Sept. 13 - ENIT is participating in the Tokyo international tourism fair, an appointment which marks the debut of ENIT’s autumn promotional season in foreign markets. ENIT’s mission is to highlight the potential of the "Italian product," an increasingly popular destination for foreigners, offering a unique combination of culture and gastronomy. In Tokyo, there are scheduled conferences, seminars and workshops; their aim is to promote the interest of Italy’s major tour operators. And the numbers arriving from Japan are positive: there were more than 600 B2B meetings held on Wednesday during the Italia workshop, part of the Jata “Tabihaku,” which will run until Sept. 15. During the workshop, more than 100 Japanese tourism buyers participated, while there were 10 Italian agencies. The presentation of the activities and future programs of the ENIT Agency was carried out by Director General Andrea Santas, and attended by Alberto Zaccheroni, coach of Japan National Football Team, the Commissioner of the Japan Pavilion at Expo Milano 2015, Hisanori Goto, an Alitalia representative in Japan, and Edmondo Boscoscuro, Marketing Director of NTV Italo. "Our presence at the Tokyo fair - said the Director General - aims at strengthening a market that has embarked in a growing tourism trend towards Italy, which in 2012, according to the Bank of Italy, registered holiday spending equal to €578 million (+12.5% over the previous year) and about 3 million visitors." "The information we receive from our tour operators regarding the sale of Italy tourism catalogs– added Riccardo Strano, Director of ENIT for the Far East – for 2013 shows an increases of 15-20% on an annual basis.''

ALBERTO ZACCHERONI

The coach of the Japanese national and testimonial for the promotional campaign that revolves around the Expo, Alberto Zaccheroni, recalls his previous experiences as tour operator and says that he hopes sport "can act as a facilitator for the many young Japanese in Italy, to follow their idols playing in our football league." Zaccheroni was born in Meldola, in the province of Forlì -Cesena, on 1 April 1953. Known as Zac, he is the first Italian coach to have won an international trophy (the Asian Cup 2011) while training a non-Italian team.