The elegant and modern deanery of St. James Cathedral in downtown Toronto was the site, last week, of an event hosted by ExpertsITALIA, the new name for CTCPI (the Canadian Travel Council Promoting Italy).
As President Roberto Zuzek of KompasExpress explained, ExpertsITALIA is a unique coalition of tour operators and other suppliers dedicated to the promotion of Italy to Canadians. Although its members are competitors, they are also colleagues who have joined together as one voice to represent the lion’s share of Canadian business to Italy.
The association, which was founded in 2006, participates in consumer and trade shows as well as primarily social events such as the one held last week.
Current members of ExpertsITALIA comprise ALBATours, ENIT - Italy’s national tourist office, the Globus family of brands, Insight Vacations, KompasExpress, RailEurope and Trafalgar Tours - and the association is presently on a recruitment drive.
Said Zuzek, “We are here, we are open for business and we want to make an impact both in Canada and in Italy.”
Some 40 travel agents, suppliers and VIPs including Consul General Mr. Tullio Guma were in attendance, and all enjoyed learning about the offerings of ExpertsITALIA members and reminiscing about their personal trips to Italy. As the Star’s Jim Byers put it, “Italy is familiar enough to be comfortable, but exotic enough to be interesting… I love the exuberance of the people there: If they’re in love, they kiss in the street, if they’re angry they lean on their horns – it’s life at its largest!“
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Members of ExpertsITALIA: Karin Micheelsen, Trafalgar; Salvatore Basile, ENIT;
Stéphanie Bishop, Globus family of brands; Roberto Zuzek, KompasExpress;
Aggie Soduto, ALBATours; Eric Bacon, RailEurope; Carla Brake, Insight Vacations and Eugenio Magnani, ENIT
A large image of a sunny square in Italy was a striking contrast to the snowy weather in Toronto
