We know it, we believe it, and for this reason we have invested economic resources, know-how and time to create a web app – ReggioCalabriaGuide.it – which could welcome tourists by providing useful and geolocalized information, among the first in Italy to install an assistant virtual based on generative AI, Morgana, who answers the question in any language. And we don’t stop, continuing to innovate and invest in new technologies such as the next step: augmented reality integrated with artificial intelligence.
We are doing this up to now without a single euro of public contribution but with the trust and support of dozens and dozens of companies who, like us, believe in this bet: to make our territory increasingly tourist-friendly and, consequently, transform tourism into a structural and concrete economic driving force.
Having said this, we would be crazy to think that a simple web app would be enough. Much more is needed: targeted investments, a short, medium and long-term strategy aimed at promotion on the one hand and management of tourist flows on the other, a general improvement of services and urban decorum, the creation of information and assistance points, just to list the “minimum” necessary.
But in reality if we want to exploit what has fallen from the sky (in the literal sense of the term given that we are talking about flights), the presence of Ryanair in our airport, much more is needed: the creation of a public/private network that can , through a dedicated “tool”, create synergies, act as a link between supply and demand, govern the delicate and complex processes that are triggered by tourist flows.
We have been proposing the creation of a DMO (destination management organization) for years now. Public/private bodies which, where tourism really works, play a crucial role in the promotion and management of the locations involved. Unfortunately, however, it seems that we are howling at the moon which, as we know, listens but never responds.
So, what is the current situation in the city?
Frankly embarrassing.
Since the announcement of the new routes dated February 15, over four months ago, no one has felt the need to organize an operational table with associations and civil society to agree on a minimum reception strategy.
To date, therefore, those who move do so “in no particular order” given that there is no coordination with what should be the responsible bodies: Municipality and Metropolitan City.
Furthermore, speaking of Reggio, despite the fact that summer has actually begun and we have funds to invest, we find ourselves with a Reggina Summer that hasn’t arrived, without a shred of a plan, a date, nothing!
Things are no better for the kiosks on the Lungomare still to be assigned except for one, the only one that hasn’t been put up for tender, or for the Lido Comunale where a small part of the restored cabins should be given over to management but it’s not clear when and how.
We are still waiting for the opening of the information point also located in Via Marina which has not yet been entrusted to anyone. Even the useful planning of ZTL and pedestrian areas is at year zero as are other worthy initiatives such as the Atam Beach Bus which last summer took residents and tourists to the sea from Catona and Lazzaro.
We believe in it, I want to reiterate. We are always available for constructive discussion as well as working concretely and proposing, with the sole objective of developing our land and our community. But in these conditions, I assure you, it is hard, it is really hard.
Claudio Aloisio
President of Confesercenti Reggio Calabria
