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Complete relaxation for a few days to recharge your batteries. A short but intense holiday in one of the tourist capitals, just a few hours away from home by plane. These are the so-called city breaks, the short breaks in the most beautiful cities in Europe, but they are so much more.
The number of travellers who now prefer more short breaks during the year to one or two long stays in the ‘normal’ holiday periods, is increasing. For a break from work, the ideal thing to do is to indulge in your interests by combining tourism and knowledge: in fact, cultural reasons are ranked in first place in the choice of a long weekend in an international city, with the idea of visiting an exhibition or an event, going to a concert or a theatre performance. However, it’s also for shopping and tasting local gastronomic specialities or getting to know new people. This is a trend which the economic situation in the last twelve months has contributed to accentuating: the main research agencies which are monitoring the propensity to travel in 2009 (Swg-Confesercenti, Harris Interactive, Ipsos-EuropAssistance) agree in their findings that, with the recession, European consumers are reacting not by cutting out travelling, but by reducing the average duration of stays.
Therefore, it’s a long term trend: the ECT (European City Tourism) report, the first complete study of the industry, shows that in the ten years between 1995-2005 the total number of foreign bookings in European cities increased by 56.7%, with an average of increase of 4.5% per year. However, this average doubled in the 2004 – 2005 period, when there was a boom in short breaks as low cost flights began.
The 2010 edition of Bit – the International tourism exchange will highlight and make the most of this growing trend with a dedicated area: Bit 4 Cities.
“According to the information collected by the Ipk World Travel Monitor city breaks are now 40% of the total number of bookings in Europe, and 20% of turnover derived from international tourism”, commented Corrado Peraboni, the Chief Executive Officer of Fiera Milano EXPOCTS, which organizes Bit. Also, 58% of the total number of bookings are relative to the top ten largest cities, which also includes Rome and Milan.
Bit has an inherent capability of taking advantage of emerging trends and converting them into business opportunities for Operators: Bit 4 Cities will be a meeting place for the key local supply and demand players, in an area designed to favour focused business meetings”.
Strategically collocated in pavilion 4 “The World”, which is dedicated to International products, Bit 4 Cities has been designed to facilitate a meeting of exhibitors, meaning destinations and their relative area experts (Tourist board, Convention Bureau, airline companies, Tour Operators etc) and Buyers (Italian and overseas Tour Operators, CRAL and exponents of association tourism, travel agents etc). Its formula facilitates immediate business via intermediaries, careful to market new flexible tourism packages, which are available the whole year round, in line with the increasing demand for holidays by an increasingly demanding public; it gives the possibility of promoting new destinations with travellers and it is an occasion to learn more from the Italian and overseas press.
A few curious points of view on city breaks; According to a survey conducted by TripAdvisor, the preferred destination for a city break in Europe is London, which is seen as being costly but ideal to enjoy the atmosphere of a metropolis. The British capital is also the first in the list of most welcoming cities along with Dublin and Amsterdam. Paris is seen as the most romantic city, and Prague is believed to be the cheapest.
Bit 4 Cities is an area within Bit 2010. The 30th edition of Bit will be held in the Fieramilano area in Rho from Thursday 18 to Sunday 21 February 2010.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales. She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
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