A major event can change the face of a country: economy, social fabric, cultural enrichment, reputation and recognition at an international level. On the one hand, the economic relevance of major events lies in their ability to attract investments, stimulate tourism, increase the visibility of the brands involved and generate significant direct and indirect revenue flows; on the other, their cultural relevance lies in the ability to reactivate the social fabric and reinvigorate the history and common culture of the host place. These are the premises that gave rise – today in Rome – to the debate on the occasion of the presentation of the new issue of The Corporate Communication Magazine published by the International Corporate Communication Hub (www.icch.it), the first international observatory on corporate and institutional composed of a Scientific Committee and an Academic Committee coordinated by Iulm University. An appointment – reports a note – which brought together representatives of the institutions and the managerial world, encouraging dialogue between different sectors all linked by the common thread of major events: cultural, religious, sporting, catalysts of economic resources also thanks to the increase in tourism towards the country.
After the opening of the proceedings by Pierangelo Fabiano, General Secretary of Icch, and Alessandro Onorato, Councilor for Major Events, Sport, Tourism and Fashion of the Municipality of Rome, the start of the debate in which Father Enzo Fortunato, director of communications, participated of St. Peter’s Basilica and coordinator of World Children’s Day; Costanza Tarola, Head of Brand, Adv and Internal Communication Enel; Alessandra Priante, president of Enit; Beniamino Quintieri, president of the Institute for Sports Credit; Stefania Romenti, coordinator of the Academic Committee, ICCH and full professor of strategic communication and sustainability, Iulm University; Federico Silvestri, CEO of 24 Ore Eventi.
“Major events have the power to transform the face of a country, positively influencing many aspects, from the economy to the reputation and perception of Italy in the world and bringing great benefits for the various actors in society, from companies to citizens – he said Fabiano – These events of international importance – think of the Jubilee 2025 or Milan Cortina 2026 – represent an extraordinary challenge and opportunity for visibility for the country from different points of view. They have repercussions on the economy as they attract large investments aimed at modernizing and creating new infrastructures; cultural, because they increase citizen participation and the sense of belonging to the community. Finally, events are an important means of promotion for organizations and companies that support such initiatives”.
“Rome in 2024 will surpass the record of 50 million tourist presences of 2023 – underlined councilor Onorato – The projections are clear: in the first quarter we recorded a + 7.52% of arrivals and + 5.36% of presences compared to to the same period last year, while on 21 June Fiumicino airport set the record for passengers in transit, 169 thousand in a single day”. They are not random numbers, Onorato reiterated “because tourism is an exact science. Thanks to a strategy linked to major events, we have made Rome more dynamic, open and attractive, offering visitors opportunities to return to the city more than once: not more just to admire the archaeological sites and monuments, which are a priceless heritage to be valorised, but also to attend sports, music and cultural events”.
Since “mid-May – Onorato recalled – we have hosted over 10 sporting events of international importance, which will become 15 by the beginning of July. The organizers now want to invest in the Capital. Thanks to this strategy, the average stay of tourists in Rome: 3.9 nights remain in 2024, more than last year (3.7) and compared to the 2.5 days of the pre-Covid era. The benefits for the city are enormous, I think of the economic consequences for the businesses and stable employment in the tourism sector: it grew by +2.17% over 2023, to which add extra workers, i.e. employed for single events lasting up to three days, to reach +2.50%”.
On the sports front, according to Quintieri “Hosting major international sporting events represents an economic and cultural wealth for the country. At the moment Italy does not express all the potential it could have in this sector – he highlighted – as the high degree of obsolescence of the plants, which have an average age of over 60 years, makes a new season of redevelopment necessary”. The Milan Cortina 2026 Olympics “are a unique opportunity given that it is estimated that they will generate 14 billion euros of related activities for the territory and 2.3 billion euros of overall positive impact on the Italian GDP until 2028. But it is necessary to win the challenge of infrastructure to be able to make Italy a candidate to host more and more events” he concluded.
Priante (Enit): “Major fundamental events but they must be managed in the best possible way”
“Big events, especially in small villages, are a fundamental driver to achieve the big goals of deseasonalizing and decongesting the big destinations of this beautiful country that is Italy,” said Alessandra Priante, president of ENIT. “Obviously they must be managed in the best possible way and it is very important to be able to use them also as a place to develop excellent practices to achieve that circularity of decisions, information, data that are necessary to make our strategies truly effective.”
Quintieri (Ics): “Modern infrastructure is needed to host sporting events”
“Major sporting events such as the Olympics that we are about to organize are increasingly characterized as an attraction factor for international tourism” said Beniamino Quintieri, president of the Institute for Sports Credit. “We had important proof of this with the Ryder Cup 2023, during which the vast majority of visitors came from countries all over the world, and therefore with a strong impact not only on the event in terms of ticketing, but also for hotels, restaurants and also a positive image that I hope will last over time. The problem is that to hold large events you need large and modern infrastructures”. “The Sports Credit Institute has among its tasks that of supporting sports infrastructures, which means not only to support small associations and municipalities but also to finance or co-finance and design new stadiums or modernize existing ones”.
Onorato: “With major events in Rome over 50 million visitors in 2023”
“Major events are fundamental for Rome: they offer huge economic benefits” declared Alessandro Onorato, Councilor for Major Events, Sport, Tourism and Fashion of the Municipality of Rome. “Just think about the tourist arrivals and all the related services. Huge social and employment returns, and these two years and eight months of our administration speak for themselves: last year, we had more than 50 million tourist presences, this year we have a further historical record and major events have helped the flows to increase. So beyond monumental, archaeological, architectural tourism, millions of people have joined. They are here for the concert season of major sporting events. It is an impressive figure, the average stay it went from 2.3 days, as many tourists were in Rome, to the current 4.1 days”.
Tarola (Enel): “Our brand is projected into the future thanks to these events”
“A solid and historic brand like ours, built over 62 years of history, is a brand that needs no introduction” declared Enel’s Head of Brand, Adv and Internal Communication Costanza Tarola. “So you might think that, since there is no need for ‘awarenesses’, it does not need forms of communication. Events on the other hand, in our opinion, are a way to bring this brand to life, make it live in the present on a daily basis and above all project it into the future Therefore, we use events a lot at Enel precisely to meet all our stakeholders, starting with institutional ones, customers, partners and ending with external stakeholders, because in any case the best way to live the brand experience is to meet. The event has the characteristic of giving all the people who participate a unique and unrepeatable experience.”
Fabiano (Icch): “A country with big events has the opportunity to team up”
“With Icch we deal with examining in depth the communication themes that have economic-political-social implications for our country and therefore, given the Italian-led G7 that we have just hosted in Puglia, the Jubilee that we will have in 2025 and Milan, Cortina in 2026, obviously it seemed appropriate to do an in-depth study on these issues” said the general secretary of International Corporate Communication Hub Pierangelo Fabiano. “First of all, focusing on the political, economic and social implications that these important events will have. Then on how the country must seize this opportunity, systematizing the best excellences we have, because these major events can represent a turning point in terms of image, both in a positive and negative sense. We need to concentrate and work as a team as much as possible.”
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