Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, and Regione Lombardia today (15 Nov) launched the first in a series of joint promotions of Lombardy in the UK market, with a consumer-focused event in London Southend Airport. This event is part of the Try Somewhere New in Lombardia campaign, promoting and highlighting the Lombardy region as an exciting and must-see holiday destination all year round.

Today’s event at London Southend features an Instagram contest, info material and distribution and engagement moments with London Southend consumers, alongside a press conference hosted by Ryanair and London Southend, and attended by James Duddridge, Conservative Candidate.

Ryanair and Regione Lombardia – one of the most important Italian and European tourist destinations – recently announced Try Somewhere New in Lombardia, a joint campaign to promote the Lombardy Region (inLombardia) in the UK market, with a series of events and activations in the coming months focused on the greater London area.

Campaign activities include consumer events at various London airports, an integrated social and digital advertising campaign, travel focused press and influencer trips to the region, and a promotional video series focused on the four pillars of the campaign (culture, food and wine, Spa & wellness, and winter sports) and a contest on Facebook.

The project and cooperation will also utilise Try Somewhere New – Ryanair’s travel content platform which offers bespoke, informative travel content and video guides for all of Ryanair’s travel destinations – with Lombardy-focused feature content under the tagline #inLombardia, the experience beyond Milan. 

Chiara Ravara Head of International Communications Ryanair, said:

“Ryanair is delighted to launch its first UK event, in cooperation with Regione Lombardia, to promote the Lombardy region and invite our customers to Try Somewhere New in Lombardia, exploring the rich culture, history and heritage beyond iconic destinations such as Milan – and discovering the region and its 12 cities around the themes of culture, food and wine, wellness, and winter sports.

Ryanair is Europe and Italy’s No. 1 airline, and we are proud to use our extensive network and low fares to promote a region as exciting and rich as Lombardy. We are continuing to grow at our Lombardy airports (Milan Bergamo and Milan Malpensa), granting direct access to the whole region – creating tourism and jobs all year round. We are happy to be here at London Southend Airport, a few months after the launch of the base, which represents an important connection between London and Milan and their respective regions.

We look forward to hosting numerous events and activations in the coming months, and utilising this strategic cooperation with Regione Lombardia to help address the two main challenges facing Italian tourism, namely regionality and seasonality.”

Glyn Jones CEO of Stobart Aviation, said:

“We are excited to host this joint promotion between Ryanair and Regione Lombardia at London Southend Airport. The Ryanair service to Italy’s second city, Milan, has already been a great success and we anticipate even more passengers will want to explore this fantastic region of northern Italy. We also hope that travellers from Lombardy will enjoy South East England. Central London is under an hour from London Southend, thanks to our quick and easy rail links to the UK’s capital city, whilst Southend and Essex have so much to offer. London Southend was rated London’s top airport by consumer group Which? for the sixth consecutive year in 2019, so passengers are in store for a great customer experience at our award-winning airport.”

Lara Magoni, Regional Minister of Tourism for the Lombardy Region, said:

“Lombardy takes off. This is the meaning of the communication campaign developed in collaboration with Ryanair to strengthen the international positioning of the destination, in particular towards the British and English-speaking market in general. I’m very proud of this, because it is an innovative, integrated and multi-channel communication project to attract the contemporary traveller which has no precedents at this level. Lombardy Region is easy to reach all year round. For this reason we want to lead international travellers, in particular from across the Channel, to discover the artistic, cultural and landscape beauties of our territory, taste food and wine specialties, explore the cities of art and immerse themselves in the fairy-tale atmospheres of our villages.

My presence here in London is meant exactly to create an evident connection between Lombardy and British visitors, to lead them to discover the most fascinating Lombard destinations that are hidden around the splendour of Milan. The uniqueness that every corner of Lombardy can express is the true wealth that embellishes our territory and a travel reason to renew the invitation to inspire the traveller to return. In Lombardy it is possible to discover every time a new emotion and live a new experience between culture and wellness, food and wine and the practice of sports activities”.