Oct. 15 – Foreign tourists love the Marche region. With the 2014 tourist season winding down, tour operators are already “selling” the region around the world for 2015. The Italian region is on the proposed travel and holidays list for next year, according to the Tourism Observatory of the Marche Region, edited by ISNART Unioncamere, of 5.9% of all international tour operators. Last year, the number amounted to 5.7%, and in 2012 to 4.4%. The tour packages confirm the Marche’s sea as a flagship product (45.5%), followed by art cities (27.3%). Food and wine farms come next (12.1%), while religious tourism (9.1%), and mountain and sports tourism (3% each) close the offer. Next year, the real novelty will be business tourism, which will be offered on the Japanese market by 10% of tour operators selling package tours. The country where the product is sold the most is the Netherlands, where it is offered by 30% of tour operators. The Italian region performs well also on the Eastern European market: in particular, in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria for beach tourism, Poland for religious tourism, and Russia for sea, art and religious tourism. In order to increase the number of tourists in the Marche region, Unioncamere and the Region signed a new Memorandum of Understanding regarding the Observatory for the regional tourism and quality trademark of accommodation. “The intent – says the president Unioncamere Marche, Graziano Di Battista – is to strengthen the relationship between the chamber system and the Marche region to: develop regional tourism and related forms of promotion; monitor the dynamics of tourist markets and international operators for the provision of targeted packages; and identify the most effective systems to promote the regional offer on the international markets of reference.” (Red)