A delegation of hoteliers and tourist operators led by the president of Confesercenti Casaimpresa Taranto, Francesca Intermite, and by the coordinator for Taranto of Assohotel Confesercenti, Angelo Matacchiera, she was received at Palazzo di Città by the mayor Rinaldo Melucci on the basis of an important premise: in recent years, in fact, in the wake of the action undertaken by the municipal administration aimed at giving a diversification to the city’s economy which he identified in the tourism one of the main directions of development, some qualified tourism and hotel investments have been made aimed at increasing the accommodation offer. The most recent interventions refer to the expansion of the Arcangelo hotel in Piazza Fontana, the construction of Palazzo Matà and some high quality B&Bs. President Intermite was keen to point out that “we can feel, in this delicate phase of starting up new activities, the need for greater coordination between the offer of services provided by companies and those organized by public structures (municipal administrations and controlled companies). We think first of all about primary services, such as cleanliness, signage, organization of spaces, safety”. “On these issues we believe that a constructive and continuous discussion must be initiated to bring solutions to the existing problems within the necessary timeframes. It should also be noted – continues President Intermite – that a discussion on some topics relating to commercial and tourist hospitality was started within the productive activities commission, where a discussion was undertaken with the Local Health Authority for the modification of the health regulation relating to the premises of the old city, also hypothesizing, following the approval of the Trade Strategy Document, the study of a commercial valorisation plan as required by current legislation. We are here at Palazzo di Città to indicate and suggest some interventions that we believe should be started as a priority. We want to try to bring the public and private sectors into harmony.” In particular Angelo Matacchiera (Palazzo Matà) e Cinzia Maria Monfardini (boutique hotel L’arcangelo) have underlined how “the crossing of the old city by tourists (cruise passengers or guests of the tourist facilities on the island) is made difficult and unpleasant considering the absence of signs and above all spaces and areas highly degraded and dirty, despite the efforts made by the municipal administration”. “We live on reviews – continue Matacchiera and Monfardini – and the reviews, despite being positive on the quality of the hotels, become absolutely negative when it comes to hospitality and cleanliness”. Because of this Assohotel Taranto proposes to imagine and create a “guided tourist route that goes from Piazza Fontana to Piazza Castello via Via Duomo, characterized by three founding factors: 1. Tourist signs, 2. The strengthening of cleaning services, 3. The strengthening of cleaning systems lighting and video surveillance to make passage easier in the evening hours”. According to the delegation Piazza Fontana deserves a separate discussion, affected by upcoming important redevelopment works: four hotels on the island and most of the restaurants are located here. It would be useful to share a plan with the established companies that improves the quality of the spaces (signage, parking spaces, cleanliness, lighting, safety) and reception services (information, guided tours, etc.). Finally, it might be useful reuse the spaces of the “Clock Tower” with the restoration of presence of traffic police or the establishment of tourist information point. The delegation acted as spokesperson for the tour operators regarding the difficulty of tourist buses in reaching Piazza Castello. It signaled the opportunity to allow the use of lanes reserved for city buses present in Corso Vittorio Emanuele, also upon payment of a ticket for their crossing and relative parking in Piazzale Democrate.
Mayor Rinaldo Melucci “listened carefully to all the requests of the AssoHotel Confesercenti Taranto delegation and reiterated that, very often, the community does not respond at all to the initiatives that the Municipality puts in place: we need to involve them and the trade associations themselves can do a lot in this sense. A communication campaign is needed to raise awareness among citizens and ask for their attention and collaboration. I like your proposal tourist route on the important axes of the island and I’m expecting an operational project soon, so let’s try to experiment with it. In any case, we will try to establish, shortly, a technical tourism table dedicated exclusively to the old city.”
