My name is Sergio Caggia, and I have been working in tourism since 1994.
Over the years, I have worked in different roles — publisher, travel designer, tour operator and tourism product developer — but there has always been a common thread throughout my career: observing destinations and travellers, recognising an opportunity, and turning it into a concrete tourism experience that can be commercially developed.
In 1994, I began my career by publishing “NERONE – The Insider’s Guide to Rome”, an English-language publication created to help visitors discover and enjoy Rome.
The tabloid was printed in 20,000 copies and distributed monthly, free of charge, through approximately 500 locations across the city, including hotels, tourist information offices, museums, churches, restaurants and bars.
In 1996, the publishing experience moved onto the web, allowing travellers to discover Rome and start planning their stay before even leaving home.
It was through direct contact with readers, their questions and their first requests for assistance that I realised they were not simply looking for information: they were looking for someone who could help them shape their own journey.
In 1997, this led to the creation of Rome Made to Measure, my first travel design business, dedicated to creating personalised trips to Rome.
I began designing itineraries, handling reservations and coordinating local professionals such as guides, drivers and other specialists. This taught me how to bring together the cultural, logistical and organisational aspects of a journey while leaving room for leisure, discovery and the simple pleasure of travelling.
As travellers' requests grew, so did the destinations I worked with.
Through a network of local partners, I gradually expanded my travel design services to Florence, Venice, Naples, the Amalfi Coast and the islands of the Bay of Naples.
Rome Made to Measure eventually became Nerone Tours Italy, a tour operator dedicated to discovering Italy as a whole.
At the same time, I began looking at Italy not only through its best-known destinations, but also through lesser-known places, local realities, people and experiences that could become part of a journey.
Over the years, I learned that an interesting tourism product does not necessarily start with something that is already known and being sold.
It can emerge from observing a change, a trend, a place, a story, or simply from looking at a destination from a different perspective.
Some of the products developed by Nerone Tours Italy were born in exactly this way.
“Angels & Demons”, created in 2000, grew from the idea of turning Rome's atmosphere and settings into a narrative experience for travellers.
“Rome by Vespa”, created in 2005, came from the insight that the way travellers move through a city can itself become an integral part of the experience.
As early as 1998, I had also begun creating trips for families interested in rediscovering their Italian roots, turning the search for one's origins into a meaningful travel experience.
These are very different examples, but they share one common element:
before there was an itinerary, there was an idea.
This is the experience I can now bring to a DMC.
Not simply destination knowledge or the ability to build an itinerary, but a perspective focused on discovering new product opportunities.
I can contribute to:
designing itineraries and travel programmes;
researching local experiences and unique places to incorporate into an offer;
developing new tourism products;
bringing lesser-known destinations and territories to the attention of travellers;
creating proposals for specific markets or types of travellers;
turning a local idea or opportunity into a product that can be presented to the market.
A DMC knows its destination, its suppliers and the needs of its clients.
I can add another perspective: that of someone who has spent more than thirty years looking at destinations and asking not only “What can we offer?” but also “What could become a travel experience that we are not offering yet?”
That is the contribution I can bring to a collaboration.