Gathering means growing. That is why you discover more than just being a tourist while participating in conferences in Florence. Participating in a congress or organizing it means building up a network of contacts, relationships, and information. "Let’s Meet in Florence" represents a crossroad where professionals and associates of the congressional industries can come together.
Our site aims at becoming a reference point for all commercial executives of the sector by giving them the possibility to browse through the information required and to get directly in contact with the reality of Florence. The objective of the project “Let’s Meet in Florence” is to diffuse the awareness both in Italy and, especially, abroad to advertise Florence not only as the city of the famous historical family, De Medici, but also as a technological and innovative city keeping up with the market innovations. In this way, Florence is promoted as a world-congress centre, where the executives working in the field decide to come because it is both well-organized and has a lot to offer regarding tourism.
The main aspects of the project are the databases which include all the offers of tourist accommodations and congress services. Through these two databases it is possible to find the most suitable accommodations and services to fulfill the clients’ needs. This project was conceived thanks to Promofirenze’s creativity and the support of the Category Associations, Assindustria (Industrial Association), Confcommercio (Commercial Association), Confesercenti (Trade Association) and the co-operation of three partners (Agency for the Tourism APT of Florence, Florence Convention Office and Florence Expo & Congress).
The congress tourism is one of the richest types of tourism since it produces a turnover of more than 5 billion € in Italy. Florence is the third largest congress city, after Rome and Milan, and is connected to a number of congresses. Furthermore, the number of congresses held in a year has increased as has the number of days and the participation of a single congress. Additionally, the average expenses of congress tourists have also risen. Those who benefit from this growth of expenses are the congress operators (even though they only take 11%) and those who operate within the tourist field (tourist accommodation industry, transports and the commercial field which receives the remaining 89% of the congress expenses). As a result of promoting the congress tourism, an amenable circle began, prompting the growth of other product areas of Florence.
For this encouragement, a website has been formed as a way to communicate: the additionally created editorial staff will gather all the relevant information for the different operators of the sectors of interest and the congress tourists.
The self-publishing device enables the website operator to input the material in real time, both textual and graphical, without having to contact graphic designers or programmers. Through this device it will be possible to create a website, updated daily and maintained by an attentive editorial staff, which will present all the information in a coherent and beguiling manner. The graphics of the website are particularly engaging: the text combined with the images create the representation of a new and technological Florence.