News

Italiafestival - ASTOI Agreement

2 December 2005

Agreement between ItaliaFestival and ASTOI A draft agreement between Italiafestival, representing 26 leading Italian Festivals and AS.TO.I., Italian Association of Tour Operators, was signed today in Rome at Confindustria Headquarters for the promotion of cultural tourism. This agreement, by increasing the value of tourism and culture as a winning couple, aims to enhance the collaborations and synergies among the members represented by the associations, both members of Confindustria. In particular, italiafestival will get going in order to provide as soon as possible ASTOI with all programmes and information about its members and the latter will diffuse them to the tour operators in order to foster the organisation, promotion and marketing strategies of package tours connected to festivals. The President of ASTOI Giuseppe Boscoscuro reported: "It is in an agreement that we conceived and launched in a constructive perspective uniting the professional skills and prerogatives of very different areas of expertise, but sharing the common aim of developing the tourist supply." "Festivals are events of high artistic level in the context of performing arts; - declares Franco Punzi, President of Italiafestival - To bet on festivals is a promotional surplus value for Italian tourism. Italy is the country with more artistic heritage in the world; great artists (musicians, actors, film directors...) were born in Italy and a very large number of performing arts events is produced in our venues. This is the principal reason that led us to sign this agreement in order to foster the tourists' presence in Italy and abroad interested in the programmes of festivals. The results we expect from this agreement will have an important economical impact , with a positive effect on the cultural industry in general. The data we have been processing already show that the economical impact corresponds to seven times the value of the tickets of the festivals' events." Rome, 30 November 2005