Dubai: The Veneto region of Italy expects a 30 per cent rise in visitors from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in 2014 compared to 2013, according to a top government official.
The increase in GCC tourists is driven by their interest in visiting cultural sites and taking part in winter sports in Veneto, said Marino Finozzi, minister of trade and tourism of Veneto on the sidelines of a press conference in Dubai on Monday.
Veneto, especially its main city Venice, is a teeming tourist haunt, having attracted 60 million tourists last year.
“Many more people from the GCC know Venice and the Veneto region. We are starting now a new marketing and communication strategy to make people from the UAE and the GCC know about our places,” Finozzi said.
Veneto welcomed 51,000 visitors from the region in 2013. By 2015, Finozzi expects a 50 per cent jump in visitor numbers.
Emiratis spend on average between €500 (Dh2,255) and €1,000 a day in Veneto, he said.
The region’s tourism revenue is expected to rise from €9 billion (Dh40.6 billion) in 2013 to €11 billion in 2014, according to Finozzi. By 2020, he expects that figure to reach €18 billion.
