Fourteen tourist itineraries, 4 product lines, and the Grandtourupmed.eu platform – these are the credentials of the Sistina Project, an acronym for System for Innovative Tourism in the Upper Mediterranean, among the rare examples of cross-border strategy, shared by areas of high tourist attractions such as Provence, Cรดte d’Azur, Liguria, Alto Tirreno, Coastal Tuscany, and Sardinia.
“For the first time, we were able to bring together territories that have historically struggled to share development projects,” explained Senator Massimo Mallegni, Pietrasanta (Lucca), Councilor for Tourism. On the geographical map, the operation resembles an arrow pointing towards a more united Europe in terms of tourism promotion.
The objective is to offer travel proposals from well-being to food and wine, and from cycling to active holidays, in a coordinated way so that a tourist can finally access through a single channel, a series of offers from France to Italy, and all at optimal rates for a medium-high target.
In this context, the role of ENIT (the Italian Government Tourist Board )becomes fundamental, because through its coordination, projects like ours can have the right visibility.
The promo-marketing strategy was clarified by Stefano Landi of SL&A Turismo e Territorio, marketing manager of Sistina, who said: โThe project avails itself of the collaboration of nine tour operators – including Velamica and Viaggi del Santo – who have set up the services of the 14 itineraries offered to the traveler and a network of other 45 actors, including travel agencies, hotel consortia, guides, and other tourism companies, which will provide all the services necessary for the hospitality and mobility of guests.โ
The promotion will consist of 2 strictly operational moments, with a first workshop in La Spezia on June 7 and 8, and with 40 foreign buyers and a subsequent event in Nice.
The 4 central themes of the proposals range from well-being to weddings, and from bike tourism to recreational boating. Operations such as these, according to ENIT’s executive director, Gianni Bastianelli, can foster the promotion of the country system that aims to diversify and qualify the organized tourist offer.