A sustainable alternative to explore for mountain territories?
I must confess that I had never heard of it, nor had I ever seen anything. Since I realized my dream of a house in the mountains, I began to see aspects of the mountain territory that I did not know and I also “stumbled” upon a stage of the Grass Skiing World Cup in Tambre, in Alpago, province of Belluno.
As you already know – at least I hope so! – as an association we have been dealing with the enhancement of territories and sustainable tourism for a long time; therefore, this kind of skiing intrigued me a lot.
But do places have a soul? Introduction to Quaderno18 edited by il prato publishing house I have been asking myself this question quite often recently, I even wrote about it some time ago, when I had already made a distinction between identity and soul.
My answer to the question is YES, without a doubt on my part. But really, I’m thinking about this matter over and over. I think there is a crucial distinction between identity and soul if we want to develop a real sustainable tourism. So, I will try to answer myself. Again.
[…]
Identity or soul
Here I go back to my initial question and introduce the identity variable. Nowadays it is quite common to link the word identity to places. In my opinion this word is divisive, we are looking for the characteristics that differentiate one place from another rather than what they have in common. A phenomenon that I find worrying since I have the clear impression – walking around the villages – that they are all becoming the same, with similar promotions and with a strong emphasis on food and wine and typical products. Don’t get me wrong, typical products are fine but when, to push a product and a territory, tourist operators invent “the way (cammino) of the prosecco hills” you can easily understand that it is not a pilgrims’ way […]
TOURISM 20.0 School, tourism, territory is the full title of the event, which will take place on May 21st in Zero Branco in the province of Treviso. It is included in the ASviS Festival for Sustainable Development 2024
We will present – yes… once again – one of our favorite subjects: sustainable tourism. The setting will be the beautiful scenario of Villa Guidini
The event is the final part of the Turistico 20.0 pilot project, a sustainable tourism project which aims to enhance the province territory and connect the North and South of the country, also involving our future tourism operators: male and female students of tourist schools.
Turistico 20.0 – tourism from schools to the territory – is the title of a project aimed at the Tourism Professionals of Tomorrow. In this very first phase it has involved 6 schools and two municipalities between Calabria and Veneto.
Turistico 20.0 is a sustainable tourism project that aims to enhance the whole territory of the peninsula and connect the North and South of Italy. An idea by Aida Marketing & Formazione, Paesi e Poesie, and, last but not least, Progetto Re-Cycle
As Progetto Re-Cycle we intend to interact with students and strengthen their knowledge of sustainable and inclusive tourism. In our case we can add digitalization as an extra value with Accessible Life project by our Ermes Tuon. The Tourism Professionals of Tomorrow are the heart of Turistico 20.0. Last October, after a presentation webinar, the students who participated were asked to fill out a questionnaire. The purpose of the questionnaire is to understand their opinions and habits about tourism. We have collected all the data and you can find the results HERE.
Tourism, people, training is the introduction to our Q17 “School, professions and tourism trends” available from October here
Training
There is a urgent need to strengthen training, nowadays funded training is of crucial importance. I have more than 25 years of experience in the sector, I know something about it, having held multiple roles. What have we done? I would say the most positive point is undoubtedly that talking about training, even in small companies, is no longer a taboo and believe me it is no small step. What do we have to do? A lot and here I go by bullet list: […]
People or lemons to squeeze? Leila’s story in Venice
Leila is a fictional name, but she represents a real person, or better to say, several people – all women – who spent a day in Venice. This is already a bad start, as they represent the tourist type that isn’t exactly well received in the lagoon city. They are those of “hit and run” tourism, the ones who go to the supermarket and prepare sandwiches which they will then eat somewhere. Maybe, while eating, somebody will tell them “Venice is not Disneyland”. It’s a shame as that these people approached the city with great respect, they tried to visit as many things as possible, but their expectations were not met. Queues everywhere, skyrocketing prices and non-existent services […]
Human landscape: used or participated? by Antonella Granais the fifth article in our Quaderno 16 “Human landscapes, urban landscapes” available from this link in July
This Quaderno takes me back a recent past, a past that I would call pre-Covid on one hand and post-earthquake on the other. December 10th, 2016, van loaded with everything we managed to collect with donations, 5 in the morning, direction Norcia. There is a lot of ice at that time of the morning (night?). We have a long way to run with a lot of detours because the earthquake that hit central Italy, first in August and then in October, did not spare the road network. Emanuele Persiani, the author of the first article of this Quaderno, is waiting for us.
As Emanuele tells us in his article, the earthquake has changed the landscape of the area forever. Streams, such as the Torbidone, have given birth to a sort of lake, human settlements have expanded creating dormitories where the SAE – Emergency Housing Solutions, have been built. […]
[…] The participated human landscape is what is missing. An active and lively community makes a participated human landscape. A community that makes proposals even when nothing is asked. Well, this is my hope, and not only for Norcia, for all of us: a shared human landscape. It’s also up to us to make a move.
Continue reading “Human landscape: used or participated?” here
Dead end track is the intro article to Quaderno 15 “Tourism between revenge and regeneration” available in May from this link
Dead end track. No, don’t worry, even if the title sounds a bit gloomy, in this Quaderno we’re going to talk about tracks that come back to life.
For this publication we are moving to France where we will be “hosted” at La Recyclerie, a place that I had the pleasure of knowing personally and that has something in common with Progetto Re-Cycle. If you look closely at their logo you will see that it looks a lot like ours.
La Recyclerie represents the first track of this story. When I visited the place in March 2022, I was impressed by the fact that this structure had been developed along a track and an abandoned station. La Recyclerie, as Fabrizia Greta Silvestri tells us, was born, initially as a farm, along the old railway walls of Paris in the 18th Arrondissement. Talking about a farm in Paris is a daydream for me.
[…]
Revenge tourism
Fabio Casilli talks about this type of “crowded” tourism in his article on Revenge Tourism.
It is an aspect of tourism that has emerged after Covid. A spasmodic desire to travel resulting on overcrowded cities leading to a tourist offer that risks to become chaotic and of low quality. An offer that has had to deal, both in France and in Italy, with the lack of personnel. The senior staff, because of Covid, resigned and moved to different jobs. In France the real estate market – linked to the 2024 Olympics – has absorbed part of the personnel in the tourism sector. The junior staff that has been employed, still shows lack of skills on field.
Again, the question arises “where is tourism going?” […]
Destination management
When I talk about tourism, I prefer to do it with Destination Management which involves the management of a territory and its enhancement with the support of operators who know closely the place in which they operate
“We’re probably the first tourists they’ve had since the war.
Tunner, we’re not tourists. We’re travelers. Oh. What’s the difference? A tourist is someone who thinks about going home the moment they arrive, Tunner. Whereas a traveler might not come back at all.”
The novel is not a novel on tourism, for sure, but the point is: what do we want to be? A tourist or a traveller? What do we want to learn from our travelling?
Tea at 5 in villa in Zero Branco near Treviso! We will finally be in person in the amazing setting of Villa Guidini and its park.
The event will have many facets, will involve multiple protagonists and is part of the ASviS 2022 Festival.
The central theme is linked to sustainable tourism and the (re) launch of the territory also from a tourist point of view, there will be an exhibition dedicated to violence against women and activities to involve citizens.
The program
Tea at 5 in villa is divided into four parts:
A workshop on sustainable and inclusive tourism. The workshop will be in italian
Experience the joy of cycling with special bicycles with Re-Moove
Let’s work together in the park of Villa Guidini: Special bicycles experience with Re-Moove, Mapping and photo spheres activities with Progetto Re-Cycle
Tea at 5 in the Sibillini Mountains – ASviS 2022 Festival, workshop on sustainable tourism
Our Tea finally moves in person in Bolognola, a small hamlet in the province of Macerata. As you know, or maybe you will find it out now, we have several activities in progress in this Municipality. This workshop, which has been included in the ASviS 2022 Festival, coordinates with the activities of one other project of ours: Alta Formazione 1070. #AF1070 connects its training to the sustainable development of mountain areas and communities.
Indeed, we are very keen on the development of truly sustainable and, if possible, inclusive tourism, especially for mountain areas. So, here we are!
Bolognola has a very particular history. We met at the time of the earthquake in Central Italy (2016). Since then, this small town has had to – and has been able to – face enormous problems related to reconstruction, snow emergencies and, lastly, Covid. Yet, even if very small (180 inhabitants), they are still stronger than ever, with ever more ambitious projects.
The project that gathers them all is linked to the construction of the identity “1070”. This number is the height of Bolognola above sea level.
The workshop in short
In this workshop we will explore the issues related to the development of complex projects. We will also work together on a given (and challenging) task
How can we work on the identity of a territory? How to evaluate the impact of tourism on a territory? How to manage a complex project that involves the participation of several organizations and stakeholders? Can widespread hospitality act as a driver for territorial development?