Israel barred from tourism fair in Italy

Israel will not be allowed to set up a stand at a tourism fair to be held in the Italian city of Rimini in October.

The Italian Exhibition Group (IEG), which organizes the TTG Travel Experience Fair in Rimini, decided to bar Israel’s participation, Italian news agency ANSA reported.

The decision comes following letters from Rimini Mayor Jamil Sadegholvaad and Emilia-Romagna regional President Michele de Pascale, who opposed Israel’s presence at the fair due to its attacks on Gaza.

With this decision, Israel has been excluded from one of the leading events in the tourism sector.

In their letter to the fair’s management on Sept. 18, Sadegholvaad and De Pascale described Israel’s participation in the Rimini fair as “inappropriate” and requested a review of the planned stand at the TTG Fair, which will be held in Rimini on Oct. 8-10.

Sadegholvaad, who is of Iranian origin and was elected Rimini’s mayor in 2021 as a Democratic Party (PD) candidate, wrote in the letter: “We truly do not believe it is ethically and morally acceptable today to propose places of war, terror, and death as holiday destinations.”

Responding to the move Italy’s Tourism Minister Daniela Santanche said: "We are astonished to learn of the Italian Exhibition Group's decision to comply with the Democratic Party's requests to exclude Israel's stand from the Rimini TTG.”

Meanwhile, opposition PD leader Elly Schlein said local administrations were doing what the government had yet to do by taking steps to stop Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza.