Japan – Tourism, Italy’s historic hamlets promoted as a tourist destination

Ms Dorina Bianchi, the Undersecretary of State for Tourism, is in Japan to attend the meeting organised at the Italian Embassy in collaboration with the Club of the Most Beautiful Hamlets of Italy (I Borghi più Belli d´Italia) and tourism agency ENIT. She said: “Italy is the dream destination of travelers from all over the world, so we are working to offer them a full-fledged alternative tourist destination. Today tourists want to take part in the local reality, to come into contact with local traditions and not just with the memories of a place. This is why 2017 will be dedicated to small hamlets. For us it is a priority to offer tourists a real sensorial and visual experience of places with a story, centuries-old wine and food traditions, precious archaeological and religious treasures, and a soul of which Italy has a great wealth.” Present at the meeting were Italian Ambassador Domenico Giorgi, the President of the Club ‘I Borghi più Belli d´Italia’, Fiorello Primi, top Japanese officials and local media representatives. Ms Bianchi went on to talk about Italy’s priceless cultural heritage, recalling that “the Guide to the Most Beautiful Hamlets in Italy, in the Japanese version, has been presented in Japan and this is precisely the reason why tomorrow there will be an intense agenda of meetings with Japan’s major tour operators, in order to further consolidate our cooperation and make it even more profitable.”