Discussion at this national roundtable got underway with the observation that tourism is another largely underutilized resource that features prominently in the (somewhat copious) catalog of Italy’s untapped potential. For decades, the sector has constantly been held up as representing the epitome of the country’s missed opportunities, along with culture and natural heritage, with which it is clearly interlinked. The subject of frequent public debate, its performance has been analyzed in terms of the sector’s power of attraction and competitiveness, and attention has been focused on its strengths and weaknesses. Yet these multitudinous efforts at coming to conceptual grips with the sector’s failings have never translated into a coherent national strategy for its development, and, most importantly, into a concrete implementation thereof.
It was acknowledged, nevertheless, that such debate and comparative analysis have undoubtedly been crucial in helping to monitor the state of health of Italian tourism. The overall picture that has emerged is one of an essentially fragile sector, as evidenced by the steady decrease in its contribution to national GDP, notwithstanding a growth in international tourism in the face of a global crisis. Whilst the country has fallen in the ranking of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, Italy as a brand has retained its appeal in respect of certain key assets, including art and culture in the broadest sense, its breadth of local diversity, and its natural landscape. Thus, on the one hand, the Italy brand has a largely unassailable “soft” power of attraction, which may be seen as resulting from a combination of factors, including a history, tradition, landscape and quality of life that are unparalleled elsewhere in the world. On the other hand, any “hard” power of attraction the industry might otherwise possess is undermined by an array of critical shortcomings that stem from the country having undergone a labored and incomplete process of modernization. These deficits include infrastructure lags, a North-South divide, a fragmentation of accommodation and hospitality facilities, and a lack of specialist and managerial training or retraining among industry operators. Acting as a backdrop to all this is a system of government that is complex, both in terms of the number of different institutional levels and the overall manner in which the state administrative apparatus itself is organized, which over the years has stifled the development of a genuinely coordinated national strategy for the sector.
It was felt, in this regard, that even the aforementioned soft power wielded by the Italy brand can be seen as an impediment to change: a “mental fallback position” used to justify putting off resolving problems indefinitely, almost as if the country’s beauty, art or culture could serve as “automatic generators” of development, without maintaining that heritage, planning policies, or evaluating the results of measures taken. This generating capacity – although it existed in the past and effectively still does – clearly risks not being sufficient alone today, as is reflected by the national and global market trends cited earlier in the discussions. It is further reflected in the needs expressed by businesses and local communities, both of which are making increasing demands on the choices of public decision-makers insofar as they affect this sector too. It was thus emphasized that placing the tourist industry (or more precisely, tourist industries) more prominently on the country’s agenda is an inescapable priority if Italy is to resharpen its economic focus – both in the short and medium to long term.
It was suggested that the soon-to-be-launched National Tourism Plan developed by the government can be seen as in keeping with this approach. Its main thrust is that of ensuring that strategic choices for the future of the sector are more targeted, by identifying centers of attraction capable of stimulating and raising the standard of supply, distinguishing between markets such as mass and high-end tourism, tailoring approaches according to the specific cultural, environmental, and historical characteristics of different local areas (themed tourism), and being more shrewd at tapping into opportunities offered by major sporting and other events such as Expo 2015. The Plan’s second aim is to ensure coordination between the various actors tasked with sector’s governance, and the rationalization of the responsibilities of each (starting with a review of the functions and legal status of ENIT – the Italian National Tourism Board). Last but not least, it was felt that a complete sea change is required as regards the way Italy is promoted to the world. Whilst Italy needs to be positioned in the market as a brand, it was stressed that this must be done on the basis of a sustainable, careful, smart and optimized use of the resources available to the country.