A three-year schedule of events, the raising of the quality of the proposal, cycle tourism as a driving sector and then, again, an improvement in connections and communication, more investments in digital and collaborations with other cities. These are some of the points included by Federico Saramucci and the coalition “The city that will come” in their political program, on the subject of tourism, with the aim of reaching 100 thousand annual arrivals in the Urbino area. “The new development model must focus more on tourism enhancement – explains the mayoral candidate –. The first strategic partner will be the Carlo Bo University. We think that a trend reversal can be made on the data, moving from the 71 thousand arrivals of 2022 at 100 thousand, but there must be at least a three-year planning of events. The first year will be slower, but we will already know what will happen in 2025 and 2026, obviously leaving room for more : we have already launched various ideas, such as shared promotion between Urbino and Florence, and we want to do it with Rome too.”
According to Tonino Pencarelli, candidate for councilor for the Democratic Party, Urbino could reach “even one million visitors, that is, visitors who stay more than one day, while the first data relating to 2023, awaiting Istat validation, speaks of 528 thousand (at front of 78 thousand arrivals). Then we could build an app that collects information on all the initiatives in the area, but car sharing projects and a tourism observatory are also needed.”
Sandro Gualazzi, of the Democratic Party, underlines a data published by the Olympic Committee: “68 percent of those who practice sports also go to see monuments, while 34 percent of those who see the monuments would then like to practice sports. Bringing sports tourism would therefore be important. Furthermore, if we talk about foreign visitors, in this field on average the length of stay doubles.” Also from the Democratic Party, Sabina Marcolini highlights the need to “digitize the tourist offer, to make it an important tool in the travel planning phase. We should then welcome ribs of important festivals and not miss the opportunity to become European Capital of Culture 2033 “. According to Carola Sacchetti, from Urbino reborn, the municipal administration should guarantee the quality of the proposal: “This does not mean making only a few people work, but this city has an important image to maintain, in everything it offers. We must aim for a quality education”. Finally, Stefano Azzarà, from Sinistra per Urbino, highlights that “the relaunch of tourism can also be an opportunity to relaunch the railway. However, we must avoid this sector swallowing up the city, as was done in the past with student rentals, but Our coalition is aware of these issues.”
Nicola Petricca
