Domenico La Marca: “Where does Manfredonia start from? First point: infrastructure and tourism”
Where does the city start from? This is, perhaps, one of the most interesting and ambitious questions of this electoral campaign. In almost two months of work I have already spoken about many topics, but in the last days that separate us from the run-off round (scheduled for 23 and 24 June) I would like to aggregate visions and themes to imagine and put on the agenda some major issues for the development of Manfredonia.
Our city, natural gateway to the Gargano, must rediscover its centrality in the chessboard of the large Capitanata territory, imagining bridges, alliances and synergies with the other Gargano cities. The infrastructure of the Marina del Gargano tourist port, a true Apulian excellence, must be increasingly imagined as a strategic asset for the entire tourism industry. We cannot ignore the great opportunity that this infrastructure can represent even more for the territory. We must imagine our city as a central hub in the tourist flows of the Gargano: with the tourist port, the proximity to the “Gino Lisa” airport and the proximity to the city of the two UNESCO sites, Monte Sant’Angelo, and a still very popular religious center like that of San Giovanni Rotondo.
Our city, which is at the center of these excellences, must present itself as a logistical hub, capable of offering excellent accommodation facilities, services, major events and a cultural heritage that is accessible and usable every day of the year. Manfredonia has all the potential to be attractive twelve months a year, but we must be able to structure an offer that is consistent with our nature and coordinated with other territorial realities.
Only with a careful plan capable of measuring objectives and results will it be possible to transform tourism from a not fully completed sector to a stable lever of city development. Manfredonia must rediscover its ancient bond with the Gargano and with the entire territory of Puglia, proposing itself as a city capable of hosting large events, from Carnival to the Patronal Festival, and becoming the leader of proximity tourism, slow and authentic interpreter of the new needs of experiential tourism.
The municipal administration, by creating a real control room on the topic, will encourage the creation of new tourism and hospitality activities and will coordinate, with innovative tools, a major tourism relaunch plan to be proposed to visitors and stakeholders. Manfredonia must start again from its potential. I believe it!
