Credit: ME
From Wednesday 26 to Friday 28 October 2022, Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and the Minister for Tourism and Minister for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), Lex Delles, visited Italy as part of an economic and tourist promotion mission.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Bettel met the President of the Emilia-Romagna region, Stefano Bonaccini. Their meeting focused on current and prospective cooperation between Luxembourg and Emilia-Romagna in the fields of research, digital technology, the automotive industry and the agri-food sector.
Prime Minister Bettel and Minister Delles together with the entire delegation then visited the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and CINECA, a consortium made up of 112 universities, public institutions and Italian companies with the objective of accelerating scientific discovery by providing high performance computing resources and data management.
Minister Delles also had a meeting with the Regional Councilor for Tourism of the Emilia-Romagna region, Andrea Corsini, during which opportunities for cooperation were discussed. Luxembourg's General Directorate for Tourism recalled that the Italian market is gaining in importance for the Luxembourg leisure and event tourism sector. Emilia-Romagna is one of the regions where searches and reservations for flights to Luxembourg have increased the most between 2021 and 2022. Nevertheless, this region continues to present high growth potential since it currently concentrates only 4% of all searches for flights from Italy to Luxembourg. Minister Delles said: “Italy is one of the key markets for the Grand Duchy's tourism promotion policy. Indeed, with nearly 47,000 overnight stays by Italian tourists in 2021, the peninsula is the sixth source market for tourists to Luxembourg. Closer cooperation will therefore make it possible to promote the respective tourist destinations for the benefit of the leisure tourism and business tourism sectors”.
Prime Minister Bettel and Minister Delles closed the first day of the economic and tourist mission by meeting the Mayor of Bologna, Matteo Lepore. They discussed topics around cooperation in the economic and tourism sectors.
The second day of the mission in Italy was dedicated to the networking of the Luxembourg delegation of SMEs as well as key players in the tourism sector. The “Emilia Romagna – Luxembourg Business Forum” enabled Luxembourg and Italian SMEs in the automotive, information and communication technologies (ICT), finance and tourism sectors to exchange on the prospects for cooperation. Prime Minister Bettel, Minister Delles and the Director General of the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, Carlo Thelen, addressed the forum participants. Minister Delles indicated that the Grand Duchy has succeeded in reinventing its economic model on many occasions and has proven to be a catalyst for collaboration and innovation. He underlined in this context that “small and medium-sized enterprises not only constitute the backbone of the Luxembourg economy, but they also contribute to innovation and technological progress. I am convinced that this essential sector can contribute to strengthening the economic ties between Luxembourg and Italy”.
Carlo Thelen pointed out that Italy is in fifth place among Luxembourg's partner countries in terms of exports of goods and services. More than 500 companies of Italian origin are active in the Grand Duchy: "The multiple relations between the two economies, the historical ties that unite us and the reliable partnerships between the companies of the two countries are an excellent basis for further extending our cooperation in the innovative fields of artificial intelligence, health, environmental, digital and space technologies, but also in more traditional fields ranging from financial activities to the most diverse industrial applications. Emilia-Romagna is one of the most dynamic regions with many partnership opportunities for Luxembourg companies and startups.”
The second day of the economic and tourism mission ended with the workshop “Inspiring Travel and Meeting Experiences in Luxembourg”. In order to present the assets of the Grand Duchy as a destination for leisure tourism as well as congress tourism, this workshop was organised in the presence of Luxembourg and Italian companies in the tourism sector, such as travel agencies and tour operators. Minister Delles and the national promotion agencies "Luxembourg for Tourism" and "Luxembourg Convention Bureau" presented the assets of the tourist destination Luxembourg, evoking its multicultural character, innovative ecosystem, quality infrastructures, accessibility and the rich and varied landscapes of the country.
On the sidelines of these events, Minister Delles had several meetings with major players in the tourism sector and the SMEs of the Emilia-Romagna region, including the general manager of the tourist promotion office of the region of Emilia-Romagna, Emanuele Burioni, and the president of the association of companies and travel agents of the region of the Emilia-Romagna region, Massimo Caravita.
Minister Delles said: “Luxembourg has a multilingual environment, a strategic position at the heart of Europe, innovative economic sectors and an intact and attractive nature. These assets offer us great tourism potential that we want to exploit sustainably through our new tourism strategy. It focuses on three categories of objectives: to create tangible added value for residents, cross-border commuters and tourists, to offer authentic and surprising experiences and to strengthen tourism as an economic sector. This quality approach allows us to offer both tourists and delegates a unique stay experience”.
The economic and tourism mission ended on Friday with a meeting between Minister Delles and the Mayor of Rimini, Jamil Sadegholvaad.
Prime Minister Bettel's visit to Italy continues with an official visit to San Marino and a private audience with His Holiness Pope Francis at the Vatican.
