THE Italian State Tourist Office is gearing up for the launch of its biggest UK advertising campaign to promote the year 2000, which as well as being the start of the next millennium, is a designated Holy Year.
It is to spend £3.5m on a print campaign which begins in September in time for the main booking period.
UK and Ireland director of the Italian State Tourist Office, Edoardo Betti, said: “All our efforts are in promoting 2000 because Holy Year (which happens every 25 years) is one of the most important events for the Church of Rome and Italy.”
He said thousands of projects, restorations and renovations were taking place all over the country in preparation for the Holy Year, and a list of events for 2000 will be available from the tourist office later this year.
Betti said the war in Kosovo was the reason for a dip in bookings to Italy’s Adriatic coast this year, although the rest of Italy remains popular.
He added: “Business was fantastic at the start of the year but we noticed a few weeks ago that bookings were not what they should be, probably because people were nervous about travelling to the Adriatic until they saw how things in Kosovo developed.”
Alitalia said that some of its flights to Brindisi and Bari which serve the Adriatic resorts had been cancelled or delayed due to the war, but a spokesman for the airline said holidaymakers were not greatly inconvenienced.
He added: “The air space in this region was very busy because of the military aircraft, so some of our flights were affected. But we have five flights a day from Rome to Brindisi and six flights a day to Bari, so there are plenty of seats.”
Bookings to the Amalfi coast have not been affected, according to operators, who have also reported rising demand for Tuscany, the Neapolitan Riviera and the islands of Sicily, Capri and Ischia.
To satisfy the rising demand for villas in Tuscany, Crystal has added properties there this year, and Meon has expanded its programme to Italy for the third edition of its Villas brochure after seeing a doubling of business. It has added more three and four-bedroom properties in Umbria and Lucca.
Betti said the increasing number of low-cost flights from the UK, including the launch of Debonair’s service from Luton to Perugia in Umbria earlier this month and Ryanair’s new route from Stansted to Ancona on the Adriatic beginning on July 1, were helping to open up more areas to tourism.
“Ryanair is the first airline to operate a scheduled service to Ancona so we think this will attract more people to the area,” said Betti.
“Debonair’s new flight is also very important for the independent travel market because it enables people to book their own farmhouse or villa.”