"It has been an extraordinary summer. From July to the beginning of September 70 million passengers travelled on regional trains, and Trenitalia’s Regionale sector is playing an increasingly important role in proximity tourism," said Sabrina De Filippis, director of regional business management, speaking with ItaliAbsolutely at the recent TTG Travel Experience in Rimini. 

“Every season we increase both the range of services and the number of locations served”

"And what is even more important is that we have increased not just our Italian customers but also international visitors. This is because every new season we increase both the range of our services and the number of locations served. And we do this not in a standardised way but by analyzing the tourist flows, and then adding new dedicated services where we see the potential."

Regional trains are effective and really good value

"We have also greatly boosted our trains to airports, and we are always looking for new destinations to conquer. For example we are already working for the next season together our mobility and micro-mobility partners. Once we were the ones reaching out to them, today they come knocking on our door. These partnerships help us to bring more and more travellers to their final destination."   "With a highly developed network, we are effective and we are really good value. The regional train is no longer just a way to get to work or to school but is used increasingly for leisure and holiday travel.  We have technologically advanced sales systems, and we get great support from the both the Italian and international trade.” 

The new Blues trains reduce CO emissions and noise pollution

"The challenge for the regional network is to ensure that more and more tour operators include our trains in their travel packages around Italy. Recently we presented the new Blues hybrid train, which in terms of both technology and on-board services is proving to be a major success, also with tourists.”  The Blues trains can travel on non-electrified routes using diesel and battery mode with a significant reduction in CO2 emissions and in noise pollution compared to older models. Like the new Rock and POP trains, the Blues is environmentally efficient, extremely comfortable, and a thoroughly enjoyable travel experience. 

Pamela McCourt Francescone
Executive Editor

Bluserena, a leader in the Italian Mare Italia sea and sun market, closed a successful summer season with figures back over pre-pandemic levels, having recorded 1.2 million arrivals and a 20% increase in turnover over 2019.

Holiday villages and resorts with direct beach access

Bluserena's properties were the stars of the Italian summer, with 1.2 million visitors, and a total of 4,400 rooms distributed across three, four and five-star villages and resorts in Sardinia, Sicily, Calabria, Puglia, and Abruzzo. All have direct access to beautiful sandy beaches.

Investing in growth

The group has continued to invest in facilities and services, and the acquisition by a leading European tourism investment group based in Spain, will continue the winning streak in 2021. The acquisition included both the properties and the management company and aims at strengthening the Bluserena brand while creating new and more solid development opportunities. There is a €30 million euro investment programme to renew the villages and design new customer services.

Market-exclusive services

Bluserena now provides a plethora of market-exclusive services. In fact all nine of its 4-star summer villages are directly on beautiful sandy beaches, and it has wellness centres and large central restaurants with show cooking and thematic restaurants as well as a wide range of sports services and activities.

Facilities for events and conferences

The 4 and 5-star Charme Resorts are located in the green heart of Ionian Puglia and the magnificent Gulf of Asinara in Sardinia: an exclusive collection of luxury resorts catering to all types of travellers. The Bluserena facilities are also ideal for events and conferences. In Puglia, the Ethra Congress Center has 30 conference rooms and over 780 guestrooms spread across 4 and 5-star hotels, while in Abruzzo, the Serena Majestic Hotel Residence has 30 conference rooms and 480 guestrooms, residence suites, and junior suites.

The NH Collection Milano CityLife, a new 4-star hotel in the heart of Milan's futuristic CityLife district, is a seamless blend of old and new, and is the 12th NH Collection brand property. The old church building, dating back to1934, was later abandoned, then deconsecrated in 2017 and returned to the Milanese community as an architectural and artistic rarity.

A striking architectural statement

The NH Collection Milano CityLife stands just a hundred metres from Portello station. Because of its distinctive colour and adjacent 13-story tower this new hotel is a striking architectural statement.  “We are very excited about this new opening, which adds another hotel to the Italian portfolio of the NH Collection brand,” said Marco Gilardi, operations director NH Hotel Group Italy and USA. “The strategy in this case was to redevelop and enhance an already spectacular property, and make it even more dazzling.”

The hotel has a leisurely charm and a business soul

“NH Hotel Group relies heavily on this new central hotel for its leisurely charm as well as its business soul,” says NH Hotel Group Italia director of business development Ambra Lee Agnoletti. “It confidently looks to the future, and to a total recovery of the events and hospitality sector.”

A spectacular entrance

The masonry building has a Latin cross plan and three naves, and the original wooden doors, round arches, and side aisle spans now serve as a spectacular entrance. The 13-floor tower was designed to reflect this verticality, which can be found in the golden organ in the reception, details of the cocktail bar and restaurant, and the unexpected cascade of light in the lobby.

Six duplex suites with stunning city views

With 185 rooms, including 10 duplex suites built above the central nave, NH Collection Milano CityLife is one of the few hotels in the world that allows guests to sleep, relax, and reside in a former 1930s church. Furthermore, six of these suites have terraces with stunning city views. The remaining 175 rooms are in the 13-story tower and are styled to the highest levels of Italian design. 

The cocktail bar is the star of the show

The property has six large meeting rooms with a total capacity of 520. There is also a large private garden for events and exhibitions. The real gem, however, is on the top floor, where the exclusive rooftop with a swimming pool and The District cocktail bar is the star of the show, while the Tailors restaurant reflects the NH Hotel Group's stand-out hospitality.

A couple of weeks ago in a Vietnamese restaurant in Singapore I met my first robot waiter, and it made me think how robotics is changing the face of travel. As it has in Istanbul airport, not only one of the world’s largest, but also a fine example of a smart airport that has invested heavily in biometric data, augmented reality and AI.  

Istanbul, with e-passport gates, smart translation services, smart parking and security, has also introduced roaming robots to assist travellers, just like the one in Singapore with the cheerful hello and flashing eyes who brought me my bowl of Pho. Istanbul’s robots too are the size of a small child, with mouths that flash, eyes that blink, arms that move, and have a touch screen on the chest to allow customers to interact. 

But are these investments paying off?  After a six-month trial of the biometric scanners the airport announced that boarding times were reduced by 30%, and that passport e-gates were verifying travellers’ identities in as little as 18 seconds. Money very well spent indeed.  And those cheerful little robots are so cute!

Pamela McCourt Francescone
Executive Editor

Unahotels Malpensa, Gruppo UNA's 4-star business hotel near Milan’s Malpensa airport and the Exhibition Centre, has reopened its doors with a new look.

The restyling involved both the accommodation facilities and services for those travelling for business or pleasure.

Smart TVs and remodelled bathrooms

Starting with the beds made by Dorelan for Gruppo UNA as part of the Made For UNA project, the makeover involved all 157 guest rooms. This is another example of the hotel chain's personalization strategy which is being implemented across all UNA Esventure, UNAHOTELS, and UNAWAY properties. In addition each room has been outfitted with a 55-inch Samsung Smart TV, and the bathrooms have been updated.

New executive rooms

The rooms on the ninth and tenth floors have all been renovated and converted into executive rooms with a coffee maker and kettle. The redesign has also expanded the number of accommodation options, with the addition of two two-room apartments with kitchenettes. The hall and the Volare Bar & Restaurant by UNA cucina have also been completely renovated with new furnishings and indoor greenery.

Belvilla by OYO, a leading player in the world of holiday home rentals, has many mountain destinations in its large portfolio of houses where you can enjoy moments of relaxation and surround yourself with the beauty of autumn.

Magical landscapes 

Belvilla has a charming chalet in the small village of Gratillon, a hamlet of Saint-Nicolas in the Aosta Valley, where guests can enjoy moments of relaxation and privacy. The property is furnished with style and attention to detail, and it has a large terrace from which to enjoy the breathtaking view of the magical landscape. Guests can also use the wellness area with personalized programmes, massages, and treatments and enjoy walks in the woods of the Gran Paradiso National Park and Val di Rhemes, which surround the area.  The price of the house starts at € 2,924 per week.

Celebrating local traditions

In Trentino Alto-Adige Belleville has a chalet with three apartments, each finely furnished in a rustic vintage style - celebrating local traditions - and equipped with all comforts. There is a shared wellness area with the other apartments where guests can relax in the whirlpool, sauna, Turkish bath, and other amenities.

The property is in Bellamonte village, which is part of Predazzo and close to the Paneveggio-Pale di San Martino Natural Park. The price of the house starts at € 1,636 per week. For more information, visit the website: www.belvilla.it

Radisson Blu GHR Rome, with the city’s first immersive room, is in the heart of Rome’s Parioli district. Ideal for a leisure and business clientele, the hotel reflects the artistic soul of the Eternal City. In recent years Rome has enjoyed a cultural revival, thanks to the opening of venues such as the Auditorium, the MAXXI museum and the Forum Theatre as well as trendy clubs, wine bars and up-market restaurants.

Videos and static images are transformed into immersive experiences.
Not far from Piazza del Popolo the Radisson Blu GHR Rome has a banqueting hall that is Rome’s only immersive room with images and videos projected on the walls and ceiling together with audio. Radisson Blu GHR is the first hotel in Rome to have adopted this particular audio and video technology thanks to 11 Full HD projectors that work in unison, transforming videos or static images into real immersive experiences.



“The room is ideal for customized product launches and press conferences”

Gian Maria Vecchiarelli, director of sales & marketing, says “Our immersive room turns corporate or private events into lasting experiences allowing us to customize events, from traditional corporate dinners to product launches and press conferences.” The projections are on opposite sides of the room, creating two ultra-wide screens that use both pre-loaded video content, customized videos or branded content with the customer's logo.

Portale Sardegna, an online travel agency (OTA) listed on Euronext Growth Milan, has announced the formation of Welcome to Italy Corp., an American corporation that will be 100% controlled by Portale Sardegna S.p.A.

A board with three directors 

The new branch, which is based in New York, will launch internationalization for Welcome to Italy. This is a national tourism promotion and distribution system aimed at transforming Italy’s tourist heritage into products to be created through incoming arrivals. The platform is nearing completion, with a final launch scheduled for the end of the year. The Board of Directors of Welcome to Italy Corp will be: Massimiliano Cossu, who will serve as chief executive officer, Giuseppe Careddu, who has extensive experience in the world of travel on the American market, and lawyer Luca Melchionna.

“We will use NY as a hub for foreign markets”

Massimiliano Cossu, CEO of Portale Sardegna and Welcome to Italy Corp said: “To win over the American clientele, we need to be more effective in this area. The partnerships we're working on convince us that this is the right avenue. Our intention is to use New York as a hub for reaching international markets, not just for potential American customers.”

Italy is the second country of choice for French travellers this year. If the summer season saw a general increase in foreign and domestic tourist arrivals to Italy’s art cities and seaside resorts, it also brought renewed French interest, following the encouraging results of 2021 (2,535,309 arrivals and 6,929,254 overnights). 

ENIT, the Italian national tourism board, returned to the IFTM Top Résa B2B fair in Paris Porte de Versailles from 20 to 22 September with 200 Italian destinations, 1,700 brands, 34,000 tourism professionals, and 150 conference sessions.

France is Italy’s fourth largest home market

According to the most recent available data (2021), France accounts for 13% of total foreign tourist spending in Italy (21.3 billion euros) during this phase of recovery from Covid. France is now the second largest foreign market (after Germany), pending the complete recovery of arrivals from the US. In terms of attendance France is the fourth largest home market, accounting for 6.5% of the international total (106 million), trailing only Germany (41.7%), Switzerland (7.8%), and Austria (7.1%).

The Cannes ILTM luxury fair

ENIT will also attend the ILTM luxury fair in Cannes with seven major Italian regions from north to south: Friuli Venezia Giulia (www.turismofvg.it), Lombardy (www.in-lombardia.com) with a focus on the Province of Brescia (www.visitbrescia.it), Tuscany (www.visituscany.com), Lazio (www.visitlazio.com), Basilicata (www.basilicataturistica.it) and Sicily (www.visitsicily.info), while a group of tourism professionals will represent Liguria. Some sixty tour operators will be present on the regional stands  - there will be 23 individual participants -  with the Italian representatives including TOs, accommodation facilities, hotels and  resorts, DMCs, car rental companies, golf courses, associations, festivals, airlines and more.

The Piadina Experience Museum has opened in the town of San Giovanni in Marignano in the Romagna region.

The story and the secrets of the piadina

This multimedia facility (which is less than half an hour by road from Rimini) tells the story and the secrets of the iconic piadina, the symbol of gastronomic Romagna. Through an unusual itinerary, celebrating the local area and the raw materials of which the piadina is made, visitors are transported into the world of the piadina, from the Neolithic age to the present day, discovering its most ancient history up to its modern evolution.

Discovering the production process

Visitors will dream in the Magic Room as in a film by the great Federico Fellini, as wheat and the other elements come together to tell us of the alchemy that is renewed every time a piadina is made.  Walking through the Panoramic Tunnel they will witness the production process, following the different stages from the dough, to resting in the Piadina Spa, to cooking at different temperatures, and discovering the secrets of technology at the service of tradition and quality.

High-definition projectors for a colourful experience

And of course every tour will end with a piadina tasting. The curators have chosen a new exhibition concept, using ultra-high-definition projectors that make the impossible possible, with the history of the piadina and Romagna being traced on walls and ceilings in the hues of the Romagna region. Compulsory booking 24 hours in advance for Mani in Pasta and 48 hours in advance for the Azdora Piadina Show.  Available every day by appointment for groups.

For information: www.thenewsmaker.it