ROME (AFP) - With Holy Year celebrations only weeks away,
Rome presented its tourist campaign for 2001 with promises
of more culture, more fun and more shopping -- depending
on which country you hail from.
Eleven days before the campaign's official launch in London, Rome
mayor Francesco Rutelli said the worldwide campaign to attract
still more tourists to the Eternal City would be funded with an initial
budget of US$800,000 (770,000 euros).
Twenty-five million tourists and pilgrims are expected in Rome next
year when Christians mark the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of
Christ with a host of celebrations in the city.
Rome tourism manager Paolo Gentiloni said the Italian capital was
a "product well known as Coca-Cola" and therefore deserved a
well-coordinated campaign in a first batch of 27 nations, including
Australia, Britain, Canada, China, Ireland, Japan, Singapore and
the Nordic countries.
Pollsters have found that people from different countries were
looking for different experiences when visiting Rome.
Americans were looking for its history, the British were more
interested in wine-tasting, Germans in cooking, the French in
culture and the Japanese wanted a romantic experience.
Australians and Latin Americans, on the other hand, were often
going back to their roots.
Those themes would therefore be developed in local campaigns -
Weddings and more in Japan, or Discover Bacchus' Wines in
London, York and Glasgow.
The principal scope of the campaign is to promote Rome as a
destination where visitors would return more often, and not only to
visit its ancient monuments.
"We want to launch Rome as a destination for frequent visits",
Rutelli said, highlighting city efforts to improve its infrastructure,
including public toilets, whose practical absence from city streets
has been criticized by the majority of polled tourists.
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