Conferences: European organisers on the lake

Next weekend a group of European buyers will be invited to discover the range of conference facilities on offer in the lakes area. Thursday 29 September to Sunday 2 October will see the third edition of the Lake Maggiore Meeting Industry Familiarisation Tour, funded and organised within the Italy-Switzerland cross-border cooperation project 2007-2013, “Meeting without borders: conferences and incentive trips on Lake Maggiore.” 

The project is implemented by the Chamber of Commerce of the Verbano Cusio Ossola Province – the project leader – along with the Chambers of Commerce of Varese and Novara, the Verbano Cusio Ossola Province, Lake Maggiore Conference, Villa Taranto Botanic Gardens, the Hoteliers’ Association of Novara and Verbano Cusio Ossola, Verbania Town Council, the Distretto Turistico dei Laghi, the Shopkeepers’ Association Confcommercio, and the Ascona-Locarno Lake Maggiore Tourist Board. The organisation of the familiarisation tour is coordinated by the Chamber of Commerce of Verbano Cusio Ossola and the Lake Maggiore Conference Association.

Says the President of the Chamber of Commerce of VCO, Tarcisio Ruschetti, “We have supported conference tourism for a long time, aware of its potentialities and spin-offs for our area. We are pleased with the continuous collaboration with the Chambers of Commerce of Novara and Varese, which so far has been very productive. I also want to thank Lake Maggiore Conference and its associates for their role in this familiarisation tour; in funding a large part of the hotel accommodation, meals and visits, they have signalled their commitment and, I think, their appreciation of the initiative.”

The buyers, from the major European markets, will be hosted in Piedmont, as in the first edition in October 2010. The second edition, last May, was held in Lombardy.  This time, as in the previous editions of the event, the buyers will be able to visit the territory and its accommodation facilities, and will get to know the conference offer throughout the territory, meeting operators from the destination “Lago Maggiore Meeting Industry” from the provinces of Varese, Novara, and Verbano Cusio Ossola, and from Canton Ticino.

During the very full programme the buyers will visit conference facilities in Novara and VCO, and will meet operators from the whole territory in the course of a workshop on Lake Orta. The 17 buyers participating in the familiarisation tour are expected to arrive in the afternoon of Thursday 29 September.  That evening the operators will be welcomed at Oleggio Castello by representatives of the Chamber of Commerce of VCO and the Convention Bureaus operating in the territory.  The following day they will transfer to Lake Orta for a demanding morning’s work, with a series of  meetings with around 15 operators from the destination “Lake Maggiore Meeting Industry” – mainly 4 and 5 star hotels with congress facilities, historic residences, DMC and team building agencies – and the three convention bureaus. On Friday afternoon and in the following days the operators will visit facilities in Baveno, Stresa and Pallanza, Isola Bella and Isola Pescatori.

During the familiarisation tour the facilities and conference offer of the provinces of Varese, Novara, Verbano Cusio Ossola and of the Canton Ticino will be presented; together these comprise an offer of locations and facilities of the highest quality, and a record capacity: around 400 hotels and 500 conference rooms, seating a total of almost 50,000 people.

For further information contact the Business Promotion Department of the Chamber of Commerce at 0323 912833, or by email at promozione@vb.camcom.it