A great debut for Adriatic Sea Forum: the project, conceived and organised by Risposte Turismo, at its first edition in partnership with TurismoFVG, achieve resounding success both from the delegates, more than 300, and from the media who attended the Forum.
Entrepreneurs, managers, public administrators, researchers and European projects representatives stated its interest and appreciation for the formula adopted by Adriatic Sea Forum, that during two days of works offered an important contribution in terms of contents, as well as occasions of meeting and business networking. More than 40 speakers of high level, coming from all the countries of Adriatic area, contributed at the first debate about maritime tourism in Adriatic Sea: shipping companies, ports, associations and other leading figures involved in the Forum themes.
At the opening of the forum, after the welcome addresses of local authorities, with Federica Seganti, Councillor Production Activities of Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, Antonio Paoletti, President of Trieste Chamber of Commerce and President of Trieste Terminal Passeggeri, and Marina Monassi, President of Trieste Port Authority and of NAPA, followed the interventions of Margit Waestfelt, Alternate Secretary General of Central European Intiative, the organisation devoted to promote political political, economical, cultural and scientific cooperation and integration among its member states, Serđo Kos, Dekan of Faculty of Maritime Studies at the University of Rijeka, and Olivera Brajović, Deputy Minister for Sustainable Development and Tourism of Montenegro. After these speeches Guerrino Lanci, president of PromoTrieste, and Alessandro Gaetano, Marketing Director of TurismoFVG presented the new Friuli Venezia Giulia nautical website.
The morning continued with the opening plenary session, devoted to explore Adriatic area, rich in tourist destinations and imaginable as a unique destination, through the comparison of the and the points of view of Adriatic national tourist board and international organisations with its important representatives: Alberto d’Alessandro, Director of the office in Venice of Council of Europe, Arber Uka, Marketing Director of Albania National Tourism Agency, Dario Matošević and Gorazd Skrt, Italian area directors of Croatian and Slovenian tourist board, and Riccardo Strano, IT and General Affairs Director of ENIT.
After the lunch break, the afternoon carried on with an interesting face to face about present and future of cruise industry in Adriatic between Robert Ashdown, Secretary General of CLIA Europe, and Maria de Larratea, Secretary General of MedCruise, presenting in this way a comparison among cruise companies and ports. Followed the face to face the keynote speech of Cinzia De Marzo, representative of the Tourism Unit of European Commission, who presented the European point of view about maritime and coastal tourism, and not only. Risposte Turismo President Francesco di Cesare presented Adriatic Sea Tourism Report, the research study elaborated by Risposte Turismo at its first edition, which contains the analysis of tourism traffics in the Adriatic along the four area of interest of Adriatic Sea Forum (cruise, ferry, sail & yacht).
Closed the first day of event the afternoon concurrent sessions. The first one, dedicated to analyse criticalities to face and opportunities to take advantage of in the distribution and sell of tourist products in Adriatic, with the participation of Janez Maček, General Manager of Atlas Express, Sergio Senesi, President of Traghettiweb and Cemar Agency Network, and Andrea Tavella, Sales and Marketing Director of Costa Cruises, with the moderation of Anton Gosar, Dean of Faculty of Tourism Studies of University of Primorska (Slovenia). The second session, the first of the two focus of the Forum, was devoted to the present and future presence of maxi yachts in Adriatic: the interest of the debate and the attention of the audience was granted by the intervention of qualified speakers, with the moderation of Matteo Zaccagnino, Director of Yacht Capital, namely Tony Browne, Director of Porto Montenegro, Daniel Hauptfeld, Marketing Director of Katarina Lines, Fabrizio Iarrera, CEO of Monte Carlo Yachts, and Roberto Sponza, Director of Porto San Rocco.
The second day of the Forum started with the morning concurrent sessions: the second of the two focus, devoted to ferry traffics, and the round table dedicated to regattas and other events as promoter of Adriatic area and nautical tourism. The first one, moderated by the editor of International Cruise and Ferry Review Michele Witthaus, with the participation of representatives of ports, namely Dubrovnik, with the Deputy General Manager, Kristijan Pavić, and Trieste, with the managing director of Trieste Terminal Passeggeri Franco Napp, but also of shipping companies, which were Minoan and Grimaldi Lines, represented by Paul Kyprianou of the board of directors, and Tirrenia-CIN, with the Marketing Director Lorenzo Aletti. Roberto Marchetti, Director of Fano Yacht Festival, Paolo Dal Buono, Director of Assonautiche Adriatiche, Vincenzo Spina, President of Società Velica di Barcola e Grignano, and Zoran Grubiša, coordinator of ORC Central European Championship and Thousand Island Race regattas, was the speakers participant at the second concurrent round table.
Adriatic Sea Forum ended with the closing plenary session, dedicated to a deep analysis about differences existing between cost structures and tax regimes in the different countries of the area, with the help of Bojan Babić, Vice President of MedCruise and Head of Passenger Terminal Project at Port of Koper, Alfredo Malcarne, President of Assonautica, Dražen Nikolić to represent ACI Croatia (the association of Croatian marinas) and Roberto Perocchio, President of Assomarinas.
Risposte Turismo and Adriatic Sea Forum gives the appointment at the 2015 edition.