THE FIRST TIME WE WILL NEVER FORGET: LOOKALS AT TTG 2013

What an experience at TTG2013 in Rimini. This is one of the best B2B Trade Shows in the travel industry and we made the most of every moment. Networking and connecting with other people was a priority and we are now following up all those leads.

This year TTG was celebrating its 50^th anniversary and over 50000 people visited during the 3 day trade fair. Lookals was delighted to see the Italian Minister for Tourism open the doors to this prestigious event. There were hundreds of trade stands from all over the world and some truly inspirational speeches. New business start-ups had a wonderful opportunity to display their information and to network, including Lookals.

So what were the highlights for the Lookals team in Rimini? Of all the events the most important was the opportunity it gave for start-up businesses to pitch their ideas to a wide range of clients. The Associazione Startup Turismo also presented their vision. The managing director, Stefano Ceci, together with Federico Barilli from Italia Startup and Francesca Bennati (Netcomm consultant with a focus on tourism) gave an excellent presentation.  This focused on the Associazione Start-up Turismo, and they also asked the government to develop a tax credit programme for digital tourism. The Associazione brings together 23 projects into a network so that people can work together on one aim which is to promote Italy around the world and make it one of the top visitor destinations.

Another excellent highlight was the TBDI and “meet Your Blogger,” event. This was organised by Emma and Fabrizio and was a wonderful way to network with travel bloggers from all over the world. It was the first time this had taken place in Italy and was a great way to share ideas and talk to some very interesting people. Travel bloggers are useful to companies like Lookals because they can talk about the business to a wide audience but they also have a lot of insider knowledge on the needs of travellers and their expectations. This helps develop the business model further.
We are now following up on the contacts we made and will be sharing ideas in the near future.