PAVIA The growing flows in the province of Pavia confirm the tourism potential of the area. Yesterday morning at the Chamber of Commerce, the Lombardy Region Councilor for Tourism, Territorial Marketing and Fashion, Barbara Mazzali, shared development strategies and scenarios with local stakeholders. present among others were the president of the Province of Pavia Giovanni Palli and the Extraordinary Commissioner of the Pavia Chamber of Commerce Giovanni Merlino
HOTELS OCCUPIED OVER 71%” – “Last year, overnight stays in the Pavia area grew by 10% compared to 2019, the ‘golden year’ of Italian tourism (50,791 more stays, for a total of 560,000), with a similar increase in arrivals, which mark a +9.80% compared to 5 years ago”, explains Mazzali citing the calculations of the Regional Observatory on Tourism and Attractiveness. “Expanding numbers, which see a prevalence of Italians in both indicators”, continues the councilor, also providing some data with respect to the summer season: “The analysis of the offers currently available on online platforms for the months of July and August, highlights that 71% of hotel rooms in Pavia are already booked, with an average rate on the rise”.
Mazzali insists on the potential that the Pavia area still has to express in the wake of ‘experiential tourism’. “In the Oltrepò area alone there are 50 historic castles and villages, 100 itineraries, 3,500 agri-food businesses and 1,700 wineries, capable of offering an extraordinary wine tourism offer – the councilor points out -. Furthermore, Pavia is recognized internationally as a ‘crossroads’ of religious itineraries, as many as 10, towards which to direct the offer in view of the 2025 Jubilee”.
The regional councilor mentions another asset of ‘great value’ in the Pavia area: the spa. “I am certain – says Mazzali – that the redevelopment project of the Salice spa will be a cornerstone of further development for this wonderful area which has everything it takes to attract tourists from abroad”.
The international attractiveness goes hand in hand with the accommodation offer, a weakness of the Pavia area, among the many ‘fronts’ of strength, which emerged in the comparison at the Chamber of Commerce. Today in the province of Pavia there are 88 hotels, approximately 10.37% of the overall territorial offering, where non-hotel accommodation prevails, in particular apartments and houses for rent (448), Bed&Breakfasts and farmhouses (106). “Last month I inaugurated the opening of the first ‘glamping’ in the province of Pavia, in Mornico Losana, where the presence of Dutch people is increasing thanks to this new accommodation offer”, reports Mazzali, also citing the success of the ‘hotel widespread in the village of Golferenzo, where it has increased its attractiveness”.
Support for the territory also came from a tender by the regional Tourism Department which last year allocated 30 million euros to expand and relaunch the excellence of Lombard accommodation facilities, offering them the opportunity to invest in renovating or building ‘ ex novo’.
“We are working together with the Chamber of Commerce with a clear understanding, perhaps for the first time in the last decade, that the trajectory must be to work on a tourism strategy for the province of Pavia, not for individual municipalities or individual areas. – states Giovanni Palli, president of the Province – The added value of our territory is the integration of very different, but perfectly complementary assets (Artistic, Cultural, Religious, Food and Wine, Sports, Naturalistic). Together with the Chamber of Commerce, the Banca del Monte di Lombardia Foundation and the Municipalities of Pavia, Vigevano and Voghera, we have started work for the development of the new provincial tourism strategy and the construction of a brand identity for the province of Pavia because it is evident how the challenge is to transform the province of Pavia from a mere collector of places to a true tourist destination”.
Maximum collaboration, also regarding the territorial marketing project which includes the new regional unitary brand, Lombardia Style, was expressed by the Extraordinary Commissioner of the Pavia Chamber of Commerce, Giovanni Merlino, who commented: “Our commitment to supporting and promoting the tourism, a sector in which the territory has many distinctive skills (cultural, artistic, food and wine, landscape, naturalistic, sporting, etc.) which are not fully exploited today, working in synergy with all the institutional and private actors involved to make our province a a destination of excellence recognized nationally and internationally. The Chamber of Commerce strongly believes that this sector, directly and indirectly, can substantially impact the wealth that the territory is able to produce annually”.
(Source Lombardy News)
