Innovazione

🌻 Cereal Docks, an Italian agro-food industrial group, launched HELIAPRO, a new sunflower seed protein flour, at "Come un Girasole" event in Identità Golose Milano. The product boasts a 50% protein content, allergen-free composition, and is targeted for plant-based, gluten-free, and clean label food categories. HELIAPRO is part of Cereal Docks' 2025-2027 Industrial Plan, aiming to diversify into high-value-added ingredients for the food industry, leveraging non-GMO European sunflower seeds.

🍫 Lindt & Sprüngli Italia re-introduced the Lindt Dubai Style Chocolate in Italy following high demand. Initially launched on December 7, 2024, at the Lindt Chocolate Shop in Florence Duomo, it sold out in under four hours. A new pistachio and kadayif variant was later released and quickly sold out. The chocolate bar, notable for its 45% pistachio content and elegant packaging, is now available across Lindt stores, online, and selected specialty shops at €9.99.

🍺 Italy Beer Week, in its 15th edition, promotes Italian craft beer culture nationwide with free event listings on Italybeerweek.com. Previously, it recorded about 4,500 participants and over 5,000 events and promotions. The Ballo delle Debuttanti inaugural event will take place from March 14-16 at Rome's Mercato Centrale, showcasing 12 new beers from Italian breweries. Participants can also buy a box of these beers online and join Facebook livestreams between March 18-21. Partners like Anima by Cerve, Mr. Malt®, Mercato Centrale, Cime Careddu, 1001Birre, Untappd, and Tecnofrigo Service support the 2025 edition.

☕ Barista Attitude sponsors SCA National Championships at Internorga 2025 from March 14-18. Showcases Tempesta coffee machine with user-friendly interface and ergonomics, and Faro grinder featuring A.I.-assisted auto-learning, 0.1g precision. Available for trials at Bar SCA; Faro also for 'by weight' tests. Book trials via events@barista-attitude.com.

🤖 Lysa, an Artificial Intelligence avatar introduced by CartOrange, has been aiding travel consultants for two weeks in four defined areas: providing travel information, assisting in travel proposal creation, performing back-office operations, and enhancing human performance through daily commercial coaching. Gianpaolo Romano, CEO of CartOrange, emphasized innovation and the AI's ability to simplify work and improve commercial performance by up to 35%, according to Stanford University. Trained on CartOrange's internal database of over 15,000 trips, Lysa represents a significant investment by the company.

🖥 Railbookers Group uses AI to identify travel trends and destination popularity, CEO Frank Marini likens AI impact to the '90s internet revolution. However, only 12% of tour operators worldwide currently deploy AI, despite significant discussion in recent years.

💻 Alidays CEO Davide Catania presents interactive travel planning platform's latest tech advancements to agencies in Central and Southern Italy at Circolo Rari Nantes in Naples. Utilizing AI, the platform AlyDa provides travel solutions considering clients' preferences, from music to food, culture, and nature, generating options in seconds, complete with a QR code for easy client communication. A new feature for creating trip content, soon available to all partners, is announced. Additionally, a new Guided Tours catalog for small groups of 2-14 people has been released. Despite slow U.S. bookings due to the 'Trump effect,' Asia receives positive booking responses, as confirmed by Catania. Olga Mazzoni, CEO of Thema Nuovi Mondi, shares insights on the U.S. at the Alidays event.

💳 Trenord introduces 'Digital Gate' at Milan Central station for 100% digital purchases, offering cashless payments through mobile apps like PayPal or Satispay. Travelers can now buy train and Malpensa Express tickets at this new counter, with the service expanding in the coming months to include additional digital customer services. Tickets can also be sent via WhatsApp.

📍 Centara Hotels & Resorts targets expansion and renovation with over €408 million to be invested over the next three years. The European roadshow begins in Milan, hinting at potential investments in Italy, Germany, and Denmark. Jurairat Mongkolwongsiri, VP Sales, expects Italian guests to rise from 4% to the fifth-largest market, aided by new properties in the Maldives: Centara Mirage Lagoon Maldives and Centara Grand Lagoon Maldives. With an estimated revenue of €422.4 million in 2025, Centara aims to upgrade its 92 hotels across 11 Asian and Arabian Peninsula locations to a luxury status, offering more than 20,000 rooms with an average occupancy rate of 77%. The Centara Grand Hotel Osaka and Centara Reserve in Koh Samui are highlighted, with more announcements anticipated at the TTG Travel Experience in Rimini.

💰 Veronica Diquattro, president of Consumer & Supply Business in Europe for Omio, announced reaching 1 billion users and a partnership with Navitime Japan Co., Ltd. to sell European tickets. Omio's user base grew 50% year over year in 2024. The platform launched 175,000 unique connected journeys and focuses on interlining and multimodality, combining four modes of transport. Investments are being made in enhancing user experience, particularly on mobile apps (80% of bookings), and integrating Artificial Intelligence in internal processes and customer interactions, with plans to expand into pre-booking and chatbots like Chat GPT. Omio maintains internal control of data for accuracy.