ITP >> Local training >> Community-involved tourism approaches for inland tourism areas
Targets: tourism professionals, local administrators, economic operators, cultural heritage managers
A training programme entitled Community-involved tourism approaches for inland tourism areas is under development by the University of Pisa.
The training is provided in the form of a programme of encounters with the stakeholders involved in the pilot of San Pellegrino in Alpe, in Italian language. The English translation of the programme will be provided online to the partners and to other users of the Training Portal, and further translation of specific topics will be provided on demand.
The training is targeted in particular to the local staff involved in public and private initiatives, to gain ability to accompany visitors to the discovery of micro-itineraries in the territory, including: ethnographic exhibition, Sanctuary, panoramic viewpoints and new areas of interest set up ad hoc.
The multivaried and complex tourism framework is now changing scenario, both as regards the tourist demand and the tourist offer. European cultural heritage boasts a historical value expressed through tangible and intangible local sights and attractions, which have to be managed from a holistic perspective. Consequently, as concerns tourist destination planning and tourist product offer, it is necessary to consider the concept of “destination” as a network element with high local involvement [1].
Local community and stakeholders are ‘designers’ of their living territory, especially regarding inland and marginal tourist areas which have to be managed in a systemic vision for a sustainable development.
Community-involved approach integrates a community interest in sharing local values and common objectives among community members, to create opportunities to respond to disadvantaged territories and marginalized communities [2] . Cultural tourism represents a strategic asset for marginal areas with unexpressed tourism value, thanks to high government involvement level in culture-led policies and a strong community empowerment towards sustainable and resilient tourism measures [3].
In this light, sustainability can be fostered through public and private partnerships, as well as through locally generated engagement in stakeholder collaborative actions, such as: crowdfunding campaigns, resilience and widespread tourism activities. In this light, marginal areas have to foster their local traditions and cultural landscapes, for a tourism-led purpose, thanks to sustainable valuing measures, mainly referred to: history and memory of the place, slow tourism activities and cultural innovation (also with digitalization activities).
The following table introduces at different types of community-involved tourism [4].
Experiencing creativity and emotional tourism represents the prerogative of 4.0 tourism, especially as concerns: local storytelling and visual narration and intercultural knowledge (as out-of-the ordinary- experience). «Cultural tourism in this way can be a powerful mechanism to understanding other places, peoples and pasts, not through selective, high-profile cultural sites and activities that may not necessarily be representative of the societies they operate in, but through a more democratic and ubiquitous approach to cultures» [5].
In these terms, cultural and sustainable tourism models can realize inclusive and accessible tourism systems, in order to plan a better touristic organization and a better community quality of life, by activating strategies with socio-economic added value on territories. Definitely, community-involved tourism approaches are defined by literature as holistic measures for local development and minor tourism valuing, with monitoring and evaluating support.
The table below shows the four thematic focuses on community-involved tourism approach that will be expressed through bottom-up participatory meetings.
| INVOLVED-COMMUNITY TOURISM APPROACHES | Bottom-up governance approach. Local empowerment measures. Experience and emotional tourism, network tourism, co-creation approach for cultural tourism. |
| INVOLVED-COMMUNITY ITINERARY PLANNING | Thematic and integrated tourism planning: terrorial features, identity specialities, material and intangible resources. |
| SUSTAINABLE TOURISM PLANNING | Socio-economic development, social quality of life, geoitineraries, slow and cultural tourism. |
| SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT | Promoting the territory through public performances and museum’s visit. |
They are realized by stakeholder partnerships and private-public focus groups, in order to provide specific expertise for co-creative tourism experience. Particular relevance is given to involved-community itinerary design on the basis of Italian and European models for mountain and inland tourism planning. Sustainable tourism perspective has also to be considered as the key factor of a successful socio-economic and environmental promotional strategy for minority tourism areas. Sustainability can be fostered by high local identitary itineraries planned with antropic, cultural, natural and social peculiar elements. Slow tourism practices are studied with the aim to realize geoitineraries with territorial strong connotation, in order to qualify local community and local stakeholders. Tangible and intangible elements are integrated in network tourist itineraries which merge various kinds of tourism experiences where the visitor is a valuable element of the tourist offer.
Calendar
The calendar of the focus groups is provided below:
| TOPIC | PLACE | DATE |
|---|---|---|
| INVOLVED-COMMUNITY TOURISM APPROACHES – Public launch of the pilot activity – Meeting with institutions | San Pellegrino in Alpe San Pellegrino in Alpe | 17/7/2021 28/8/2022 |
| INVOLVED-COMMUNITY ITINERARY PLANNING – Educational visit with students | San Pellegrino in Alpe | 13/10/2022 |
| SUSTAINABLE TOURISM PLANNING Training sessions to local stakeholders | San Pellegrino in Alpe Castelnuovo Garfagnana | 15/5/2023 29/5/2023 |
| SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT Promoting the stories of San Pellegrino in Alpe through performances | San Pellegrino in Alpe @ Open space @ Museo Etnografico @ Santuario | 3/7/2022 25/6/2023 3/9/2023 16/7/2023 30/7/2023 6/8/2023 |
Further Information Materials
The fact-sheet below, available in English and Italian language, summarizes briefly the three axis (education activities for the schools, training for local stakeholders and cultural programme for visitors and residents) that are at the basis of the strategy for the cultural promotion of the village of San Pellegrino in Alpe (Garfagnana, Italy), the highest town on the Italian Apennines, at more than 1,500 mt. on the sea level:
The presentations delivered at the training session to stakeholders are available for download (Italian language):
Bibliography
[1] LEMMI E. (edited by) (2015), Turismo e management dei territori. I geoitinerari, fra valori e Progettazione turistica, Bologna, Pàtron Editor.
[2] JOPPE M. (1996), “Sutainable community tourism development revisited” in Tourism Management, ELSEVIER, Great Britain, vol. 17, pp. 475-479.
[3] RICHARDS G., DEREK H. (edited by) (2000), Tourism and sustainable community development, Routledge, London.
[4] ARUNJ N. (2015), “Local Community-involvement in tourism: a content analysis of websites of wildlife resort” in Atna-Journal of Tourism studies, India, Vol. 10., pp.13-21.
[5] SMITH MK ET ALII (2006), “Cultural tourism, community partcipation and empowerment” in Cultural Tourism in a changing world, UK.
