No. 4 (2019)

The Italian accommodation system is unparalleled in quality "intrinsic and potential" quality and its versality. Italy is in fact the country in the world that boasts the most diversification in offer both by type and price range, it is the leader in number of beds in Europe and is characterized by the largest number of luxury hotels. Nevertheless, until 2018 the number of hotels bought and sold in Italy was irrelevant to the existing assets for various reasons: little transparency, preponderance of small structures, little concentration in Hotel gouos. In 2019, with transactions of more than USD. 3 billion, the sector has been one of the best performing asset classes mainly thanks to foreign capital (75% of the total invested in the last 3 years) that have started to acquire higher quality hotels: 4 and 5-star hotels have accounted for more than two- thirds of past properties), preferring portfolios (i.e. the block purchase of some hotels), but then he inevitably had to deal with the Covid-19 emergency. After the lockdown, at the end of May 20220, for Federalberghi was active only 40% of the hotels that will double in August but at least 20% will not reopen until September and many will remain permanently closed. Some estimates say that in Europe we will return to the results of 2019 only in 2023: will the same result be achieved in Italy? Will it be possible to do better? Launching into predictions today is at least presumptuous because there are many variables at stake, but having a clear picture of the situation before Covid 19 can help to better understand the future evolution of the hotel real estate market.

This study identifies relevant impacts of multiple funding sources on tourism sector in Sardinia (Italy), by doing a cross-analysis of most recent planning initiatives into the wider local development operational framework, and stressing the importance of enhancing tourism accessibility and innovative solutions through destination management and marketing tools. From these planning experiences several implications regarding local governance have been also found for next programming period 2021-2027, considering the crucial role assigned to cultural landscapes as a source of comparative advantage in local and tourism development policies for the region and in the perspective of an imminent adaptation to restrictions imposed by health and economic crisis led by COVID-19.

The present work measures the tourist performance of the 21 Italian Regions (NUTS2 subdivision), making a comparison between the years 2015 and 2012. The Principal Component Analysis defines the latent features of a multidimensional concept, such as tourism destination competitiveness. The composite indicator creates a regional ranking of tourism performance for the year 2015. To measure the evolution of the performance trend, the composite indicator for the year 2012 was subsequently calculated. Among the results, the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, Lombardy and Veneto were ranked in the top 3 for the year 2015, while Piedmont, Liguria and Abruzzo recorded a significant increase in performance from 2012 to 2015.

The Dolomites are a UNESCO site, and probably the most beautiful mountain system in the world. Their mountain huts, particularly those along the Alta Via 1 Dolomiti (a 150-kilometre-long high-level trail), provide Alpine lovers with accommodation and assistance. Though internationally renowned, and despite their role in Italian tourism, the mountain huts in the Dolomites have been scarcely researched by the academia. Even less studied has been their relation with the Web, which is an obvious communication environment for any tourist service today. This paper is based on a systematic study on the web presence of the mountain huts along the Alta Via 1 Dolomiti during the summer of 2019. Results encourage their efforts to improve, suggest a better cooperation among the local administrations in the area, and call for financial support to the their web activities.

This paper is ispired by the decision of Veneto Regional Government about the drafting of a Hospitality Chart for the Tourism Industry. The Chart is included in a larger project about Tourism Regional Strategic Plan and it is structured as a “Decalogue” of Values and of the most important features of the hospitality, including relationship between local community, tourist enterprises and visitors. The paper explores the drafting process and the strategic goals of Decalogue, in comparison with other examples of Hospitality Chart, and deals with the concept of quality in the Services and Tourism Sector.

The concept of accessible tourism is very simple: to render services and tourist goods more accessible to people with different needs such as the elderly, children, mothers with strollers, people with disabilities, people who have difficulties walking and those who move in a wheelchair, people with limb limitations, people who see badly and feel badly, people with food or environmental intolerances. They are many small groups but together they make a large group. After mentioning the laws and regulations in force in Italy and in Europe, the article presents some data on the phenomenon from which it is clear that overall those who need special accessibility are estimated to be around one billion in the World, around 127 million in Europe and around 10 million in Italy. In some ways, not a few of the people over 65 fall into this group, a group that has grown a lot in recent years. The paper highlights its great economic value and as an emblematic model and best pratics it proposes the experience of the Sicily Tourism Association for all.