Noel Grima

At first sight, it looked somewhat out of place.

The opera season at the Verona Arena, a smaller version of the Roman Colosseum but more complete than that in Rome, ended on Friday with Turandot. It opened on 12 July with Verdi’s Aida followed by Carmen and the Barbiere di Siviglia.

And for 16 nights, the Malta Tourism Authority was one of the sponsorships of a unique gathering of guests.

MTA provided this newspaper with an explanation, showing that this was part of a big MTA attempt to convince more MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events) operators to bring their conferences to Malta especially during the winter season.

MTA teamed up with expert company Gattinoni, which, for each one of the 14 nights of the opera season invited 160 Italian MICE buyers and decision makers – a total of 2560 decision makers in all. One evening last week, for instance, was the turn of Unicredit, the big Italian bank.

Every evening the guests were invited for a cocktail before the Opera, during which the Fondazione Arena gave an explanation of the opera. The 160 guests then proceeded to the Arena to watch the opera.

Each guests received a “zainetto” (bag) that included the following:

• the programme of the opera

• a Unicredit brochure

• a Gattinoni gadget

• a Malta brochure, and

• a bottle of Ferrarelle water.

This initiative was launched following a meeting that was held recently in Milan attended by Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco and MTA CEO Josef Formosa Gauci.

Although the MTA is one of the “smaller” sponsors of this initiative, said an MTA spokesman, the exposure and coverage that Malta is getting with over 2500 MICE buyers is substantial. There is also the branding-by-association element to take into consideration.

This sponsorship of the initiative is in line with the MTA’s plan to increase MICE events from Italy, by positioning Malta’s brand with other top brands and high level cultural events.