There are many reasons why Italy is a great destination for winter holidays. There are less tourists, shorter queues, maybe the locals are less stressed out, and flights and hotels are cheaper because it is off-season. There are other reasons though, perhaps less obvious, and these include: winter exclusive festivals in Italy, experiential tours which can be done all year round but are perhaps more suited to winter, and winter gourmet experiential tours.
If you are wondering how to market Italy as a winter travel destination for your customer, have a look at these amazing ideas.
Mega-famous and normal-famous winter festivals in Italy
How could anyone doubt the marketability of holidaying in Italy when, arguably, the most famous festival in the world takes place there, in Venice, usually from mid-February to the first week in March. Like Easter, the Carnival in Venice is a moveable feast ending the day before Ash Wednesday, known in English speaking countries as Pancake Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday, so one cannot give exacts dates. What one can say though, is that this mega famous festival takes place in winter, in Italy. The famous masks of the Venice Carnival are sort of like Coca-Cola. They are recognised by everyone all over the world. Even if people don’t know exactly where the masks come from, they have seen them before. There are other famous festivals which take place in Italy in winter such as the Luci d’Artista Salerno. This festival of artistic light installations attracts millions of people from all over the world every year, and this time runs from 9 November to 20 January, 2018/19. That is only the tip of the iceberg though when it comes to winter travel ideas in Italy. There are other festivals, and of course, then you have to consider the amount of experiential tours available during the winter months.
Experiential tours for winter time
There are so many experiential tours for winter time that it would take too long to list them all here. For a comprehensive list you should have a look at our listings where you can find a wide range of winter travel ideas with Italy as destination. But, here is a brief rundown of some of the experiential tours on offer during winter. You could time travel to the 18th century and host Lord Byron who fell in love with Venice. Other ideas include visiting Milan where tourists can enjoy a musical trip with Giuseppe Verdi, or something more passionate with the tour Milano – Città dei Baci. Then there are options outside of the major cities in places like Portofino and Cordenons. These more rural destinations are especially suited to people who like mild weather, and are located in areas which are particularly enchanting in winter time. Another option for winter time holidays is the gourmet experiential holiday.
Winter cooking in gourmet Italy
Food and wine tourism is big business in Italy, but it is also a developing market with regard to experiential tourism. Again, the options are many, and we just want to point you in the right direction right now. Basically, there is a plethora of experiential tours in the gourmet-food-wine-eating-cooking realm. Tourists visit Italy and learn how to cook like the local Italians, even gathering the ingredients on a hike through a forest, or on an intense shopping spree around local Italian markets. And when we say “locals”, we are referring to every region in Italy, each one of which has their own cuisine and different winter time specialities. Everybody knows Italy is famous for its pizza and pasta, but lots of potential tourists’ curiosity will be piqued when they hear such enticingly delicious words such as; polenta, cassouela, ribollita, and panettone. There are many experiential tours which cater to those interested in learning the culture of a locality through its cuisine: a great winter idea when it comes to travel to Italy. And we have many interesting, and diverse offers listed in our programme which we invite you to peruse at your leisure.
Italy is full of winter travel ideas
Marketing Italy as a holiday destination in winter is easy when you are aware of all it has to offer and it’s simply impossible not to come up with new exciting ideas for your customers. The world famous festivals and delicious winter cuisine are just two of a wide range of possibilities. We at Artès make use of this and create experiential tours which blend the festivals and cuisine into our offers to provide wonderful winter time holidays. We really have a huge programme which you have to see for yourself to be able to take it all in.