“Six million euros for major tourist destinations which will be dedicated to data collection, sustainable mobility, flow management and rental legislation”. This was the announcement by the General Director of Tourism of MiBACT, Francesco Palumbo during the Town Meeting of FactorYmpresa Turismo in Florence, organized in collaboration with Invitalia - The goal is to achieve an innovative and sustainable management of large tourist flows in the 'top destinations ' of Italy: Florence, Rome, Venice, Milan and Naples”.
This is the new challenge launched by Mibact and Invitalia at the first Town Meeting, a major brainstorming event between experts in the tourism sector, organized in Florence as part of FactorYmpresa Turismo, the program that supports and rewards innovative business ideas in the tourism supply chain, promoted by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism and managed by Invitalia.
More than 100 stakeholders and industry experts, coming from the five most important Italian tourist destinations, met with the common goal of bringing out critical issues, needs and possible solutions. In addition to DG Tourism, Francesco Palumbo, the Tourism Councilors of the five major cities also took part in the Town Meeting.
Three topics were addressed in three different roundtables:
- Smart city: building smart cities is a great opportunity for tourists, citizens and businesses, what should be done?
- Mobility: how to make the mobility of tourists and citizens more efficient and sustainable for the environment and city life?
- Reception: millions more tourists in the coming years, how to plan and manage a sustainable reception for the quality of life, the economy and the heritage of the cities?
The results of the discussions will be used to better focus on the themes around which to build the next Accelerathon, the competition between business ideas organized by Factorympresa Turismo, which will be held in Florence on 17 and 18 May 2018 and which will focus on the theme "Top Italian destinations. In a 36-hour full immersion, 20 startuppers will work together with Invitalia tutors and mentors to accelerate the development of their projects capable of innovating tourism management in large cities, improving the team's ability to present it to potential investors/partners/ clients. It will be the fifth Accelerathon, after the four calls in 2017, with 350 participating teams and 112 projects supported.
To participate in the Accelerathon it is necessary to answer the call that will be launched after the Town Meeting and send your application from 30 March 2018 until 12.00 on 7 May 2018. The 20 best projects will be selected, which on 17 and 18 May will compete under the profile of quality and rate of innovation. A jury appointed by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Invitalia will award the 10 best startups with financial support: each of them will receive a sum of 10.000 euros to be used for the development of the entrepreneurial project.
The regulation and all the useful information to participate in the Accelerathon will be available from 30 March 2018 on www.factorympresa.invitalia.it.
This is the comment of the Councilor for Tourism of the Municipality of Florence, Anna Paola Concia: “We are in the operational phase to find the best solutions for the management of flows. From today's important appointment in Florence, we have identified challenges and needs to launch to startups from all over Italy, which will meet here in Florence in May, to produce solutions and new businesses. We are working to develop smart cities, capable of knowing flows in real time and offering smart services for the mobility of tourists and citizens. In the same way, for the first time, all the operators in the sector are working together to solve problems common to all the great capitals of tourism: reconciling old and new forms of tourist accommodation, maintaining the authenticity of historic centers and expanding the areas of attraction. Without a new generation of businesses we will never find the right ideas to face the great challenges of global tourism. It was a day of work full of future”.
Paola Mar, Councilor for Tourism of the City of Venice, added: "We continue the important work of networking and sharing with other art cities not only good practices, but also innovative business ideas, to identify problems and solutions related to tourism. Venice, with its structural peculiarity, claims the role of pilot project in the management of flows and in the identification of an innovative solution as regards tourist locations and in the #enjoyrespectvenezia awareness campaign already taken up by other cities".
Adriano Meloni, Councilor for Economic Development, Tourism and Employment of the Municipality of Rome, specified: “The growth of sustainable tourism is directly proportional to the good sector practices implemented by the host cities. Town Meeting is a precious opportunity for comparison between the main Italian travel destinations on the virtuous actions undertaken to govern the flows. Hospitality, smart city and mobility are the founding themes of this sharing".
“I believe it is crucial to network and think together on the continuous evolution of modern tourism in cities – said Roberta Guaineri, Councilor for Tourism, Sport and Quality of Life of the Municipality of Milan – Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples and Milan offer opportunities and cultural, artistic, economic and sporting references that are very different from each other, but they can certainly work in networks to find common answers to major issues such as accommodation,
sustainable mobility and the construction of ever smarter cities. This is why we welcome the Town meeting 'Top Italian destinations' project.
"Naples has been establishing itself as a tourist destination for a few years - concluded Nino Daniele, Councilor for Tourism of the Municipality of Naples - and thanks to this network it can start in a fair and sustainable way, making a strong commitment in this direction. With today we finally pass from words to deeds and sustainability becomes a priority, a concrete fact, also thanks to the involvement and contribution of all the stakeholders involved".
