L’AQUILA – After the covid-19 pandemic, tourism in Abruzzo “has returned to growing more slowly than what happened in other regions”. There is a long way to go to make the capital L’Aquila “a truly tourist city”, and to analyze the data, “the Celestine Pardonanza, the key event of the end of summer, does not bring significant presences from outside the city”.
It was he who explained it, complete with slides and graphs Alberto Bazzucchiresearcher at Cresa, the analysis center of the Gran Sasso Chamber of Commerce, in one of the events of the “Essere Paese” project, conceived by the Frequenze, Te.Co – Territorio & Comunità associations, specifically during the round table “Territoriality and Tourism ” which took place in recent weeks in San Demetrio ne’ Vestini.
An analysis, essentially based on Istat data, which intends to shed light on divergent statements regarding the consistency and growth trend of tourism in Abruzzo and specifically also in the capital L’Aquila. Last autumn, for example, the regional councilor with responsibility for Tourism, Daniele D’Amario had spoken for Abruzzo of “extraordinary data” recorded in 2023 for tourism, while the Cna had replied instead considering it “a negative season”.
In any case, based on the data presented by Bazzucchi, it emerges that, having overcome the two waves of crisis from 2008 to 2009 to and from 2012 to 2013, which had compressed national consumption including travel expenses, the national tourism system has started a recovery phase. In the five-year period 2015-2019, the tourist movement began to push again with almost equal intensity both in the destinations of the Center and North and in the South with an average annual increase of over 3%. Then there was the stop of the covid pandemic and now the inevitable rebound effect.
The researcher therefore explains: “Abruzzo is also in a post-covid recovery phase as regards tourist flows, like other regions, but the recovery is much slower and more contained, the speed of recovery is lower than in that of other regions. Yet Abruzzo, in particular its mountain resorts and protected areas, recorded a boom precisely in the two years of the pandemic, with the limitation of mobility towards foreign countries. Unfortunately, in other words, it was not possible to capitalize on this advantage, this increase in flow, essentially returning to the pre-covid situation”.
If we then broaden our gaze, continues Bazzucchi, over the last 15 years, “we realize that after the earthquake of 6 April 2009, Abruzzo has fallen downwards, almost disappeared from both national and international tourist radars, and today ranks approximately 15-20 percentage points below the levels of 20 years ago, continuing to hold a very modest share of national tourism”.
However, destinations that are holding their ground and recording encouraging increases, continues Bazzucchi, “are in limited areas such as the Trabocchi coast thanks in particular to the cycle path, and some destinations in the internal area. As always, the seaside tourism destinations, most of all along the Teramo coast, and the ski resorts, which continue to have a strong impact despite climate variability and the decrease in snowfall, represent a guarantee. Then there are the parks with their villages, and other mountain locations that have only recently recorded an increase in tourist presences, even if they do not have particularly strong and recognizable destinations, such as the fortress of Calascio”.
From the latest Isnart report it emerges that “there has been triple growth in cycle tourism and so-called active holidays compared to other regions”
Coming therefore to the capital L’Aquila: “the city obviously suffers from a series of difficulties connected to the reconstruction work. But we also need to reflect on the political choices made in recent years, those of focusing on major summer events, financed with a large amount of public funding. But we need to see if this effort was really a driving force for tourism.”
Well Bazzucchi argues, “if we analyze the attendance data in the last 5 years in the period between mid-August and the first ten days of September, what we find is that starting from the day immediately following the August bank holiday, when the peak of attendance, then there is a decline, which continues even in the period of Celestine’s Forgiveness, which therefore does not have positive effects, it remains an event of a local nature. While instead there is a peak again in September, with the jazz festival and we have a number of arrivals that is comparable to that of Ferragosto”.
Finally, a personal consideration: “we need to reflect on the opportunity of spending such a significant number of millions from funds for culture and the social fabric, which instead could and should be used to create stable conditions of cultural activity and liveliness throughout the year, in a structural way. This is a topic also studied by researchers at the Gran Sasso Science Institute, who distinguished ‘cities of events’ from ‘cities with events’. It is fundamental to create strong connections with the social and cultural fabric, with benefits also in terms of employment”.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Download in PDF©
