THE LARGEST CONVENTION CENTRE? IN MILAN

Italy has been described as a very lucky country in the way it seems to be able to simply sell itself through its ancient culture, which is reflected in modern Italian cities and cuisine. Meanwhile, Italy is a world hotspot for fashion and super models, whilst the climate does the country a lot of favours. However, despite this reputation, Italy is not only about leisure tourism and hedonism. The new convention centre in Milan, the largest in Europe, is set to boost Italy’s reputation as an uprising centre of business tourism.

Italy currently has 6% of the European business tourism market and holds the position of the 8th most popular European country for this particular branch of travel. Although Italy generally thrives on romantic holidays, skiing trips and beach holidays, business tourism has been noted to be an area for clear improvement. The new centre in Milan should go a long way to helping this cause.

The centre has 18.000 seats, 73 modular halls and 54 000 metres of supporting exhibition space. That is a huge capacity for fitting businessmen into one centre. The size of the centre is certain to boost the image of the Fiera Milano group. For customers, Milan has a number of advantages. Not only is it a wonderfully romantic city of cobbled streets and quaint scenery, yet it also has three international airports, linking it to 170 locations worldwide. On a similar financial note, Milan has its own stock exchange and is the headquarters of all foreign banks and multinational corporations in Italy.

To add another bonus for businessmen, it is now possible to claim back VAT on food, drink and meeting room hire in Milan and other parts of Italy. It seems that Milan could help Italy drastically move up the business tourism ladder.