May 9 – Italy won first place in the category of “Best World Cultural Destination Award” according to the survey conducted by the magazine “Travel + Leisure India”, published monthly by the American Express Publishing Corporation. For the second consecutive year, Indian readers of the prestigious international publication awarded Italy in one of the many categories of the competition (best emerging destination, cruises, hotel chains best, most efficient airports, luxury trains, best spas in the world). “The strengths of Italian hospitality are related to its great artistic and cultural heritage charm and our food and wine., including the busy schedule of events and appointments – cultural events, festivals, events – that define the Italian lifestyle. However, our tourism industry is also incredibly skilled at adapting to the different requests and expectations of our tourist inflows,” said the president of the National Agency of Tourism-ENIT. “We reopened an Antenna in India, after two years of closure – added the general manager, Andrea Santas – to intercept the increasing number of tourists coming from a country that today represents 1, 5% of world GDP , a candidate to become the third largest economy in the world. Last year the Indian tourism flow, according to the latest figures from the Bank of Italy, recorded an expense of € 399 million with an increase of 42.5% compared to 2011.”
