Tourism as a source of well-being and work, and therefore also “happiness” for the people of Rimini. But without forgetting what must remain its foundation: “Rimini must increasingly be characterized by relational tourism, that is, by being together. This is the path to take, operators, tourists and the Church together”. This was said by the bishop of Rimini, Monsignor Nicolò Anselmi, in Monday’s conference on Tourism, a source of values and culture for people and the community, organized by the diocesan pastoral care of tourism. “Tourism – underlined Anselmi – provides work to a large number of people in the Rimini area and work is part of man’s happiness. The world of tourism offers families spaces for rest and serenity and the possibility of meeting together in a joyful way … Just as we risk losing ourselves in the frenetic rhythms of daily life, so in rest we can instead find ourselves.” But the Rimini tourism system must “increasingly be characterized as relational tourism, based on being together”.
Before the bishop, the mayor Jamil Sadegholvaad spoke, indicating the need for deseasonalisation, for Rimini to be attractive all year round also to combat precarious and undeclared work. A theme, that of seasonal work, also touched upon by another of the speakers at the conference, Francesco Barbini, professor at the University of Rimini. “Today, work in the tourism sector is less attractive than in the past, because there is a lack of strong career progression and it only guarantees employment for a few months.” And to change this system, according to Barbini, “it is necessary to embrace a tourism model capable of extending the season”. A model that for Laura Vici, also a professor at the University of Rimini, works “if there is cooperation and competition”. For Vici, sons of hoteliers, Rimini must not lose its typical hospitality, which characterizes the Riviera and the quality of its tourist offer. For Don Marco Foschi, parish priest of Igea Marina and spiritual assistant of the pastoral tourism office of the Diocese of Rimini, “there are 4 key words” for tourism on the Riviera. “The first is the meeting. The meeting and the welcome have triggered relationships with the tourists that no one could have taken into account.” The second word is “mass. In Igea Marina in particular, mass at dawn has become a characteristic of the community”. The other two key words are “contact” and “welcome”. Because “thanks to contact with tourist operators, wonderful doors have opened”. And on hospitality, concludes Don Foschi, “we can make our territory increasingly a place of meeting and spirituality, in the broadest sense”.
