The meeting was held in Genoa, in the Sala Nautilus of the Acquario "Perspectives of tourism 4.0", organized by Intesa Sanpaolo to analyze the prospects for tourism in Italy, with a focus on the hotel and hospitality sector in the Genoese area and more generally in the Liguria, octave tourist destination in Italy and fourth among seaside resorts, and to offer operators in the sector new competitiveness tools: enhancement of supply chains, investmentti, training, environmental sustainability, Together with seasonal adjustment e websites, have emerged as development factors for a key sector in the growth of the national and regional economy.
They attended the meeting Cristina Balbo, Regional Director Piedmont Valle d'Aosta and Liguria Intesa Sanpaolo, Ilaria Sangalli, economist of the Studies and Research Department of Intesa Sanpaolo, John Berrino, Councilor for Labour, Transport and Tourism of the Liguria Region. Followed by a round table in which Giorgio Bertolin, CEO of Costa Edutainment, Luca Jaccarino, Sole Director of Quality Life and Villa Sorriso, Walter Vacchino, Chief Executive Officer Ariston, Paolo Musso, Business Sales Director Piedmont Valle d'Aosta and Liguria Intesa Sanpaolo, they discussed tourism as an opportunity for growth, sharing local experiences, trends and perspectives.
From the study presented by Intesa Sanpaolo, edited by the Studies and Research Department, it emerged that lItaly ranks more between theand first five tops destination world, despite increasing competitive pressures: over the past decade they are grown up of the 45% arrivals of non-resident tourists, For a total of over 60 million in 2017. The presences also increased: again in 2017, 211 million those of non-residents, +30% compared to 2008, for a degree of internationalization ormai close to 50%.
Our country is distinguished by a winning mix of offers, in which seaside resorts are confirmed among the main attractions (second only to cities of art), albeit still with plenty of room for growth: in 2017 there were 135 million tourist presences and 28 million arrivals.
Among the seaside resorts , Liguria represents the fourth goal, with 13 million admissions 2017 (the83% of the total number of tourists in the region). The growth of 6,5% of Ligurian marine presences, between 2008 and 2017, is mostly due to tourism incoming (+50%), which reached 5 million admissions, against a decline in resident tourism, which with 7,8 million admissions in 2017 is still below 10,4% compared to 2008 numbers. The degree of internationalization of presences is equal to 39%, still far from that of the Venetian or Sardinian seaside resorts, so there is still room for growth.
Alongside marine tourism they also make their way complementary forms of tourism, how's that of art, which currently represents only 12% of overnights in Liguria, but which achieved double-digit growth in the 2008-17 period: +30% overall overnights for art tourism (for a total of 1,8 million in 2017), +64% foreign ones.
Overall, therefore, Liguria has closed il 2017 with 15,5 million tourist presences, of which 41% foreign. The first projections for the current year (January-September 2018) see foreign presences stable on last year's level and a slight drop in the presence of resident tourists (-3,5%).
These findings are also confirmed in theanalysis by province, which sees in the lead, in the ranking for attraction capacity of non-resident tourists, La Spezia (2,5 million total attendance) e GenoVa (4,1 million), with a degree of internationalisation, respectively, of 62% and 48%. Imperia follows (total attendance 3,2 million) and Savona (5,7 million), with a degree of internationalization of 41,4% and 26%. The first projections for 2018 (January-September) are stable for Genoa and La Spezia, negative instead for Imperia (-3%) and, above all, for Savona (-4,3%).
New opportunities for this territory could open up from enhancement of multi-thematic tourist experiences: in addition to the sea and the art itineraries, food and wine, culture, spas, naturalistic, mountain and sporting activities, with an eye to the luxury travel.
During the meeting, the results of asurvey conducted in recent months by Intesa Sanpaolo on a sample of hotel companies Ligurians, to identify new opportunities for developing the region's tourism potential. Attractiveness of the area (local events, enhancement of food and wine heritage, offer of thematic packages, strengthening of local brands, international events) e web promotion (proprietary website, use of social networks, OTAs, classic tour operators and agencies, gift boxes, social marketing) among the central themes, for intercept a greater flow of non-resident customers also come on emerging markets, where the development potential is concentrated, e cut down on seasonality of attendance.
Local businesses show continuous attention to the issue of investments in the quality of services and facilities, towards a qualitative upgrading essential to enhance certain types of tourism, above all incoming. The analysis of the accommodation offer reveals that, in 2017, only the 25% of hotel beds are positioned in the high range (4-star, 5-star and 5-star luxury), with a peak of 46% in the province of Genoa, and even only 13% in the province of Savona.
Also crucial is the theme of training: a very high percentage of companies declare that they have already carried out training activities on "classic" subjects such as foreign languages, hospitality, catering in the past, but there is still room to push on the more innovative ones, necessary for the process of transformation in key 4.0 which is affecting the sector, such as the use of software and digital devices, and the cybersecurity.
Finally, there are two fundamental levers for growth identified by the interviewees: the availability of finance medium and long term and a consulting support competent with respect to the specificities of the tourism sector.
Intesa Sanpaolo offers itself as a privileged interlocutor in these areas, making available to the hotel sector:
- lines of financing dedicated, intended for investments to improve accommodation facilities
- il Supply Chain Program, an innovative model of collaboration between the bank and companies, with the aim of improving the conditions of access to credit by addressing companies connected by productive relationships
- ptraining courses dedicated to operators in the sector dedicated to the development of new digital skills and to the in-depth study of sector dynamics
- un qualitative rating model which allows you to analyze the needs of individual companies by taking into consideration, in addition to economic performance, also the "intangibles" of the tourism company
- specialist support on complex projects through the Tourism Desk of Mediocredito Italiano and accompaniment in operations of finance extraordinary thanks to the structure dedicated to SMEs and midcaps recently born from the synergy between Banca IMI and Mediocredito
- thethree-year collaboration agreement, signed in January of this year with the MIBACT, which provides a ceiling of 5 billion intended for the preparation of a real “Pact for Tourism 4.0”.
Cristina Balbo, regional director Piedmont Valle d'Aosta and Liguria Intesa Sanpaolo, declared: «Liguria occupies a leading position in the context of Italian tourism. It is a land of excellence, unfortunately not immune to fragility, which can focus on the development of sustainable paths and quality experiences that embrace the sea, the villages, food and wine, culture, religious paths on the Apennines and much more. Intesa Sanpaolo, in this area, has for some time been the promoter of a network of relationships, aimed at stimulating untapped potential throughout the year. We support over 1.500 businesses to help them compete globally. Today more than ever, a strategy for relaunching the local area is needed that values supply chains as a new "frontier" of collaboration between businesses and hospitality operators, so that everyone is encouraged to make the necessary investments to promote the offer international level."
“Tourism – he declared John Berrino, Aassessor at Work, Transport and Tourism Liguria Region – it is one of the most important productive activities in Italy, it has different times and methods compared to other economic sectors, it is subject to time and seasonality, but it is undoubtedly one of the main sectors in which one can and must invest, due to the important margins of growth it has. It is therefore significant that the first Italian banking institution decides to organize a focus entirely dedicated to the sector, and it is obviously an honor to be held in Liguria. The regional administration strongly believes in tourism, we have dedicated part of the regional strategic fund to it, both for municipalities and private operators. Improving the quality of infrastructures and services is essential to win the challenge of our main international competitors, public-private synergy is the main road to follow - concluded the Councilor - and certainly the interest of the banking system can become decisive".
