Other than networking. In Marsala people are increasingly divided on the strategies for promoting tourism in the area. Precisely during the days of the Tourism Festival, the rift between the mayor Massimo Grillo and the Western Sicily Tourist District takes place.
Grillo is realizing one of his objectives these days: getting Marsala out of the District. An exit full of controversy, because for the mayor of Marsala the management is too “Drill centric” and he contested the use of resources. Hence the clash with the president of the District, Rosalia d’Alì who firmly rejects the accusations of mismanagement and lack of transparency, calling them “false” and “instrumental”.
D’Alì replies that the District’s budgets are “transparent and punctual” and that all the actions undertaken were done “for the benefit of the territories” and “with the logic of teamwork”.
Meanwhile on Saturday in Marsala there was the Tourism Festival, now in its seventh edition, and which brings together tourist operators. Not all, obviously. But it must be said, for example, that the two main associations of accommodation facilities in the area are completely misaligned. For the ASE, which brings together non-hotel structures, the mayor is right to leave the district. There is another association, AST, the Tourist Facilities Association, which instead would like the Municipality to remain in the district.
Meanwhile, some interesting numbers have come out of the Marsala Tourism Festival.
For example, the fact that the majority of travelers who arrive at Trapani Birgi airport do not stop in the province of Trapani but use the “Vincenzo Florio” as a stopover and then go elsewhere.
“The data speaks clearly, let’s take Latvia, out of 10 thousand arrivals only 3500 stopped in the province of Trapani. It means that we don’t know the area enough, which is why we went to tourism fairs in Latvia, Estonia and Poland” he explains Paolo Salerno, by Trapani Welcome. The figure of those arriving in Birgi from Riga, Billund (in Denmark) and Bratislava is significant. Many don’t even stay one night.
For this reason, says Salerno, there is a need to think about different promotional strategies, to make the area known.
The latest statistics tell us that in 2023 820 thousand people arrived in the province of Trapani, both Italian and foreign, based on official data which is always lower than reality, because it does not take into consideration all the unregistered structures (and they are many). However, this figure is growing, even compared to 2019, the pre-covid year.
San Vito lo Capo, Trapani and Marsala were always the municipalities with the most arrivals in 2023.
There is a need, in fact, for innovative approaches in the promotion of a territory and a tourist destination. He talked about thisor Federico Massimo Ceschin, one of the experts in the sector, professor at the University of Rome Tor Vergata: “We must stop focusing on supply, and we must concentrate on demand. Visitors will continue to come to Italy, but beauty is not enough if it is not usable, integrated and if it does not offer effective hospitality and there is no renewed ability to listen. The era of mass tourism is over, with artificial intelligence we have the opportunity to get to know the tourist first.”
“The aim of the Festival is to offer a better service to tourists. There are encouraging numbers, the long weekend of April 25th saw the accommodation facilities sold out”, says Fabio Alba, president of the Extra-Hotel Structures Association, one of the organizers of the Festival.
The municipal administration of Marsala was also present, the Municipality sponsored the event, with the councilor Ignazio Bilardello who presented the project of cultural events for the summer. Here is the report and the interviews.
