Environmental Upgrading of urban areas through TOUrism - EUTOU

1
Environmental Upgrading of urban areasthrough
TOUrism - EUTOU
Cheshire Country Council, United Kingdom
Provincia di Avellino, Italy
Hainan Provincial Tourism Administration,
Republic of China
Asia Urbs, Europe Aid Co-operation Office

• Cultural Tourism Best Practices
• Dr. Alessandra Bianchi

2
Background

• EUTOU defined best practices of eco-tourism
  development and more in deep cases where
  tourism flow could be moved from consolidate
  areas towards undeveloped ones, throughout the
  following steps
• Analysis
• Italian features in the field of successful
  tourism development and management
• Assessment of strength and weakness points in
  Italian tourism
• Tourism typologies
• Italian policies for tourism development
• Assessment of Hainan/ Wuzhishan market
• Conclusions
• Proposal
• Themes of best practice for Wuzhishan City
  tourism development

3
ANALYSIS 1 Italian Characteristics in the field
of tourism market
Tourism in Italy is a well-established field.
Italian tourism industry has been developed from
the first years of XIX century, through an
excellent advertising campaign that was the Grand
Tour and the Romantic Age. By a WTO analysis,
Italy is the fourth destination in the world with
almost 50.000 arrivals in a year.The success of
this business is a wide offer of attractors,
facilities and events in the frame of Italian
historical cities and natural beauties. The
features of Italian tourism market are the
following

• ancient tourist development
• wide range of attractors
• capability to link a wide range of attractors
• several tourism typologies
• national and international tourism flows

4
ANALYSIS 2 Assessment of strength and weakness
points of Italian tourism

• In order of assess the Italian tourism industry,
  the analysis of the strongest points highlights
  the following items
• wide range of facilities and accommodation
• capability to create a net of minor attractions
  linked with one (or more) bigger (tourist
  district)
• capability to create events
• capability to enhance the historical and
  cultural heritage
• good training of tourist operators
• good English and other European languages
  speaking
• capability to develop new flows close to
  consolidated one
• medium and small enterprises acting in tourism
  development

5
ANALYSIS 2 Assessment of strength and weakness
points of Italian tourism

• The weakness points involve a complex mix of
  features that represent an objective handicap for
  the present condition of tourism industry.
  Especially it points out several impacts that
  tourism generates and/or more direct and indirect
  costs in terms of environment degradation and
  social behaviour.
• It could be described as the following
• lack of tourism planning
• high costs in terms of environmental and social
  impacts
• loss of sense of place in mass tourism
  destinations
• strong gap between the development of costal
  areas and internal ones
• lack of strategies in terms of control of prices
  
• lack of policies in the field of certification
  of quality (facilities, transport, environment)
• lack of control in the field of monument
  avaibility

6
ANALYSIS 3 Tourism Typologies of Cultural
Tourism Market

• archaeological heritage
• historical towns
• art and architecture
• cultural events

• Consolidated flows
• beach tourism
• cultural tourism
• New flows
• ecological tourism
• typical products routes
• rural tourism

• natural parks
• sport facilities
• wellness facilities
• landscape beauty
• agricultural heritage

7
ANALYSIS 5 Needs for the eco-cultural tourist

• To better understand the needs and the kind of
  facilities that are linked to eco-cultural
  tourism development, WTO, in the frame of the
  First World Summit of Eco-tourism held in Quebec
  City, Canada, in 2002, defined a profile of
  tourists demands
• - no mass tourism destinations, no standard
  offers, no seasonality
• search for new destinations, original and
  typical products
• search for destinations that present high
  quality and a wide offer of facilities
• responsible tourism
• search for local culture
• search for authentic daily life experience with
  local communities
• satisfaction of emotional needs

8
ANALYSIS 6 Features of tourism market in Hainan
/ Wuzhishan
Hainan island is a well known tourist destination
both for national market and Asian one. As
targeted on 25 Years Plan it is one of the seven
major regions where tourism development is given
priority, designed as a tropical island holiday
resort. Natural beauty is the main attraction
joint with cultural attraction. According to the
Hainan Province Master Plan and in order to
transfer a useful know-how, italian best
practices are focused on the following features
of Hainan island

• Good development of tourism market
• Major national tourist flows and minor overseas
  flows
• Exclusive set of attractors
• Well developed coastal areas
• Less developed internal areas
• In this frame a special attention is given to
  eco-cultural tourism strategies, to enhance the
  islands attractions, improve life quality and
  avoid tourism impacts. In the present document
  environmental risks will be pointed out also.

9
ANALYSIS 6 Strength and weakness points of
Hainan tourism market
From the Tourism Master Plan and from the
partners visits features of Hainan market are
pointed out

• Weakness points
• - No clear image of Hainan for international long
  haul
• No English spoken
• Difficulties to travel on your own
• Needs of VISA and no possibility of buying it on
  the island
• absence of integrated net
• absence of organic strategy for promotion and
  commercialization
• damaged image caused by sanitary risks (SARS,
  chicken disease, )

• Opportunities
• its geographic location close to Asian markets
• its attractive and largely undeveloped coastline
  and internal areas
• its good transport infrastructure
• good resorts on the coast
• low prices
• good appeal for domestic market
• well known destination for regional market
• area free from terrorism risk

Moreover this analysis has to consider the inner
fragilities of natural beauties and the risk of
tourism impacts on social minorities.
10
CONCLUSIONSTargets of tourism development

• To compile best practices for Wuzhishan tourism
  development, a set of targets was pointed out
  from the analysis of Italian and Hainan tourism
  market
• - Increase of tourism market in terms of
  eco-cultural typologies
• Implement tourism development in terms of
  sustainable features
• Enhance local specificities
• Protect natural beauty, cultural heritage and
  local communities
• Implement Tourism Master Plan in terms of
  building construction typologies, minimize
  impacts of new buildings, promote innovation in
  technologies uses.
• These targets can be detailed for Wuzhishan
  development as the following
• - From mass tourism to sustainable tourism
• From indistinctive tourist facilities to an
  attractive stay

11
UTAP Actions

• WHAT DID UTAP DO?

12
1. Created a tourist district

• A cultural district is an offer system
  circumscribed in space in an area featured by a
  high density of cultural and environmental
  resources with a high quality standard,
  integration among tourism activities and a high
  development of connected productive sectors.
• The weakness point in the application of this
  strategy is the not easy balance between the
  offer system and the huge size of the potential
  request.

• Connected policies
• Build a positive, young and active image of
  summer tourism in the mountains
• Enhance land quality
• Save mountain agriculture
• Try to make ski slopes attractive also for non
  skiers
• Create an info-point net
• Actions
• Ameliorate the tourist offices network
• Promote sports and activities such as, trekking,
  open space shows and tourist entertainment
• Urban upgrading of compromised sites
• Creation of a hospitality network
• Projects
• Paths upkeeping
• Intergenerational tourism

13
2. Gave a new life to a local traditional tourist
product

• To improve an old tourism offer system its
  necessary to add new elements. In fact to
  lenghthen tourists stay and tourism seasonality,
  a new mix of tourist attractors is needed.
• Increasing tourist offer and elements of
  interest gives a double result lenghthen
  tourists stay and the average expense pro capite
  where tourism exists or attract new tourism flows
  where there arent.
• In the Hainan case, the well known beach tourism
  destinations, can easily carry out this strategy.

• Connected Policies
• Enhancement of minor attractors
• Enhancement of natural beauties
• Create a tourism offer system that satisfies the
  need of appearance
• Customer satisfaction
• Promotion towards very high income users segments
• Actions
• Urban upgrading
• Design Excellence
• Creation of a net of specialized infrastructures
  for new users
• Projects
• Urban upkeeping
• Environmental upgrading
• wellness spas, massage

14
3. Created a typical quality offer

• The aim was to create an offer system that could
  satisfy needs of particular groups of tourists
  such as environmental cultural and ecologic
  tourism flows
• products and activities rich in significance, in
  idendity and authentic
• socialization with local inhabitants
• deep knowledge of relevant aspects of the
  visited land
• fruition of goods and services with a high
  emotional level

• Connected Policies
• Build a typical image strongly connected with the
  land
• Enhance farm productions and connected
  agroindustries
• Enhance land
• Enhance cultural and folk heritage
• Comunication campaign on specifical targets
• Create an info point network
• Actions
• Typical products Marketing
• Urban upgrading and environmental safeguarding
• Creation of a hospitatility network
• Projects
• Building and environmental maintenance
• Poulation involvement
• Local operators Training as development agents

15
4. Enhanced the emotional meaning of the offer

• Connected Policies
• Training for local operators, for the
  comunication of emotional events
• Enhance cultural, landscape and natural resources
• Customer satisfaction
• Create promotional channels
• Create an exchange system among activities and
  emotions and tourists and inhabitants
• Actions
• Historical sites rehabilitation and restauration
• Local animation
• Creation of events in line with the sites
  reflection on the outside
• Projects
• Urban maintenance
• Environmental upgrading
• Movie location
• Target

• The suggested strategy created a high emotional
  contents tourism offer that features attractivity
  for all tourism typologies. Key element for this
  strategy is the capability to recall events,
  myths, legends give life to ruins, rocks and
  trees, creating, for each visitor, emotions
  connected to an immaterial experience.

16
5. Kept a leadership in costs strategy

• In old times it was seen as the carrying out of a
  low price strategy that weighed upon the offered
  services quality. In present days its just a
  strategy that moves visitors away from
  destinations that present similar tourist
  services but are well-known in the international
  or in the promotional market.

• Connected Policies
• Comunication through wide diffusion channels
• Actions
• All inclusive tourist offers
• Discount rates in full season
• Projects
• Improve the offer systems efficiency in
  organization and productiveness
• Satisfaction of a standard threshold in tourism
  offer
• Target
• Mass tourism

17
Themes of best practices

• create a tourist district
• create a wide offer of facilities
• create a typical, high quality offer
• enhance the emotional meaning of tourism offer
• Leadership in costs strategy

• strategies

• GOAL

• TOTAL LEISURE
• EXPERIENCE

• Protect natural beauties and cultural heritage
• Catch pioneer tourism flows
• Integrated control of tourism offer quality in
  terms of sustainability
• Involve local communities in a integrated program
  of training and territorial activities
• Enhance originality of tourism offer

• policies

18
Strategies and Policies examples

• Create a wide offer of facilities
• Involve local communities in a integrated program
  of training and territorial activities

19
Best practice tables construction patternEUTOU
CASE

• Study case
• Study case features
• Predominant kind of tourism
• Adopted methodology
• Reference target
• Opportunities
• Weakness points
• Analogies with Hainan/Wuzhishan
• Achieved results
• Work in progress/Impacts

A description of study case and issues of
interest in EUTOU project.
It highlights strategies and projects adopted to
increase tourism and the tourist target selected
Assessment of adopted strategies and projects
It points out elements that could be used for WZ
development
Detailed description of results and a list of
issues that are going to be solved
List of web sites in which is possible to have
more information about the study case
20

• PARCO DEL CILENTO E VALLO DI DIANO, SOUTHERN
  ITALY
• The Park area, of 181.048 Ha, is composed of 86
  muniipalities and mountain communities. Its land
  is very heterogeneous since there are high
  mountains, valleys, hills and seashores in this
  big environment. It has always been a land of
  migration, especially in the internal areas. In
  fact, there is a big difference, due to tourism
  as well, between inland poor and almost abandoned
  areas and towns and the coastline, where there
  are also problems due to human impact on the
  environment.
• Develop a high quality tourism proposal oriented
  towards services and demand and able of
  organizing and promote all different segments
  (culture, rural tourism, typical products, wine
  and food tourism, valuable environmental sites,
  etc) as a systemic and integrated touristic offer
  generating sinergies and added value.
• Organize special events that can attract tourists
  and, at the same time, bring out a new image of
  the Cilento Region in connection with the
  development of a hospitable system and as an
  instrument for a strong communication of a
  qualified social and cultural identity.
• Promote actions aimed to extend visitors stay in
  inland areas, acting at first, on the hospitable
  organization of services (welcome card), of
  products and their quality and on an integrated
  development of promotion and commercialization
  actions with the aid of a quality brand created
  for the welcome system.

• Study case
• Study case features
• Predominant kind of tourism
• Adopted methodology
• Reference target

21

• tourist market tendencies (search of niche
  products and quality products, growth of request
  for culture and well-being), that can represent
  an opportunity for expansion of the tourist
  segment
• opportunity to have at ones disposal different
  segments (culture, rural tourism, typical
  products, wine and food tourism, valuable
  environmental sites, etc), of which is possible
  to take advantage of, to relaunch local tourism
• success of coastal tourism sector
• environmental quality
• limited land receptivity
• lack of investment policies in tourism promotion
• limited tourism business
• low integration of different tourism products
• lack of collaboration amongst various subjects
• depopulation and impoverishment of the Park
  areas, especially in the mountain areas
• prevalence of a hit and run kind of tourism
  that can determine negative, more than positive,
  impacts on the environment.
• Diversification in tourism and tourists

• Opportunities
• Analogies with Hainan/Wuzhishan
• Weakness points
• Analogies with Hainan/Wuzhishan

22
Environmental resources
23
Cultural heritage
24
Built heritage
25
ISCHIA ISLAND, NAPLES, SOUTHERN ITALY

• Study case
• Study case features
• Predominant kind of tourism
• Adopted methodology
• Reference target
• Opportunities
• Weakness points

Capability to create a wide offer of tourism
facilities Fast developed in late 50, Ischia is
one of the best known tourism sites in Italy for
mass tourism and a beach attractor. But in the
last decade it seems to be on the wane. A very
short summer season, managed by families
enterprises, produced less development in terms
of facilities quality and social growth. Mass
tourism created impacts on coastal ecosystem and
social behaviour.
The adopted strategy pointed on local resources
to create a wide offer of facilities to extend
tourism season during winter and autumn. Special
attention is given to natural thermal areas and
typical food products. The reference target is a
more sophisticated customer that appreciates
wellness programs and the cultural offer linked
to solid attractors
Volcanogenic area with thermal water and thermal
springs. Good transport facilities in the island,
easy and fast connections to Napoli by hydrofoil.
High standard of facilities and accomodation.
High standard of local tour operators.
Lack of tourist planning. Environmental risk
connected to tourism development (new hotels
built, no respect of natural cycle in renewal of
thermal resources, erosion of beaches)
Proximity with coastal area allows to catch
tourism flows through a targeted offer. The
Chinese experience in natural medicine and
therapeutic massage could orient the tourism
strategy in this direction.
A longer seasonality is reached combining
together beach attractors and thermal resources.
Small size enterprises have been created in the
field of cosmetics and body care. A good
promotion of Ischia thermal properties, allows
to create new labels in cosmetics market. Wine
and food products are promoted toghrther with
thermal attractions.
Targeted network of facilities and products.
Common startegies in terms of tourism management.
Environmental risk.
www.comuneischia.it www.terme.ischia.it
www.ischiaonline.it www.ischiainpillole.com
www.ischiavini.it.
26
ISCHIA MASSAGE
ISCHIAS SEA
27
(No Transcript)
28
(No Transcript)
29
(No Transcript)