Servizi Turistici Palummo Soc.coop.a r.l

Via Resicco, 7, 80050 Pimonte (NA)

C.F./P.IVA: 04158831216

Project report

The company Servizi Turistici Palummo has been in charge since 2022 on the management of the hotel complex called Resort Sant’Angelo&SPA, a 4-star category accommodation facility located in the town of Pimonte (NA), in a strategic place of connection with the renowned Amalfi Coast. The hotel has 90 rooms, 2 restaurant rooms, a meeting room, a swimming pool and a wellness center. In addition to the traditional accommodation offer, Servizi Turistici has initiated in the years of its management a strong development of the catering sector and the organization of wedding events as elements of differentiation, distinctiveness and specialization of the business offer of Resort Sant’Angelo&SPA. In particular, the wedding sector is the one on which Servizi Turistici decided to develop in order to provide an image and competitiveness to the structure placed under its management that would primarily concern international customers, that is, that share of the tourism market that both in Italy and in Campania has recorded in recent years-with the only setback dictated by the Covid19 health emergency-the highest rates of increase and profitability per unit of product sold. The main source markets for international demand have been Anglo-Saxon, Northern and Eastern European countries, with inclusion of potential new European markets where the international wedding sector to Italy has shown signs of growth (France, Spain and Germany) and non-European, as in the case of Russia.
Servizi Turistici decided to initiate an internationalization project, structured in a progressive action plan composed in the phases of: drafting a commercial promotion plan, both traditional and online; design and implementation of a new commercial brand; creation of a multilingual platform dedicated to the presentation of the wedding offer; participation in fairs and organization of business workshops at the international level for the promotion of activities and the collection of interest among operators. The purpose of this action, as detailed below and despite partial remodeling dictated by the occurrence of the Covid19 health emergency, was to significantly improve the competitive and commercial capacity of the Resort Sant’Angelo&SPA hotel complex, particularly in the provision of wedding services. This international project about international wedding ha been possible thanks to the receipt of public funds to realize the mentioned project activities

This phenomenon of the development of the international wedding market towards the Italian destination, including that towards the Campania region, has induced Servizi Turistici to propose an innovative platform capable of promoting not only its own facility, as a location of primary prominence, but also other wedding facilities located in Campania, carefully selected according to their characteristics and peculiarities capable of bringing out the atmosphere and authentic beauty of the Campania region, each with focus on a characteristic territorial aspect.

The innovativeness of the proposed internationalization program was based first and foremost on the presentation of the wedding offer represented by the structure placed directly under its own management, which lends itself to the hosting of events that are able to combine the elegance, atmosphere and style of the Italian wedding thanks to the expert organization of events and enjoyment of the chosen destination. Another innovative element involved the creation of a multilingual portal that would allow wedding operators and the public to increase the opportunities for the selection of wedding locations located in the Campania region, to live an enlarged and immersive experience in the fruition of the Campania destination, according to the respective expectations related to the beauty and cultural and tourist products associated with the region, thanks to the possibility of organizing the stay in connection and going beyond the wedding event alone.  It was precisely this last aspect that was the real distinguishing element that allowed Tourist Services to stand out in the presentation of its commercial offer, giving it a strong a competitive advantage and uniqueness over its competitors.
The activity participation in international fairs and exhibitions carried out during 2022 included the presence at the London Excel National Wedding Show, held in London in April 2022, on April 23-24, with participation with its own reserved booth, duly set up. This event, connected to the one already held at the city of Birmingham, represented another important public event of international character for the meeting between wedding operators and the public, and for the number of participants in the same.

The activities of bilateral meetings between Italian and foreign operators were carried out by holding workshops held at the convention halls of prestigious hotels located in the main cities of the target markets, to which local tour operators were sent, thanks to a careful communication campaign and the organizational support of the branch offices of ENIT, the national tourism agency, which was the provider in charge of the specialized support inherent in the search for foreign operators and partners aimed at entering new foreign markets or expanding the presence in foreign markets,by virtue of its in-depth knowledge of the international tourism market, especially for those nations where the demand for weddings to Italy turns out to be still a niche product, albeit an emerging one, as in the case of countries such as Spain, France and Germany. Specifically, five workshops were held at the following venues: Hotel Urban for the city of Madrid (Spain) on April 21; Bulgari Hotel London for the city of London (Great Britain) on April 22; Hotel Intercontinental Paris Le Grand for the city of Paris (France) on May 31; The Fleming Selection Hotel for the city of Frankfurt (Germany) on June 01; The Hasselbacken hotel for the city of Stockholm (Sweden) on June 07. It was not possible to hold the workshop in Russia, contrary to what had been budgeted, due to the obstacles and interruption of diplomatic relations between European countries and the Russian state brought about by the outbreak of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Each workshop was attended by a total number of between 15 and 25 participants, as reported in the membership forms provided by ENIT.

The approved communication activities concerned the items inherent to the creation of website and the implementation of web marketing activities aimed at target markets, which allowed to present the wedding services that can be provided by Servizi Turistici, thanks to its professional experience as a tour operator, also in the wedding organization sector, and to make foreign tour operators aware of the possibility of activating business collaborations for wedding events to be held in the Campania destination, through an innovative and experiential offer beyond the mere holding of the wedding event. This latter communication activity was made possible thanks to an intensive online promotion and search engine positioning campaign useful to promote the visibility of the Tourist Services portal and its commercial brand intended for the wedding product in the main search engines and social platforms with the highest circulation and visibility, which was entrusted to a supplier, DB Strategy that has deep international experience in the field of digital communication. The creation of the website required a long work alongside the staff of Tourist Services, useful to understand the company’s offer and translate it into the best form of synthesis and presentation with the help of images and product information, according to a graphical interface and content description aimed at facilitating the user experience for users, with an approach aimed at favoring primarily international users.

The conclusion of the project activities carried out represents the effective start of the marketing phase, which had already begun at the end of the participation of international fairs and workshops, in which the meeting and confrontation with international operators, and also of the generalist public, allowed Palummo Tourist Services to devote itself to the preparation of quotations and further exchange contacts with respect to the products presented, even to the finalization of sales and contextual organization of wedding events for foreign customers.
Nowadays Servizi Turistici has received several requests of collaboration by the foreign operators met during the realized events and presentation which are interested to widen their portfolio in wedding sector regarding new location in Italy and in its southern part, like Campania region, by focusing the attention on new and interesting venus for their typical characteristics.