Our Association attended the last edition of TTG Experience, one of the most important B2B events in the tourism sector at a European level. From 11 to 13 October, the event – now in its 60th edition – welcomed hundreds of hospitality-related exhibitors, as well as stakeholders, tourists and workers. EAVF’s staff attended the ‘Le Vie verso Roma’ (Ways to Rome) stand together with the Romea Strata and Romea Germanica teams, to present the interactive platform developed by the three-year European project rurAllure, dedicated to the major cultural points of interest located along the main European routes.
The App enriches the pilgrim’s experience by displaying locations of historical, artistic, ethnographic and architectural interest, as well as identifying activities and initiatives along the route, for an authentic immersion in the local territory. The TTG fair was an important opportunity to meet the association’s partners, both those who are already consolidated and those with whom actions are in progress to enhance the promotion of the itinerary in all its richness and variety.
Every year TTG also becomes the setting for meetings and debates dedicated to planning the future of tourism and hospitality. More than 200 events were scheduled in this year’s programme, and on the 12th it welcomed the rurAllure round table on slow tourism and pilgrimage experiences, organised by the Rimini Campus of CAST-Centro Studi Avanzati sul Turismo of the University of Bologna, with the patronage of the Associazione Geografi Italiani AGeI. The round table was organised in two different sessions. In the first part, it brought together representatives from the Italian regions of Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Apulia and Friuli Venezia Giulia, to share study cases related to the development of cultural tourism along pilgrimage routes, under the leadership of Alessia Mariotti, President of the Rimini Campus Council. In the second part, an international panel moderated by the coordinator of the rurAllure project Martin Nores Lopez, presented the opportunities linked to the tangible and intangible heritage of the paths as a fundamental asset of the development of slow and sustainable tourism. Both discussions highlighted how the involvement of local communities and dialogue with public institutions and private entities are of key importance for the promotion of a form of slow tourism increasingly open to new targets, with different demands and needs.
In this context, the Via Francigena is in the front line for the valorisation of small villages excluded from the traditional tourist circuits, thus offering important opportunities to municipalities and territories located along the 3,200 km that build the itinerary, as was also emphasised during the meeting “La Francigena verso il Giubileo 2025” organised by the Lazio Region during the Rimini fair.
