TORINO. EVM 5A1 International Destination Management. Module Tutor: Paul Mullins. Chiara Carpegna

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1 TORINO EVM 5A1 International Destination Management Module Tutor: Paul Mullins Chiara Carpegna

2 CONTENT 1. INTRUDUCTION BACKGROUND General city information History DESTINATION INFRASTRUCTURE AUDIT Accessibility Hotels and Restaurants Venues PCO DESTINATION MANAGEMENT ORGANISATION AND CONVENTION BUREAU Destination Marketing Critical Analysis CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY

3 1. INTRODUCTION The aim of the report is to describe, from a business destination point of view, a UK or an international destination. The destination that I choose is Torino, Italy, as I think it is a city with an enormous potential, supplied of venues, meeting centers, accommodations and all needed facilities, and perfectly able to attract and sustain meetings business. Firstly, I will start giving a brief history of the city and some basic information about Torino, as the population size, the main economic sectors and why it is famous for. Secondly, I will analyse the destination s infrastructure and capacities, starting with hotels and restaurants, continuing with transport infrastructure and venues capacities, and ending by listing the Destination Management Companies, the Professional Conference Organisers and the Event Companies. I will also make a point about the accessibility. Thirdly, I will analyse in deep the Destination Management Organisation, the Convention Bureau, the MICE statistics and the destination Marketing, analyzing also the destination s competitors, stakeholders and partners. Finally, I will conclude with an overall view of Torino, proposing the city as a Business Destination. 3

4 2. BACKGROUND 2.1General City Information Torino is one of the major business and cultural city in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 905,554 (March 2012) while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 1.7 million inhabitants (Wikipedia, 2012). The Turin metropolitan area is estimated by the OECD to have a population of 2.2 million. (OECD, 2012) The city has a rich history of culture, and is well known for its numerous historical buildings, palaces, parks, museums and other venues. Turin is famous for its baroque, rococo, neo- classical, and Art Nouveau architecture. Much of the city's public squares, castles and gardens were built in the 16th and 18th century, after Torino became the capital of Italy under the Duchy of Savoy. (Il mistero di Torino, 2005) Torino currently hosts some of Italy's best universities, colleges, academies, lycea and gymnasia, such as the six- century- old University of Turin and the Turin Polytechnic. In the city you can also find some of the most prestigious and important museums in the world, such as the Museo Egizio and the Mole Antonelliana. (Capitali del nord- ovest, 2007). Turin's monuments and sights make it one of the world's top 250 tourist destinations, and the tenth most visited city in Italy in (Euromonitor.com, 2008) Turin is well known as the home of the Shroud of Turin, the football teams Juventus F.C. and Torino F.C., the headquarters of automobile manufacturers FIAT, Lancia and Alfa Romeo, and as host of the 2006 Winter Olympics (Capitali del nord- ovest, 2007). 4

5 2.2 History Torino, born as Julia Augusta Taurinorum in the III century B.C, became important in 1559, when it became capital city of the Duchy of Savoy, after the marriage of Adelaide of Susa and Oddone, son of the founder of the Counts of Savoy. In 1713 the Dukes of Savoy gained the title of King, and Torino became the capital of the Reign. In 1861, with the proclamation of the new United Kingdom of Italy, Torino became the capital of Italy, until In 1871, the Fréjus Tunnel was opened, making Turin an important communication node between Italy and France. Some of the most iconic landmarks and historic building of the city, like the Mole Antonelliana, the Egyptian Museum, the Gran Madre di Dio Church and Piazza Vittorio Veneto were built in this period. Moreover, it was also a period of rapid industrialization: in 1899 Fiat was established in the city, followed by Lancia in In 1902 Torino held the Universal Exposition, and it is often considered the pinnacle of Art Nouveau design. In 1911 the city hosted the same event. During World War II Torino was repeatedly bombed. In the postwar years, Turin was rapidly rebuilt. The automotive industries Fiat and Lancia were fundamental for the Italian economic miracle of the 1950s and 1960s: thousands of immigrants, particularly from the rural southern region of Italy, were attracted to the city. The population growth rapidly and the city gained the nickname of Automobile Capital of Italy. In 2006, Turin hosted the Winter Olympic Games. (Storia di Torino, 9 voll ) 5

6 3. DESTINATION INFRASTRUCTURE AUDIT 3.1 Accessibility AIRPORT Torino International Airport of Caselle is situated at 16 km to the city centre and it is easily reachable from the city both by car and by public transport Sadem bus or the combination between train and DoraFly bus. In addition to the main Italian cities, Torino International Airport destinations include Great Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Luxemburg, Poland, Albania, Romania, Sweden, Russia and Morocco. Finally, to remember in Collegno, Aeritalia Airport, which is used exclusively for touristic flights and flight school. TRAIN The central station is Porta Nuova, third in Italy for number of passengers, where you have direct train to all the main Italian stations and international destinations such as Barcelona, Lyon, Paris and Swiss, Austrian, German and East Europe destination reachable with just one change. Important is also Porta Susa station, which will begin the main station in Torino as soon as they will finish renovating it. To remember that from the 2006, Torino is connected with the main Italian cities by High Speed trains, called Frecciarossa, with Paris by the TGV. BUS The bus is one of the transport system more used, especially in the areas that the train cannot reach. Very useful is the direct service between the airport and the main skiing station of the district during the weekend. CAR The efficient highway system connects Torino with the rest of Italy and with France. PUBLIC TRANSPORT Torino has an efficient system of bus and eco- bus that connects the city centre and surrounding areas. Moreover, in occasion of the Olympic Games, a one line tube was built in 2006 and a second line is under construction. (Turismo Torino e Provincia, 2012) 6

7 3.2 Hotel and restaurants Torino has a wide range of hotels: 156 in total, divided in 6 one star, 10 two stars, 70 three stars, 34 four stars and 4 luxury five stars. Thanks to the strategic position of each hotel, you can choose your accommodation wherever you prefer, in the city centre, close to the airport or close to the historical centre. CATEGORY ROOMS IN TORINO ROOMS IN TORINO E METROPOLITAN AREA Hotel 5* Hotel 4* Hotel 3* Hotel 2* Hotel 1* TOTAL Even higher is the wide range of restaurants that the city has to offer: 1186 restaurants, cuisine from all over the world, including Gelaterie, of which 195 in the city centre. (Turismo Torino e Provincia, 2012) 3.3 Venues Torino offers a big range of venues, from which exhibition centers, conference centers, Olympic venues, concert venues, stadiums, theatres, museums, parks and royal residences. Listed below are the three main conference and meetings centre, starting from the biggest and most important conference centre, the Lingotto Conference Centre, also mentioned in the ICCA website: Lingotto Conference Centre Renzo Piano's design has made a modern multifunctional centre of the building that once was Europe's most famous motorcar manufacturing complex. The conference centre, hotel, exhibition centre, business centre, offices, commercial gallery and ample underground parking space make the Lingotto a business centre for all types of events. Venues specific: Description of venue: Purpose- built congress or convention centre with attached bedrooms Venue capacity: Maximum number of participants the venue can handle:

8 Capacity of largest meeting room, theatre style: 2 Description of largest meeting room: Fixed seating/auditorium Number of meeting rooms capable of holding over 200 delegates, theatre style: Maximum number of meeting rooms (when all room- dividing partition walls are in place): 3 12 Total area of gross rentable exhibition space, m 2 / ft 2 : 1000 m ft 2 Rooms information: Number of bedrooms within 1 km of the venue (including those attached to venue): 500 Number of bedrooms between 1 km and 5 km from the venue: 8672 Location of the venue City centre Room name: Size of room: Number of seats in: m2 Sq.ft theatre style: classroom/school style: Auditorium G. Agnelli Sala Sala Londra Sala Istanbul Sala Madrid ( ICCA, 2012) Centro Congressi Unione Industriale The second biggest one is Centro Congressi Unione Industriale, founded in Venues specific: Purpose- built congress or convention. 8

9 Venue capacity: Maximum number of participants the venue can handle: 800 Capacity of largest meeting room: 432 Description of largest meeting room: Fixed seating/auditorium Number of meeting rooms capable of holding over 100 delegates: 3 Maximum number of meeting rooms (when all room- dividing partition walls 4 are in place): Total area of gross rentable exhibition space, m 2 : 700 m 2 Location of the venue City centre (Turismo Torino e Provincia, 2012) Torino Incontra The last one is the Torino Incontra conference centre. Venues specific: Purpose- built congress or convention. Venue capacity: Maximum number of participants the venue can handle: 702 Capacity of largest meeting room: 301 Description of largest meeting room: Fixed seating/auditorium Number of meeting rooms capable of holding over 100 delegates: 2 Maximum number of meeting rooms (when all room- dividing partition walls 9 are in place): Total area of gross rentable exhibition space, m 2 : 860 m 2 Location of the venue City centre (Turismo Torino e Provincia, 2012) 3.4 Professional Conference Organisers Torino has 4 main PCO (Professional Conference Organaisers), that are also partner of the Turismo Torino e Provincia Convention & Visitors Bureau: AXEA Congress, CLUSTER, Globe Events Management- Business Unit CCI and M.A.F Servizi Srl. The last one is the most important PCO in Torino and in Italy, and it is also recognized in the ICCA website, 2012: 9

10 M.A.F. Servizi Srl Sector: ICCA Chapter: Meetings Management Mediterranean General Information: M.A.F. SERVIZI is a 26 year old PCO headquartered in Torino and Genova. It is part of GL Events Group. M.A.F. Servizi has a Quality Certification provided by QS Quality Service since Services provided: conference and congress management; exhibition management; destination management; social events management and communication; graphic and web design. Italian CME provider. Services provided: Computer registration abstracts Financial planning Printing & advertising Exhibition management Hotel accommodation Contact person: Mr M. Dolla, CEO Address: Via Nizza 294 IT Torino Italy Phone: Fax: Website: E- mail: mdolla@mafservizi.com (ICCA, 2012) 10

11 4. DESTINATION MANAGEMENT ORGANISATION & CONVENTION BUREAU Turismo Torino e Provincia Convention & Visitors Bureau is the partner and unique referent for everyone that wants to do an event in Torino, connected with the local congress system andit is the guarantor of the facilities quality and of the services offered. The Convention & Visitors Bureau, born in 2000 as a non- profit organization, it was formed of public local entities, such as Città di Torino, Provincia di Torino, Camera di Commercio, Unione Industriale e fondazioni bancarie, and private partners with the aim of promoting Torino as a Destination for congresses, convention and incentive trips. In September 2010, it was integrated by Turismo Torino e Provincia, the hospitality and tourism promotion agency of Torino, in order to increase the business tourism of the destination. Turismo Torino e Provincia Convention & Visitors Bureau objective is to promote Torino both in the leisure and in the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Events) field( MiceOnline.it, 2012), through the creation of touristic product and services, making available the following services free of charge: - selection of conference venues and check for their availability; - formulation of initial budget; - organisation of educational tour, visits planning and facilities investigation; - promotion activities of the event; - relationship with the local administration agencies and support for possible financial requests; - control of the hospitality quality; - information desk at the convention venues with professional and multilingual staff; Turismo Torino e Provincia Convention & Visitors Bureau staff is made by professionists that assist the client putting him in contact with the most professional operators and administrators solving any problem related to the event. (Turismo Torino e Provincia, 2012) CONTACTS Elisa Pilot Tel: E- mail: e.pilot@turismotorino.org Corporate event Developer Lilia Casanova Tel: E- mail: l.casanova@turismotorino.org Executive Congress Developer Tiziana Bologna Tel: E- mail: t.bologna@turismotorino.org 11

12 Congress Promotion & Development Turismo Torino e Provincia Convention & Visitors Bureau Sector: ICCA Chapter: Destination Marketing Mediterranean General Information: Turismo Torino e Provincia - Convention & Visitors Bureau offers professional congress operators a city rich in history at the forefront of technology that in 2006 hosted the Winter Olympic Games. Torino has an international airport 16 km from the city centre and 3 conference centres: the main one is the Lingotto with an auditorium of 2090 seats, 12 break- out rooms and 4 exhibition pavilions (46,390 sq.mtrs.). Contact person: Mrs. Marcella Gaspardone, General Manager Address: Via Maria Vittoria, 19 IT Torino Italy Phone: Fax: Website: E- mail: convention@turismotorino.org ICCA Profile, 2012 Turismo Torino e Provincia Convention & Visitors Bureau is associated with ICCA World, FederCongressi & Eventi and the MPI association. Moreover, it has more than 50 partners between hotels, conference and exhibition centers, tourist guides, PCOs, Royal Residences, F&B, venues, technical services, theatre and museum, tour operators and travel agencies, each of which meets the quality standard required. 12

13 4.1 Destination Marketing The marketing activity is developed through communication, with the development and production of information materials of promotion and hospitality, that represent the product Torino e Provincia according to the market needs and trend in Italy and abroad. On the other hand, it is developed through the promotion of the leisure and MICE fields to the national and international press and to the client itself. Finally, the marketing activity is promoted by the tourist hospitality through Tourism Offices and by the presentation of bids for hosting big conferences. ( Turismo Torino e Provincia Convention & Visitors Bureau, 2012) In my opinion, by analysing the Turismo Torino e Provincia Convention & Visitors Bureau web sites, the organisation is presenting well the city and it is promoting in a proper way to the business sector, but I think it should increase and expand the MICE field promotion to the international market, as Torino has an enormous potential to become a great business destination. 13

14 4.1 Critical Analysis To do a critical analysis of Torino Convention Bureau, I took some of the criteria that we used in class to analyse the ATLAS Conference proposals and I readapted them to examine Turismo Torino e Provincia Convention & Visitors Bureau website: Accessibility: it is largely explained in the web- site that Torino has a good accessibility as you can reach it by plane, train, bus and car both from international countries and from the rest of Italy. Moreover, Torino is situated in a very strategic position, as it is very close to France and Switzerland. Accommodations: the organisation s website provides all the information about the accommodations, and gives the exact number of rooms available in Torino. Moreover, the Turismo Torino e Provincia Convention and Visitors Bureau is partner with lots hotels, that meet the quality standard required. Availability of venue to hold 50/60 delegates: the website offers a list of conference venue describing the features and the capacity of each one. The three main conference and meeting venues have different rooms and most of them can hold 50 delegates or more. Larger Venue: the largest venue is the Lingotto Conference Centre that can hold a maximum of 3500 attendees. Organization experience of planning conferences: since the organization was founded in 2000, it became the only referent to organize an event in Torino. For this reason they have a huge background of events and conferences organization; in the website you can even find some bid of previous events. Organization ability of using national and international network to publicize conferences: it is stated in the website that the organization works with the national and international press to promote the MICE field. The organization ability to identify contacts in business tourism, by providing a venue tour: from the different services that Turismo Torino e Provincia Convention & Visitors Bureau offers free of charge, there is also the organization of venues and facilities tour and the co- ordination and planning of inspection visits in Torino. (Turismo Torino e Provincia Convention & Visitors Bureau, 2012) The organization ability to win financial support from sponsors and to keep costs as low as possible: this is possible because the Convention & Visitors Bureau is formed of most of the public local entities, so the organization can easily have financial support and keep costs as low as possible. 14

15 5. CONCLUSION In conclusion, Torino has great opportunities to become an important business tourism destination, as it has many venues for every type of event ( Olympic venues, royal palaces, conference and exhibition centres..), a large number of accommodations ( increased for the Olympic Games in 2006), it is easily accessible from the international countries and from the nationals, and it has an efficient and professional convention bureau ( Turismo Torino e Provincia Convention & Visitors bureau) and some important PCO. Moreover, the convention bureau is easily reachable and provides professional services free of charge to everyone that is interested in organising an event in Torino. As an international destination management student and as a person born and grew up in Torino, I strongly recommend this city, not only for the enormous potential as a business destination, but also because it is a beautiful city with lot of opportunities, entertainment and fun. 15

16 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY Turismo Torino e Provincia, Turismo Torino e Provincia Convention & Visitors Bureau. [online] Available at: [Accessed 3-20 November 2012] OECD, Competitive cities in the Global Economy. [online] Available at: [Accessed 15 November 2012] Wikipedia, Turin. [online] Available at: competitive1-2 [Accessed 7 November 2012] Euromonitor.com, Euromonitor international top city destinations ranking Euromonitor Archive. [ online] Available at: [Accessed 12 November 2012] MiceOnline.it, Turismo Torino e Provincia Convention & Visitors Bureau. Available at: bureau/turismo- torino- e- prov- convention- visitors- bureau/ [Accessed 16 November 2012] ICCA, Lingotto Conference Centre. [Online] Available at: mbr.detail&acode= &searchfields=memberfrom%2cmemberto%2cregio%2c COUNTRY%2CCITY%2CCHAPTER%2CZOEKWORD%2CBLOCKFACTOR%2CSORTEER%2 CZOEKEN%2CSHOW%2C&searchValues=_]}_]}_Europe]}_Italy]}_%3BTorino%3B]}_]}_]}_2 0]}_3]}_Search]}_1]}_]}exit [ Accessed: 03 November 2012] ICCA, M.A.F Servizi Srl. [online] Available at: mbr.detail&acode= &searchfields=memberfrom%2cmemberto%2cregio%2c COUNTRY%2CCITY%2CCHAPTER%2CZOEKWORD%2CBLOCKFACTOR%2CSORTEER%2 CZOEKEN%2CSHOW%2C&searchValues=_]}_]}_Europe]}_Italy]}_%3BTorino%3B]}_]}_]}_2 0]}_3]}_Search]}_1]}_]}exit [Accessed: 03 November 2012] ICCA, Turismo Torino e Provincia Convention & Visitors Bureau. [online] Available at: mbr.detail&acode= &searchfields=memberfrom%2cmemberto%2cregio%2c COUNTRY%2CCITY%2CCHAPTER%2CZOEKWORD%2CBLOCKFACTOR%2CSORTEER%2 CZOEKEN%2CSHOW%2C&searchValues=_]}_]}_Europe]}_Italy]}_%3BTorino%3B]}_]}_]}_2 0]}_3]}_Search]}_1]}_]}exit [Accessed: 03 November 2012] 16

17 BOOKS Aldo Cazzullo; Vittorio Messori, Il mistero di Torino. Due ipotesi su una capitale incompresa, Mondadori, 2005 AA.VV., Capitali del nord- ovest. La politica economica delle città italiane, Franco Angeli, AA.VV, Storia di Torino (9 Voll.), Einaudi,