The 8 challenges for the 2024 season
Werner Zanotti, director of Bressanone Turismo and President of the tourist consortia of Alto Adige, illustrated to us the strategy implemented by Bressanone for the 2024 tourist season, entirely focused, sector by sector, on planning sustainable tourism.
The starting point, we must not forget, is that of a region that hosts 34 million overnight stays every year: numbers that cannot and do not make sense to increase, but must be managed in the best possible way.
1. Arrival and mobility in Alto Adige: 80% of CO2 production is caused by mobility - explains Werner Zanotti - which is why this year's proposal to hoteliers is to offer two prices: a lower cost for those arriving the destination by public transport.
2. Stay: Offering discounts or advantageous prices to those who stay more than two days is another way to reduce mobility: if the stay increases, the number of arrivals and departures decreases.
3. Exclusivity: it is a delicate topic, but it is inevitable to consider that there are places in the world that the traveler has the right to visit without finding himself in the middle of a crowd of people: the challenge is open, how to organize it without becoming arrogant ?
Bressanone Tursimo is working to accustom local people to instructing staff coming from outside: the need is 45,000 people, a figure impossible to reach only with local workers.
5. The local population: when the tourism impact is so strong, the population enjoys advantages, but also numerous disadvantages. The commitment of tourist bodies is to find a balance, putting residents back at the center to prevent them from making decisions against hospitality.
6. Innovation: the perspective is that of "trial & error”, innovate to improve. A decidedly antithetical direction compared to the conservative trend of current tourism.
7. The host family:is the reason why tourists return the most. We need to help families, especially the new generations, not to work and that's enough to prevent young people from leaving their businesses.
8. The gastronomic offer: one of the most appreciated proposals by visitors to South Tyrol is the local cuisine. However, it is a meat-based cuisine and the demand far exceeds the supply of local products: the commitment, therefore, is to train the chefs of the accommodation facilities to offer traditional, non-meat-based dishes.