research
In Italy and Croatia there are many small towns with very relevant historical, cultural and natural assets but visited by a little number of tourists, lower than the potentiality of the local natural and cultural resources. The main goal of this project is to reduce this gap between resources and tourists thus contributing to a better territorial and seasonal distribution of tourist flows in Croatia and Italy.
EXCOVER will therefore identify innovative ways to solve the constraints on the tourist development of the small towns with relevant local assets but with poor tourist flows. The core aspect is the involvement of the local communities: only the participation of the residents in the small towns will create a Tourist Supply Chain based on the single under-exploited resources instead of the usual heavy investments in accommodation and transport.
The locations are Lika-Senj, Karlovac, Primorije-Gorski Kotar; some small villages in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Emilia-Romagna (Predappio e Alfonsine) and Abruzzo. The research “Statistical Analysis of the reputation of Touristic Destination” is part of this project.
The outputs of the project will support the tourism development of these villages aiming at the promotion of new itineraries and places for a balanced tourists distribution over time, in line with the EUSAIR strategy. Moreover, training courses for local stakeholders about Blue Economy (necessary to gain sustainability) will be realized.
The role of CAST is to design a process for a local tourism development characterized by a low starting budget, investments and spaces. This also include the study of the local tourism supply chain (with SWOT and reputation analysis) and its integration with offer and demand information collected from policy makers, experts, other stakeholders and visitors.
Period of the project: 2018-2021
Scientific Coordinator: Andrea Guizzardi
Team of research: Francesco Barbini, Alessia Mariotti, Annalisa Stacchini
Keywords: sustainable tourism, natural and cultural heritage, local development
Funding programme: Interreg Italia – Croazia 2014-2020 - ENVIRONMENTAL AND CULTURAL HERITAGE / SO 3.1
Website: https://www.italy-croatia.eu/web/excover
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/project.excover/