strategies.

Thanks to the winning of a competition notice, Destination Florence Convention and Visitors Bureau has been selected as the unique partner of the City of Florence and its partners to promote the destination all over the world and acquire more conferences and events.

To develop the activities, the Municipality of Florence allocated 320.000 Euros per year for a total period of three years, to be renewed for two more years.

Destination Florence Convention and Visitors Bureau has been operating for over 20 years as a destination agency to attract large events, congresses, international marriages, and individual tourists. It represents a comprehensive outlet for tourism thanks to more than 300 partners, a network that makes it possible to have a synchronized bond with the territory and the operators functioning within, strengthened by signed agreements with trade associations of reference.

The Ministry of Tourism of the city of Florence, Cecilia Del Re, said “We are very proud to have selected a unique partner for the promotion of the city. Florence is a unique city to host conferences and events also thanks to the new tramvia, the huge renovation of our congress centre and the future major enlargment of our airport”.

Destination Florence CVB presented a project to better the tourism within the city of Florence thanks to specific activities and with two main goals: acquire more conferences and events and attract a qualified tourism.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT:

– Increase the number of winning bid and conferences to be held in the city
– Presence at primary Fairs and Events of the sector (ILTM Cannes, ATM Dubai…)
– Augment number of tourists with a qualified profile and high spending capacity
– Increase the average duration of stay within the territory
– Expand and diversify the range of services, products, and experiences
– Qualitatively enhance the image of Florence worldwide
– Promote qualified and certified tourist services in the city, including the greater metropolitan area, to include lesser-known concepts of great touristic value

Carlotta Ferrari, Director of Destination Florence CVB said: “Florence is one of the most attractive destination of the world in fact it is in the top five cities to host conferences and events. We will continue to promote Florence to acquire more conferences and events each year.”

“Also, thanks to the Destination Florence project, we will develop and promote tourism offerings, proposing a benchmark for a single, potential national model. We are working with the most innovative technology as our new chat bot that we will presented in the next months and we are also opening our official account on WeChat to promote Florence in the Chinese market.”

Travel News | eTurboNews

Africa Tourism Leadership Forum: Next stop Durban

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Themed “Stimulating intra-Africa Travel through thought leadership,” the 2019 Africa Tourism Leadership Forum (ATLF) is the only Pan-African public-private tourism leadership dialogue platform that is convened, led, and hosted by Africans in Africa. The African Tourism Board is a strategic partner for the event.

The 2019 ATLF and Awards will be hosted by Durban KwaZulu-Natal Convention Bureau in Durban, under the auspices of the Provincial Government of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa from August 29-30, 2019. It is convened by African Tourism Partners with the support of its key strategic partners including BDO South Africa, NEPAD, Africa Travel Associations (ATA) and Voyages Afriq.

According to Mr. Sihle Zikalala, Provincial Minister for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs in the KwaZulu-Natal, gatherings like ATLF allow thought leaders in Africa to bring into the limelight exceptional industry developments and inspiring stakeholders who work hard to build a sustainable African travel and tourism industry.

“As the proud host of ATLF 2019, we look forward to welcoming all stakeholders from across the continent and the rest of the world, not only this innovative event but, also to experience what South Africa and our beautiful Province offer the world. ATLF is an African Project that we must all be part of and support,” says Mr. Zikalala.

The 2018 ATLF and Award edition was held in Accra in Ghana. It was hosted by the Government of Ghana through Ghana Tourism Authority and its parent Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. This was attended by Tourism Ministers as well as over 500 public and private sector executives. These included representatives of UNWTO, NEPAD, Diplomatic Corps, Directors-General, global hotel brands, travel management companies, associations, regional executives of airlines, tour operators, educational institutions, researchers and many other industry professionals.

Kwakye Donkor, Africa Tourism Partners’ (ATP) CEO congratulates KwaZulu-Natal Province for winning the bid to host the 2019 ATLF and Awards. “The Provincial Leadership has truly exemplified true values of thought leadership by aiming to bring together industry leaders in Africa to Durban, to once again advance their commitment to promote intra-Africa travel, dialogue and recognize change-makers in Africa’s tourism development as a collective,” says Donkor.

Among the key focus areas of dialogue during the 2019 ATLF and Awards are:

  • The present and future imperatives of Visa Openness, E-visas and Air Connectivity
  • Outlook on the impact Business and MICE Tourism on national economies
  • What it takes for Africa to harness the multi-level Chinese outbound travel market
  • How to embrace and optimize disruptive technological innovation for intra-Africa travel
  • Delivering critical travel and tourism infrastructure with Development Finance Institutions
  • Spotlight on wildlife and biodiversity conservation as strategic tourism assets in Africa
  • Skills Development and Capacity Building across the sector value chain and more
  • Practicalities of Measuring the Return on Destination Marketing Investment

The Africa Tourism Leadership Awards recognizes the best African travel and tourism industry change-makers and innovators. For strategic partnerships, attendance or more information, please contact Ms. Nozipho Dlamini at: nozipho@africatourismpartners.co.za and +27 81303 7030.

Travel News | eTurboNews

Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau receives US Travel honor

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The U.S. Travel Association on Wednesday announced the Arlington (TX) Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) as the winner of its 2019 Grassroots Travel Champion Award.

U.S. Travel announced the award today at Destination Capitol Hill—the travel and tourism industry’s premier legislative fly-in event dedicated to educating policymakers about the power of travel and showcasing the industry as one of America’s strongest economic sectors.

Arlington CVB, led by Ron Price, is being honored for its industry-leading efforts to connect sports and travel, and for educating policymakers on travel’s limitless potential for growth.

“Major sports are evolving as a significant driver of travel for destination marketers, and Ron and his team at the Arlington CVB are helping lead the way, both locally and nationally,” said U.S. Travel President and CEO Roger Dow. “We began discussing the intersection of these two major industries at last year’s IPW, and that led to the creation of the first-ever Sports Travel Forum last November, which relied on input and expertise provided by Ron and the Arlington CVB.”

Arlington CVB also hosted a key “Travel Talks” session with U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey in his home district, showcasing the new Texas Live! entertainment complex—a central part of Arlington’s burgeoning sports tourism scene. Thanks to Arlington CVB’s advocacy efforts, Rep. Veasey is now one of the industry’s champions in Congress.

Said Dow: “Ron and the Arlington CVB demonstrate a deep understanding of the future of travel and tourism, and we are honored to present the organization with this year’s Grassroots Travel Champion Award.”

In addition to serving as Arlington CVB’s president and CEO, Price also serves on the executive committee of U.S. Travel’s Board of Directors.

Travel News | eTurboNews

How safe is travel to Africa? African Tourism Board appoints SaferTourism

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African Tourism Board, (ATB)  has travel and security on its top agenda when attracting visitors to the continent.

At the upcoming ATB Launch on April 11, the organization will be announcing their appointment of SaferTourism.com to provide support and guidance to keep African Tourism Safe.

The man behind SaferTourism.com is no other than one of the best global experts available in this field.

Dr. Peter Tarlow, seen as a world-renowned expert in travel and tourism will be the keynote speaker at the African Tourism Board Launch Event on April 11.

ATB members and WTM visitors will be able to meet Dr. Tarlow at the African Tourism Board Stand (AP 12). His goal is to provide proactive guidance and hands-on approach to keep African destinations, hotels and attractions safe and available specifically for North American Visitors.

Dr. Tarlow is leading SaferTourism’s  Visitor Surety approach, meaning:

• The providing of a safe and secure environment for visitors and for those who work in its visitor industry
• Protection of tourism sites and infrastructure
• Perceptions, including how these perceptions impact its reputation
• The Protection of the economy vis-à-vis its tourism industry

Dr. Tarlow has been working on projects around the world and is known to include feedback from the US State Department in many of his international projects.

Dr. Peter Tarlow will be a speaker at the ATB Launch event on April 11,2019 during WTM Cape Town.

He is a world-renowned speaker and expert specializing in the impact of crime and terrorism on the tourism industry, event and tourism risk management, and tourism and economic development.  Since 1990, Tarlow has been aiding the tourism community with issues such as travel safety and security, economic development, creative marketing, and creative thought.

Tarlow has worked with numerous US government agencies including the US Bureau of Reclamation, US Customs, the FBI, the US Park Service, the Department of Justice, the Speakers Bureau of the US Department of State, the Center for Disease, US Supreme Court police, and the US Department of Homeland Security.  He has worked with such US iconic locations as the Statue of Liberty, Philadelphia’s Independence Hall and Liberty Bell, the Empire State Building, St. Louis’ arch, and the Smithsonian’s Institution’s Office of Protection Services in Washington, DC.

Tarlow has been a keynote speaker for governors’ tourism conferences around the nation including those for Illinois, South Carolina, South Dakota, Washington State and Wyoming.

He has addresses large-scale US government meetings for such agencies as:

  • The Bureau of Reclamation
  • The US Center for Disease Control
  • The US Park Service,
  • The International Olympic Committee

On the international scene, he has addressed conferences such as:

  • The Organization of American States (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Panama City, Panama),
  • The Latin American Hotel Association (Quito Ecuador, San Salvador, El Salvador and Puebla, Mexico),
  • The Caribbean Chiefs of Police Association (Barbados),
  • The International Organization for Security and Intelligence – IOSI  ((Vancouver, Canada),
  • The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Ottowa
  • The French Hotel Association CNI-SYNHORCAT (Paris)

Additionally, Tarlow is a featured speaker for numerous US embassies and with foreign tourism ministries around the world. For example, in his role as an expert in tourism security he has worked with:

  • Vancouver’s Justice Institute  (2010 Olympic games)
  • The police departments of the state of Rio de Janeiro (2014 World Cup Games)
  • The Royal Canadian Mounted Police,
  • The United Nation’s WTO (World Tourism Organization),
  • The Panama Canal Authority,
  • Police forces in Aruba, Bolivia, Brazil, Curaçao, Colombia, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Serbia, and Trinidad & Tobago.

In 2013 the Chancellor of the Texas A&M system named him his Special Envoy.  In 2015 the Faculty of Medicine of Texas A&M University asked Tarlow to “translate” his tourism skills into practical courses for new physicians.  As such he teaches courses in customer service, creative thinking and medical ethics at the Texas A&M medical school

In 2016 the international engineering firm Gannet-Fleming appointed Tarlow its Senior Security and Safety Specialist  Also in 2016, Governor Gregg Abbot of Texas named Tarlow as the Chairman of the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission. As such he has wide experience in dealing with protest marches and other public events that touch upon that theme.

Tarlow organizes tourism security conferences around the world, including the International Tourism Safety Conference in Las Vegas along with conferences in St. Kitts, Charleston (South Carolina), Bogota, Colombia, Panama City, Croatia, and Curaçao

Tarlow lectures and trains tourism professionals and security personnel in multiple languages on a wide range of current and future trends in the tourism industry, rural tourism economic development, the gaming industry, issues of crime and terrorism, the role of police departments in urban economic development, and international trade.  Some of the other topics about which he speaks are: the sociology of terrorism, its impact on tourism security and risk management, the US government’s role in post terrorism recovery, and how communities and businesses must face a major paradigm shift in the way they do business.

Tarlow publishes extensively in these areas and writes numerous professional reports for US government agencies and for businesses throughout the world.  He has been asked to be an expert witness in courts throughout the United States on matters concerning tourism security and safety, and issues of risk management.

As a well-known author in the field of tourism security, Tarlow is a contributing author to multiple books on tourism security and publishes numerous academic and applied research articles regarding issues of security including articles published in The Futurist, the Journal of Travel Research and Security Management.  Tarlow’s wide range of professional and scholarly articles includes articles on subjects such as: “dark tourism”, theories of terrorism, and economic development through tourism, religion and terrorism and cruise tourism.  Tarlow also writes and publishes the popular online tourism newsletter Tourism Tidbits read by thousands of tourism and travel professionals around the world in its English, Spanish, and Portuguese language editions.

Among the books that Tarlow has authored are:

  • Event Risk Management and Safety (2002).
  • Twenty Years of Tourism Tidbits: The Book (2011)
  • Abordagem Multdisciplinar dos Cruzeiros Turísticos (co-written 2014, in Portuguese)
  • Tourism Security: Strategies for Effective Managing Travel Risk and Safety (2014)
  • A Segurança: Um desafío para os setores de lazer, viagens e turismo, 2016 published (in Portuguese) and republished in English
  • Sports Travel Security  (2017)

At numerous universities around the world Tarlow lectures on security issues, life safety issues, and event risk management. These universities include institutions in the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Pacific Islands, and the Middle East.  Tarlow earned his Ph.D. in sociology from Texas A&M University.  He also holds degrees in history, in Spanish and Hebrew literatures, and in psychotherapy.

Tarlow has appeared on national televised programs such as Dateline: NBC and on CNBC and is a regular guest on radio stations around the US.   He is the recipient of the International Chiefs of Police highest civilian honor in recognition for his work in tourism security.

Tarlow is a founder and president of Tourism & More Inc. (T&M).  He is a past president of the Texas Chapter of the Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA).  Tarlow is a member of the International Editorial Boards around the world.

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Seychelles Tourism Board Chief Executive sits on Tourism Panel at the sixth Annual Destination Wedding Planners Congress in Dubai

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Seychelles was bestowed with high honours as the destination was represented at the Tourism Panel at the Destination Wedding Planners (DWP) Congress from March 27 to 29 2019, held in Dubai’s iconic five-star hotel and luxury resort, Atlantis the Palm.

The Seychelles delegation at the DWP event comprised of The Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) Chief Executive, Mrs. Sherin Francis and STB representative in Dubai, Ahmed Fathallah.

The STB Chief Executive who was present at the event as a destination speaker represented on the Tourism Panel, which was moderated by Conde Nast Traveller Editor-in-Chief in UAE Rhea Saran.

The panel also comprised of the Carlotta Ferrari, Director at the Destination Florence Convention and Visitors Bureau; Srisuda Wanapinyosak, Deputy Governor for the Tourism Authority in Thailand and Assistant Vice President for Dubai Tourism, Steen Jakobsen.

The discussions focused on the role of tourism boards in promoting destination weddings, collaboration with local suppliers and partners as well as the enhancement of the wedding industry in every destination.

During her intervention, Mrs. Francis reflected on the tourism board’s standpoint of the destination and its marketing in relations to Seychelles as a wedding and honeymoon destination. Presenting the archipelago as an ideal location to create perfect memories for occasions like wedding, honeymoons, anniversaries or impromptu romantic breaks.

“Seychelles is one place where beauty and year-round tropical warmth ensure that love is always in the air. For the last few decades, our clientele for weddings and honeymoon has been predominantly Europeans specially British, French, German and Italian. It has been a pleasure to note that recently there has been an expansion in our clientele and a shift in trends. We have noted wedding requests from the Americans, from India, and China. As a tourism board, we endeavor to remain one of the top destinations that one would think of to create special memories,” said Chief Executive Sherin Francis.

“Couples and honeymooners remain to be the top segment for getaways bound to Seychelles from the GCC market for the past year.

Thanks to the destination’s naturally romantic and unspoilt surroundings of pristine beaches, calm waters and year-round sunshine, the Seychelles truly offers the perfect location for a truly luxurious wedding or honeymoon destination. The Seychelles is not only well-worth a holiday, but are also the ideal destination for a wedding,” said Fathallah.

It is apparent that Seychelles remain to be a natural backdrop for weddings and honeymoons as the destination evokes romance.

Surrounded by granite outcrops, cloud-white sand and azure waters, this luxurious archipelago offers both romance and adventure for a wedding day. It is deliciously remote; brimming with picture perfect beaches and is quite simply a taste of paradise.

The DWP event is a premium business-to-business networking event and has cemented its position as one the Best Congress in the World for promoting Destination Wedding Tourism.

The DWP Congress industry organized by Dubai based QnA Global is a luxury invitation-only business platform that brings together more than 500 destination wedding specialists from over 70 countries under one roof.

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