True Italian Experience is a b2b video showcase promoting Italy to inbound travel specialists. An integrated digital ecosystem for the development of the Italian tourism system, it uses storytelling to showcase Italy’s attractions and experiences.
ItaliAbsolutely asked CEO Maurizio Rota about the project's objectives and growth prospects.
How did it all start?
True Italian Experience started in 2019, the result of a private investment and the expertise acquired in 35 years by the communications and marketing group Assist Group S.r.l. After three years of study, research, testing and analysis we are finally here today.
The word experience is often overused in the world of tourism. On this portal the claim is Experience Italy minute by minute and it has thousands of videos, one for every minute of the day, promoting Italy's attractions in visual storytelling. Where did the idea come from?
Italy is an evergreen, but the tools and the ways of communicating it need updating. To capture the attention of today's tourists we inspire them with videos: hundreds of hours of images that we produce ourselves and that are available on our portal.
This month the portal opens a b2b section with access to all affiliates. Why is this important?
We are focusing a lot on the b2b segment. We want everyone to participate in the project - institutions, regions, distribution, the transport and hospitality sectors. Our objective is to aggregate the entire supply chain.
Ita Airways is a partner and was very much involved in the launch of the portal. What role does it play?
Ita Airways is a strategic partner for us and will be the only participating airline.
Will the True Italian Experience offers also be available as ancillary services that can be booked online when buying an ITA ticket?
Yes, that is already the case. And the aim is to open this up to other transport components to enhance and sell this quality Italian product.
Gattinoni is also a partner: will you be operating through its agency network?
Gattinoni is a technical and administrative partner through which we operate. But it is just one of the b2b networks: we are addressing the entire agency system.
Who can propose experiences to be included in your offer? Does it have to be an already digitized product? Is there an entry selection?
Absolutely yes, the experiences are selected and identified through a value matrix. There are parameters that the offer must respect, and the experience must already be online. Though in some cases we can intervene to make it digitizable. We try to give everyone an equal chance of entry.
How can someone propose their experience to True Italian Experience?
We are already in the process of collecting new proposals, starting with large international groups. So if there is anyone who wants to make a proposal, just send us an email.
