From TTG Rimini to Enna, with seven European tour operators
From 14 to 16 October Kore Siciliæ was at TTG Travel Experience in Rimini, the tourism fair where tour operators, travel agencies and destinations from all over the world meet every year. Together with CNA Enna, we presented the consortium's experiences and the land of the Rocca di Cerere UNESCO Global Geopark to the people who put trips together.
Telling the story of a place at a fair is useful. Letting people live it is something else. So once the fair was over, we invited some of the operators to see it all up close.
Five days in the heart of Sicily
From 16 to 20 October, seven tour operators from Germany, Spain, Belgium, Sweden and the Czech Republic travelled around central Sicily, on a post tour organised by Kore Siciliæ and CNA Enna.
In Enna they visited the Castello di Lombardia, the Rocca di Cerere and the Cathedral. Then the Villa Romana del Casale in Piazza Armerina and the village of Assoro.
People before monuments
The trip did not stop at the monuments. The operators met master restorer Angelo Scalzo, took part in a handmade paper workshop with Cartiera Crisa and visited Giuliana Di Franco's atelier.
And then the food: Rosario Umbriaco's arancino, cheeses from the Fratelli D'Angelo dairy, Paolo Cancillieri's pizza, a gin masterclass with Nysura Distillery, Tommy's Wine and the San Giorgio restaurant in Assoro.
Many of them are experiences you can enjoy too: you'll find them at the bottom of this page.
Why we do it
The goal, as Stefano Rizzo, managing director of Kore Siciliæ and secretary of CNA Enna, explains, is to bring central Sicily into the programmes of foreign tour operators and to create work for the local businesses.
There are two ways. Adding Enna and its experiences to the Sicilian itineraries that tour operators already sell. Or offering short stays, from two to four days, arriving at Catania airport and devoted entirely to the inland.
For a small business, getting into a foreign catalogue alone is almost impossible. Together, within a package, it becomes possible.
First feedback
One of the operators, Fabio Pittella of the German tour operator Die Genussreise, wrote about Enna for his readers once he got home: we covered it here on the blog. Now we are gathering the impressions of the others, to understand which proposals work best for each market.
Are you a tour operator or a travel agency? Our proposals are in the Packages section, and we can build new ones tailored to your travellers. Get in touch.
