Rome's attraction Foundation has been founded with the aim of promoting and governing tourist flows, improving their quality and positive impact on the city, and investing in strengthening the Rome brand creatively and intelligently, as is already the case in London.
The “Fondazione per l’Attrazione Roma & Partners” sponsored by Roma Capitale, along with the Chamber of Commerce and Aeroporti di Roma S.p.A, aims to be a newly conceived agency for the promotion of international attraction, starting with tourism. It will operate a light structure that does not produce services, but rather comprises strategies and initiatives. A mixed entity capable of involving and coordinating public and private subjects in an innovative strategy to promote the city, with the aim of intercepting, diversifying and directing flows towards quality tourism, guaranteeing a better travel experience.
There will be three main objectives of this action:
 

 

 

Relations between Roma Capitale and the Foundation will be governed by a specific Convention which will also govern the allocation of resources relating to management, which will be accompanied by specific funding for tourism promotion projects, some deriving from the Jubilee and PNRR (Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan) programmes, others from merchandising and the enhancement of the city's tourist logo and various contributions.

Governance is given by the President (who, by Statute, is the city's Mayo); by the majority of the Municipality of Rome Capital with three members and one representative each for Aeroporti di Roma and the Chamber of Commerce. It provides for a membership mechanism, which can be joined by individual players in Rome's attractive offer (hoteliers, restaurateurs, event organisers, cultural institutions) who will be able to use the Foundation’s services and logo as recognition of their quality.

After the green light that has already taken place within the Committee, the imminent vote of the Capitoline Assembly will allow the Foundation to start operating as early as next September.

Mayor Roberto Gualtieri explained: “Structuring our extraordinary tourist offer was part of our programme and we are therefore very proud to be able to announce the launch of such an important tool for the city. After having brought Rome back to being a capital of major events, we are equipping it with a streamlined and efficient attraction agency. I thank Aeroporti di Roma and the Chamber of Commerce for agreeing to invest together with us in quality tourism and in projects that bet not only on the traditional vocations of this extraordinary city but which, above all, aspire to build ideas, use new digital technologies and work on an already tested and successful offer model. Complicated challenges await us in the coming months with the many public investments of Jubilee 2025, the PNRR and, hopefully, Expo 2030: we are convinced that our DMO, with its public-private partnership, will prove to be a precious resource to help us better manage the tourist flows and the great development prospects that Rome presents itself”.

According to Local Authority Councillor for major events, tourism, fashion and sports, Alessandro Onorato: “Roma & Partners is the structure that our city lacked to enhance our potential in the world. It will be able to develop the Roma brand and make citizens benefit from the revenues deriving from royalties, which are currently unknown and undersized. It will be a structure that will work to retain the tourist flows that will no longer have to be occasional. It will be essential to guide tourists in what must truly become an experience. It will be our operational arm to compete in the MICE sector, with the aim of bringing major international congresses to Rome".

Lorenzo Tagliavanti, President of the Chamber of Commerce of Rome, explained that “Tourism is a key element for the economic development of our country and of our city, due to its great ability to create development, a transversal sector that generates important effects on the territory in terms of wealth creation and employment. There is strong growth in tourism in Rome, which has recovered to pre-pandemic levels. However, we need to work to further develop quality and even more sustainable tourism. The Foundation that we are presenting today aims to further promote the city of Rome internationally and support the economic development of the area. The Foundation will pay particular attention to the sectors of hospitality, commerce and major events. The latter, specifically, play an important role in building the image of Rome and its global appeal. In a city like ours, major events shouldn’t be occasional, but - rather - daily”.

"Rome has a universal value. It is, by definition, the destination of at least one trip in a lifetime. But, to become the destination of choice for a valuable tourism, with a prospect of loyalty, a unified management is required. AdR is ready to play a central role in this". Thus, the CEO of AdR, Marco Troncone, commented on the birth of the "Roma & Partners Foundation for Attraction" promoted by Roma Capitale together with the Chamber of Commerce and Aeroporti di Roma, which will be represented in the Foundation, respectively, by the Mayor Gualtieri, by the President Tagliavanti and by the President of AdR Mr Vincenzo Nunziata.

“We are now about to return” added Troncone “to traffic volumes of up to 150,000 passengers a day at the Leonardo da Vinci airport in Fiumicino, with a strong drive from long-haul which, in the case of North America, even exceeds pre-covid levels. We therefore want to commit ourselves with conviction to the service of improving the attractiveness of the capital, with a focus on the Fiumicino hub as an intercontinental gateway to Rome and Italy, integrating both our airport management capabilities and our growth and development. We believe” he stressed “in the commitment to institutional cooperation, in the public-private partnership as a formula which, if well-orchestrated and managed, can tangibly enhance Italian excellence, as happened for our airport management which, following the €2.5 billion drive in investments in the last 10 years, has led Leonardo da Vinci to obtain prestigious international awards”.