The importance of Wedding Industry, Leisure and MICE: a talk with Carlotta Ferrari

The Destination Florence Convention & Visitors Bureau’s director guides us through the main reference for the promotion of tourism in Florence. Corsini.Events Group is at the forefront of creating greater awareness of the importance of thewedding sector in Italy. In particular for the Tuscany Region: in this regard, we meet Carlotta Ferrari, Destination Florence Convention and Visitors Bureau’s President.

Q: Can you explain: you have existed since 1995 but what is the Convention Bureau? What is its role and who is it?
A: The Destination Florence Convention & Visitors Bureau is a private company, official partner of the Municipality of Florence, which is responsible for promoting the destination to attract big events, congresses, international weddings and quality tourism.It represents the tourist offer of the city thanks to the approximately 300 members that are part of it and through the memorandum of understanding signed with the associations of reference categories (Federalberghi, Confesercenti e Confindustria).

A: First of all, DFCVB has built a network of contacts that allows a synergistic link with the territory, with the operators and entrepreneurs working in it that now recognize it as the only point of reference in the tourism promotion sector. There are 3 main market areas: the destination wedding, leisure, MICE: Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions.

Q: If a company wants to be part of it, what are the requirements for membership?
A: It is very important for us to guarantee a quality of services that we offer to buyers and customers when we receive requests for events, congresses or weddings. For this reason we have established access requirements for each category and sector to which they belong and the signing of an ethical code. The request for entry of each member is then decided by our board of directors and ratified by the shareholders’ meeting.

D: What kind of work does the Convention Bureau in the Wedding Industry?
A: Our Tuscany for weddings division, a project developed in partnership with Toscana Promozione Turistica, deals with the territory promotion to host large international weddings. It also offers the best services provided by Members, operating as a strategic partner and a point of reference for organizers of weddings around the world. Moreover, from the Tuscany for weddings division, a portal www.tuscanyforweddings.com has also been created, where the entire range of venues and services for every type of wedding is collected. Thanks to all this, in 2016 Florence hosted the 3rd Annual Destination Wedding Planners Congress, attended by prestigious wedding planners from all over the world.

Q: Being part of a Convention Bureau is therefore a guarantee of quality. What does it actually guarantee?
A: Being part of the Destination Florence Convention and Visitors Bureau network means having many advantages, for example it makes the destination competitive through agreements and actions with local institutions and with the entire tourism supply chain. It offers unique locations at discounted rates or free of charge, provides support and assistance for site inspection. Thanks to the DFCVB network, Members have the opportunity to access discounts and to tighten agreements with local, national and international transport as well as with major air carriers.

A: A dedicated and specialized team is able to suggest strategic actions in the reference markets and makes available its know-how and tools to benefit the business of its members. In fact, the DFCVB members have access to numerous marketing and communication activities, as well as a rich activity plan (fairs, workshops, fam trips, press tours, …), put in place to promote the destination and consequently of all the companies that are part of it.

Q: What is your opinion on the work of Corsini.Events?
A: We are very pleased that Corsini.Events Group is part of the Members network with a role as a Supporting Member, which makes us understand how much we believe in our project and in the mission of the DFCVB. We have collaborated numerous times with Corsini.Events Group at events that have proved to be very successful. One of these is the Wedding Industry Meeting, an exclusive format that aims to analyze the “temperature” of the wedding industry in Tuscany with B2B appointments between local operators and national wedding planners but not only. There are also panel discussions among industry professionals. The event took place for the first time in 2018 and has already been confirmed for 3 more editions also in Florence.

To finish, we wish to thank Carlotta Ferrari and her staff for their kindness and availability for the interview. We strongly believe that this information is useful to underline the importance of a System that connects professionals in the field of Wedding, Leisure and MICE in Tuscany.