"PUGLIA WINE & LAND"

Workshop as an opportunity for business contacts between Apulian producers and international buyers, but this year, also between Masserie of Puglia and international tour operators and between Masserie and buyers interested in organizing trips to Puglia for their customers. Educational tour as an opportunity to discover not only the product but also the territory, coming into direct contact with the beauty, the smells and tastes of some of the most representative places of the region.

These are the goals of 'Puglia, Wine & Land', an important international event scheduled for February 23 to 27, which brings together in Puglia a prestigious selection of 14 journalists, 9 tour operators, 44 international buyers from five continents with the aim to meet the producers, visit the companies, taste local products, discover news, features and potential of the region. The initiative is in its third consecutive year, is created by Movimento Turismo del Vino Puglia and realized thanks to the support of the institutions (Department of Agri-Resources, Department of Tourism of the Region Puglia, Unioncamere Puglia and ICE). 

'The field of food and enogastronomy in Puglia - said the Assessor of Agri-Resources of Puglia Region Dario Stefano - is undoubtedly a great attraction factor for visitors who reach our region,as the latest data on tourist flows confirm. The offer of a basket of typical products ofexcellence, among them wine production in Puglia, is a key element of the growing successthat our tourist locaties collect both nationally and abroad. In particular, the winning binomial between places and their monuments, art, landscape, food, and the Apulian wine of absolutequality emerged. A combination that can represent and tell the impressions, emotions and stories of a so complex and varied territory as Puglia is. We look very closely at thisdevelopment, able to draw a perspective of growth for our community and we are committed toaccompany it with initiatives that, addressed to a competent public, are able to express notonly the charm of a beautiful area but also the values, knowledge and tastes of a world, the rural one, which still has a lot to tell.'  

The success of the previous editions, which has seen many commercial contracts materialize as a result of the relationships started during the days of the workshop, now enables Puglia turning the international spotlight once again on its own specialties and wines. In addition to the workshop between producers and buyers, the 2011 has a new workshop devoted to foreign tour operators and Masserie of Puglia, organized with the aim of increasing tourism through the creation of targeted packages.  9 top level Apulian Masserie will take part and, in addition to ensuring excellent levels of accommodation in a rural area of extraordinary beauty, will enrich their product range with cooking lessons, walks in the vegetables garden, organization of theme packages. 

Moreover, the buyers interested in organizing travel for their customers may participate at the tourism workshop. The demand to visit the area to better appreciate the resources  makes it increasingly popular among foreign operators, which find in the wine-land binomial a more effective strategy for selling the product. Articulated and well-groomed program, aimed at satisfying the expectations of different types of guests. In fact, after an initial welcome meeting and presentation of the program (on the evening of 23), participants will follow different routes: the buyers a quick educational tour on Thursday 24 in order to have a first contact with the landscapes and production companies of the territory. In the next two days, they will be players in the B2B workshop with representatives of the 38 wineries participating. 

Journalists, instead, will hold a press tour for 3 days, 24 to 26, including wine cellars, wine museums and rural culture, rural landscapes and historic centers. Three-day trip during which they can discover the areas most suited to tourism in  Puglia and evaluate high standards of reception reserved from the facilities: from Daunia to Salento, via the Murgia.    

Three days to discover the wonders of Puglia for tour operators too; in fact through the educational, aimed at the promotion of food and wine incoming , they will visit some wineries, restaurants and excellent accommodations. Puglia, Wine & Land is an event made possible by the contributions of: Smoov-ASRV,  (www.smoov-asrv.eu) and ALI6 (www.ali6.it).