ROME
THE ‘ETERNAL CITY’ HAS EVERYTHING GOING FOR IT AS A MICE DESTINATION, AND WITH IMPROVED TRANSPORT LINKS, ITS POPULARITY IS SET TO CONTINUE
THE ITALIAN CAPITAL is often viewed primarily as a leisure destination, but it is still an important business travel hub, as well as being an enticing option for meetings and conferences, given its myriad of historic attractions and venues. While it is true that Milan is Italy’s finan-
cial, industrial and commercial centre, Rome remains a vital base for industries such as the service sector, technology and phar- maceuticals. For example, the city is home to three of the world’s largest companies: energy giant Enel, oil and gas conglomerate Eni and Telecom Italia. But what are the factors likely to affect
both the corporate and meetings market to the Italian capital in the next few years? A major development is in the aviation market, where no-frills competition is beginning to bite, while more major hotel companies are also gaining a larger presence in the ‘eternal city’.
TRANSPORT Rome’s main airport, Fiumicino, is by far Italy’s busiest gateway with 36.2 million passengers in 2013 – well ahead of Milan Malpensa’s annual figure of 18 million. It has been traditionally dominated by flag-carrier Alitalia. But the airline is now being seriously challenged by no-frills competitors, particularly Easyjet, which is expanding rapidly, while Vueling is opening a base at Fiumicino this year. That’s not to mention Alitalia’s ongoing
talks with Etihad which may result in the Abu Dhabi-based carrier taking a minority stake in the perpetually-strug- gling Italian airline, and is likely to spur a major cost-cutting drive within Alitalia at Rome’s airport.
Whether this deal happens or not, com- petition is likely to keep airfares down on both European and domestic routes from
106 BBT MAY/JUNE 2014
Rome. Easyjet broke Alitalia’s monopoly on the country’s most lucrative domestic route between Fiumicino and Milan Linate in 2013, following the intervention of the Italian competition authority – a develop- ment described by Easyjet chief executive Carolyn McCall as a “historic victory”. Easyjet is continuing to add services this
year with 33 routes from Fiumcino, as it aims to increase passengers from last year’s three million to four million. As well as seven new routes this summer, Easyjet is adding five extra weekly departures from Gatwick. Vueling, now part of British Airways’
parent company IAG, is also to introduce services to 34 destinations from Rome to a variety of European – but not UK – desti- nations, such as Athens, Munich, Prague, Brussels, Amsterdam and Berlin. Laura Merritt, from Carlson Wagonlit
Travel’s (CWT) meeting and events division, says the increased presence of no-frills air- lines “will open up the market considerably”. She adds: “Rome has a vast number of flight options from around Europe, which makes it a very attractive conference destination.” Fiumicino also benefits from a high-speed
train link, known as the Leonardo Express, from the airport to the city’s central station, Rome Termini, which takes 30 minutes and operates every half-hour. HRG Italy’s managing director Claudio Miglio points out that Rome has been a beneficiary of the development of Italy’s high-speed rail network, which has increased domestic connections and given business travellers more transport options to and from the Italian capital. “In the last few years there has been an improvement in high-speed trains – Italo (NTV) and Frecciarossa (Trenitalia) – which easily connect Rome to the main Italian cities faster than before,” he says.
ACCOMMODATION Rome is not seeing the surge in new proper- ties that other European capitals have ben- efited from in recent years. Indeed, hotel data firm STR Global estimates that there are only 650 new rooms currently under construction in the city’s hotel pipeline. This has created a “strong and stable” hotel market according to the latest research from business advisor Price- waterhouse Coopers (PWC), which says that rates have “proven relatively resilient to the global economic downturn”, mainly due to persistently strong leisure demand for rooms in Rome, and its higher proportion of upscale hotels than other regional competitors. Rome is ranked by PWC as the fifth most expensive major European city in which
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