Experimental Projects Of International Marketing In Italy For Territorial Brands – Exploiting The Drive Of Theme Discovery And Purchase Tourism

A pool of academic, ICT, technical and marketing entities (UniPegaso / Pegaso International Naples www.unipegaso.it , Assocorce – Sistema Industria Rome www.assocorce.it, , Eventi Telematici, Milan www.eventitelematici.com ) started working last year in Italy, on 3 “probe” international tourist itineraries, respectively in the North, Center and South of the Country, to demonstrate how tutored tourism aimed at purchase and discovery can be an effective marketing leverage for territorial brands of local productions. More precisely, the benefits of one such tourism promotion system could be expected, besides the ordinary incoming tourism revenue areas (transportation, board and lodging) in the accessory areas of certified origin agro-food and beverage produce, handcraft and industrial products, thematic entertainment and activities connected to heritage and natural excellencies and landmarks, as well as in several sizeable other indirect aspects of international trade, exchange and finance. The “concept” of this innovative scheme was introduced in abstract at the previous session of this esteemed Conference in Naples, where the main focus was the choice of Italy as the ideal test bed for the system, due to its unique “diversity” (bio-natural/historical/cultural), and on the applicability on a worldwide scale, as a model for territorial development policies. In fact , the global socio-economic context is becoming all the more favourable for such initiatives for a series of factors: the security crisis has progressively eroded the attractiveness of many exotic tourist destinations (Africa, Middle East, Latin America); the relative Euro devaluation is instead making Europe more competitive; as regards international trade, global environment concerns make it more advisable and convenient to move people than goods and therefore help the “O mile” consumption concept; fast growing ITC technologies and especially fiber - like mobile connectivity can now support all kinds of social and economic interactions, no matter how remote the places. Therefore, the advancement of the abovesaid model design is here illustrated, and especially the first accomplished step of selection, following a dedicated “call for ideas”, of a number of itineraries featuring their suitable discovery “rationale”, among which the 3 “probes”. An overview is also provided of the ongoing following actions: completion of phase one with the assessment of the identity and size of demand for the “probe” itineraries in terms of thematic tutored purchase and discovery tourism; start of phase two regarding the sustainability of the associative network approach, which has been chosen for the legal and economical organization of the promotional system, in one with the sustainability of the advanced technical and cultural requirements imposed on all of the potential association “stakeholders”; and finally the crucial involvement of Local Authorities expected to certify and support these models in their own development policies, and to use the system’s suggested measurements of success, to monitor the results in time at all levels, from the “core” of the tourism sector, to the accessory local “purchases”, to the indirect extended results in the export of quality goods and services, in the attraction of estate and industrial foreign investments, and finally in the downstream general benefit for the Balance of Payments and the Environmental impact of economy.