What is it?

Agri Travel & Slow Travel EXPO (ATEST) is the first international exhibition, dedicated to the promotion of rural and slow tourism, reaching this year its 8th edition (8-9th September 2022 B2B and 9-10-11th September 2022 B2C) with many new projects and initiatives!

Keywords

TOURISM, CULTURE, SUSTAINABILITY, AGRICULTURE  and a focus on  FOOD  : these are the keywords leading Agri Travel & Slow Travel Expo. Food plays the leading role representing a powerful factor of cultural identity able to describe places through stories, traditions, economy and agricultural products.

AGRI TRAVEL & SLOW TRAVEL EXPO (ATEST) promotes destinations through their landscapes, arts, traditions and foods to tourists and operators who are looking for authentic and emotional experiences . ATEST gives expression to every aspect of the tourism sector in a lively and attractive way, which makes it appealing for everyone! In this context FOOD and WINE TOURISM becomes of importance for the promotion of local territories and the development of local economies.

ATEST is composed by two different fairs, a B2B AREA ENTIRELY DEDICATED TO SLOW TOURISM AND EVEN MORE INTERNATIONAL for professional operators only (8 – 9th September 2022) and a B2C AREA also open to the interested visitors (9-10-11th September 202). It is also scheduled a celebration of experiential tourism by online events from the whole world on 27 th September 2022 for the World Tourism Day .

The two souls of the event

The new format provides for an  online B2B area for sector operators  who are offered participation in a rich program of conferences and workshops and inclusion in the dense  agenda of B2B meetings  that has always generated profitable exchanges and comparisons and a  B2C area in a rich presence of events for the public  who will be able to fully appreciate the resources and opportunities of  slow and experiential tourism .

Sustainable and slow tourism

New modes of travel are helping to support the  development of rural tourism , describing modernity and having strong connections with concepts like  life   quality, sustainability  and  contact with nature . This is what we call  slow tourism , linked to a deep knowledge of its territory, thanks to  slow ways of travelling like strolls, trekking, cycling, mountain and hill itineraries, water ways, spiritual itineraries . All this allows the tourist to discover a location’s most intimate aspects linked to  culture, food & wine, traditional excellences and landscape.

A lighthouse for rural and sustainable tourism

ATEST main goal is the  creation and organization of networks and programs  shared by its participants, as well as of  workshop, seminars and theme conferences . This allows the exchange of know-how, best-practice and experiences, together with the research of solutions regarding the development of strategies relevant for rural tourism. A particular focus is reserved to agribusiness, an incentive for the tourism market, and to green economy, a decisive solution for a  sustainable global development  and a bet for a tourism economy relaunch.

Where
Both B2B and B2C areas will take place at Bergamo Fair, in order to allow the sharing of know-how and best practices, and the promotion of the excellence of destinations in an experiential and safe context.

When

The expo,  scheduled from 8 to 11th September 2022, includes:

•  Thursday 8th and Friday 9th September 2022 : B2B (operators only). The past online edition generated about 650 meetings between buyers and sellers and many commercial exchanges, comparisons and fruitful collaborations, laying the foundations for the development of important future projects

• Friday 9th, Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th September 2022 : B2C (open to the public). The last edition in live mode during the three days of the B2C event generated about 20.000 visits to Bergamo Fair.

• Tuesday 27th September 2022 : Celebration of the World Tourism Day . The past edition generated more than 50 videos from all over the world to celebrate this anniversary.

Some of the highlights of this edition:

–  B2B area dedicated to operators :
will be set up a B2b area dedicated to workshops and meetings with buyers interested in this type of experience, will be a 1:1 real meetings between buyers and sellers. About 60 buyers will be present, including associations and intermediaries, tour operators and tour organizers, mainly from Italy, but also from other European and non-European countries, with particular reference to the American market. It will be an opportunity for meeting and business that will allow you to grasp both the beauties of emerging and sustainable destinations and to experiment with new ways of living to fuel the desire to travel in natural contexts and in total safety

–  B2C area open to the public:
In addition to the engaging  exhibition area , interesting  workshops and conferences  are scheduled on the  theme of sustainability , developed in view of  Agenda 2030  and in its environmental, economic and social dimensions which represent, today more than ever, a challenge for all those tourist destinations, both urban and rural, maritime and mountain, attentive to the needs and sensitivity of visitors. Among the many themes, a space will be reserved for  COMBINED MOBILITY, ACCESSIBILITY and CYCLING   TOURISM , as an important experience to fully experience the territories. There will be a focus on outdoor,  experiential and food and wine tourism

– Active participation is expected thanks to the presence of a  tribute to food & wine  as an identity of a territory and a strategic marketing lever to raise awareness of the beauty of the places, with  show-cooking experiences, tastings and product presentations in total safety . To this end, in the B2C area, a special area will be set up in which to taste the territories through typical products, branded and linked to UNESCO heritage

Strengths of the event

Thanks to the success of previous editions and the presence of numerous foreign delegations, the event can boast:

• large turnout of motivated public interested in  rural issues, slow tourism and conscious consumption

• participation of the main opinion leaders of the tourism, environmental and cultural sectors representing the  national, European and international panorama

• organization of  meetings  with national and international public and private bodies

• possibility to participate in  conferences and workshops  on specific topics and in the rich program of entertainment, cultural and food & wine events

• presence of  numerous European countries  thanks to the collaboration of numerous  European partners  and in particular with  EUROGITES : European Confederation of Rural Tourism comprising 28 associations representing 24 European countries, which in 2017 organized for the first time in Italy at Agri Travel & Slow Travel Expo the EUROPEAN CONGRESS ON RURAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH TOURISM

• intervention of  non-European realities  with which there have been close profitable relationships since the first edition

• promotion of the most important aspects related to the  multifunctionality of farms  (direct sales, catering, educational farms, accommodation, social and recreational activities).

The event also represents an important platform for discussion in which public and private bodies and institutions dialogue in a stimulating context full of ideas for confrontation between SMEs, cooperatives, trade and craft associations and exponents of the national tourism system.

The past edition of Agritravel & Slow Travel Expo, which took place in a hybrid mode, B2C event generated about 20.000 visitors during the weekend dedicated to the general public and the B2B event, with webinars, conferences and workshops generated in total about 650 B2B meetings for operators.

Stefania Pendezza
ATEST Project Manager
Cell. 329.05.09.611

AGRI TRAVEL & SLOW TRAVEL EXPO
Promoberg Fair Body
BERGAMO FAIR – ITALY
Via Lunga
24125 BERGAMO
www.agritravelexpo.it
www.promoberg.it
Tel +39 035 252090 – +39 035 3230911
Fax + 39 035 3230996
e-mail:  agri-slow-travel@promoberg.it