The world of mountain hospitality and catering returns to the exhibition centre in Longarone with the second edition of Expo Dolomiti Horeca. Together, as in 2019, the 6. Dolomiti Show with the Buy Veneto Speciale Montagna promoted by the Veneto Region.
Cutting the ribbon was the Minister for Relations with Parliament, Federico D’Incà, flanked by an exceptional godfather and godmother, Kristian Ghedina and Paola Pezzo. Symbolising a mountain that can live on sport 365 days a year. They were joined by MEP Gianantonio Da Re, the Hon. Roger De Menech, the President of the Province Roberto Padrin, the Director of the Unesco Dolomites Foundation, Mara Nemela, and the President of Confcommercio Belluno, Paolo Doglioni.
For Minister D’Incà, ‘a laudable initiative capable of comforting and helping a tourism sector that has had a very good year 2022, but which is clearly looking at the problems of energy 2023 with some concern. That is why it is even more necessary today to team up, to be united, capable of working together, organising in good time this ability to unite those who come from abroad to get to know these beautiful realities. Able, therefore, to give new life and new possibilities to the tourism of our mountains, which will see investments of one billion three hundred million over the next few years as part of the works for the 2021 Ski World Cup and the 2026 Olympics. These are works that will give capacity in terms of infrastructure, both in terms of roads and technology. Which is even more important with broadband, so that families can come and live in the Dolomites, who in some way decide to live permanently within a beautiful context, in terms of landscape and environment, but on the other hand who can work with the whole world’.
The opening ceremony was opened with the best wishes of our sportsmen from the Veneto region. First of all Paola Pezzo: ‘This is an extraordinary territory. With its Dolomites known all over the world. And sport also plays a very important role for the economy of the area, especially for tourism. I must say that you can practice sport here all year round. With skiing, but especially in summer with mountain biking or trekking. There are truly wonderful, wonderful trails with unique views. And I invite everyone to try them. Also on the occasion of the next Olympics. It is a very important event that will bring work to everyone here in Veneto, starting with the hotels’.
Kristian Ghedina followed: ‘We all know that these last two years, unfortunately there has been a pandemic and it has been a big problem for everyone: organisations, associations, hoteliers and restaurateurs, everyone who has an activity. This is a new beginning to start again with momentum and energy, to give visibility and importance to our area with all the various activities there are. We have the most beautiful place in the world. We know that the Dolomites is a Unesco World Heritage Site. And so I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone good work, to hold on tight, grit our teeth, roll up our sleeves, and make sure that our territory, with all the various activities attached to it, becomes more and more popular all over the world’.
The President of Longarone Fiere Dolomiti, Gian Angelo Bellati, was satisfied: ‘We had many participants, many visitors, but above all we have many presences. We are talking about many companies exhibiting, we have almost 200 brands and over 170 companies present. These companies come from at least 11 Italian regions and 13 different countries around the world, so it is a huge success. But success is also due to the fact that we have, here at Longarone Fiere, three trade fairs in one, because in addition to the HoReCa trade fair – you know that Horeca means the trade fair for companies that provide everything for the hotel, restaurant, and catering sectors – we also have Dolomiti Show, which is the tourism fair. We have 21 international tour operators from all over the world, invited by the Veneto Region, which collaborates with the Longarone fair in this very important event, where operators from Belluno, from the Dolomites of this wonderful province, who propose tourist packages, hold B2B meetings, meetings between companies, dedicated precisely to developing business in the tourism sector. The tourism sector is a very important sector, it is a sector that can grow even in times of crisis, because it is not a sector that can be delocalised, the Dolomites remain here and no one can take them elsewhere. But there is a third important event, which is Dolomiti Sport. This is also organised with the Veneto Region, with the Department of Sport, and we have in this case a very important meeting, which is being organised tomorrow, Tuesday, at 2 p.m., precisely with the Veneto Region: the candidature of the Veneto Region as a European Region of Sport in 2024, there will also be municipalities, mayors, other realities that have had the adventure of being European Cities of Sport to bring their experiences, but there will also be institutions representing companies, trade associations. Because this Dolomiti Sport wants to be just the beginning of an event that will have to be repeated every year. Also to remind us that in 2026 there will be the Olympics, a very important event’.
After a great organisational effort, the Director of Dolomiti Show, Mauro Topinelli, can breathe: “At last we have arrived at the famous Monday 10th October with the opening of the fair, of Dolomiti Show together with Dolomiti HoReCa and Dolomiti Sport. We met at the press conference and told them a little about our wish, therefore, to see international buyers arrive and experience two days in the Belluno Dolomites. We also hoped that they would be two days of good weather so that today we could do the final negotiations with the sellers, with the accommodation facilities, and this is what happened. It went well, fortunately out of the pandemic, the weather also helped us, we were helped by the presence and enthusiasm that we see at the fair, two incredible days in our Dolomites and then here, all present”.
The fair continues until Wednesday 12 October with opening hours 10 a.m. – 6.30 p.m. and free admission, reserved for trade operators.
