Genoa will host the World Tourism Event – World Exhibition of Tourism in UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the most important event for matching tourism supply and demand in UNESCO heritage cities and sites, an event that affects the world of tourism at 360 degrees. The event will take place in the splendid historic setting of Palazzo della Meridiana in Genoa, an exceptional location registered as a UNESCO heritage site within the “New Roads and the System of Rolli Palaces.”
The 2024 edition of WTE will feature the traditional exhibition space dedicated to World Heritage sites and the ever-present B2B Workshop reserved for Italian and international buyers and sellers from the sector. To celebrate the 15-year milestone, this edition will offer a rich calendar of insights related to tourism and the conservation, promotion and enhancement of World Heritage sites. The expo will also have anevents and experiences area that will be a place for in-depth discussions and entertainment designed as a dynamic space, always open and with free admission.
Genoa City Councilor for Tourism and Sports Alessandra Bianchi said: “We are very proud that Genoa has been chosen as the venue for the WTE. Our city, in recent years, is establishing itself as a destination highly appreciated by international Tourism and with a strong tendency to deseasonalization. This is an important signal for us since we are working in the direction of an offer that enhances our natural, artistic and architectural beauties, obviously with the historic center and the palaces of the Rolli Unesco heritage, but also Sport, especially this year in which we obtained the title of European Capital, the outdoors and food all year round. Genoa is a city, still in many ways, to be discovered. Here the visitor can find millenary art, opportunities for outdoor sports, a rich museum offer in one of the largest and oldest historic centers in Europe, but also in the historic villas of our delegations, from Ponente to Levante. Next year’s WTE will be aimed at schools: I invite especially young and very young people to visit Genoa “.
Marco Citerbo, Administrator of M & C Marketing Consulting and organizer of the WTE explains, “The 2024 edition of the WTE will also be an opportunity to take stock of what the evolution of the Unesco brand in tourism promotion has been over the past 15 years. When we designed the first edition of theevent we were convinced that the tourism promotion of World Heritage properties was as timely and necessary as ever, especially in the direction of increasingly mindful and sustainable tourism. Today, -he continues-we are facing new and complex challenges on a global level, and the WTE has for years now been a place for discussion and debate on topical issues such as climate change andovertourism, thanks to the valuable collaboration of many other stakeholders, institutional and otherwise, all united by theinterest and‘commitment to finding a solution that is now indispensable for the protection of the stresso heritage and its enjoyment. I believe – concludes Dr. Citerbo-that the WTE has also played its own, albeit small, role in spreading theattention around World Heritage that is now there but that 15 years ago was not.was. After 15 years, the WTE continues to be a ‘important opportunity to compare and exchange best practices, but also to promote the many beauties of our own and other countries, thus giving culture-loving tourists the opportunity to get to know new places, rich in history.”
Genoa is therefore preparing to host the Unesco World Tourism Event 2024, after its nomination as European Capital of Culture in 2004 and the inclusion of the Historic Center in the World Heritage List for the system of the Palazzi Nobiliari del Rolli in 2006, the regeneration of the area is underway to make the cultural and artistic heritage even more accessible to residents and tourists. The Ligurian capital will also be the setting for this important event, a perfect stage thanks to the extremely rich architectural, historical, artistic and cultural heritage located around the medieval Old Town, which is among the largest in Europe.
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