Milan’s hotel’s are at their best. "We have recorded the best performance in five years," rejoices Georgio di Pascale, president of the tourism division of Assolombarda. September shows growth by 12.3% of the RevPAR, thanks to a combined increase in occupancy (+2 pts) and average daily rates (+9.6%). "It is in September that our revenues were the highest in 2006," confirms Lucille Guitton, sales coordinator at the Park Hyatt Milan, "boutique hotels are up sharply. Milan hosts many design-related events". As the summer comes to a close, the economy picks up in the business capital after a month of August that is traditionally very slow. Inversely, September is the strongest month in the year. Milan hosts the beautiful people of the Formula 1 Monza Grand Prix mid month and the fashion shows for the prêt-à-porter collections at the end of the month.But there is another element to explain these good results: many successful fairs. Among these is MICAM, which had over 44,000 visitors, for growth by 5.7% over 2005. With a positive point for the future: 11% growth in international clientele. The new congress division at FieraMilano in Rho-Milan , which opened last year but reached final completion at the end of September with the opening of the new 1,000 seat auditorium, is beginning to operate at full speed. And now FieraMilano is preparing to shift into even higher gear with the strategic agreement it just signed with Deutsche Messe to launch three new fairs for 2007. Already this year, fairs supported Milan’s economy thanks to biennial events such as Expocomfort and Traspotec & Logitec, although they alone cannot explain the city’s good results. As an entry point to Italy, the Lombard city also benefited from the Olympics held in Turin (+34.6% last February). The result: RevPAR rose by 12.3%...