Puglia, once again this year, confirms itself as one of the most popular tourist destinations in Italy. According to the Asset agency, 2024 marked a year of further growth, already on the rise from the recovery of tourism after the setback caused by Covid. But if the trend of the region is positive, the same cannot be said of its capital. Those who criticize the city, which is still among the most visited places, thanks to the presence of the port and the airport, with ever-increasing connections, are the tourists themselves. To take the pulse of the appreciation of the city by visitors, especially foreigners, just scroll through the comments on the “Pay Tourist” platform, a software for the automated management of the tourist tax, which monitors the advertisements present on the various online booking portals, Airbnb, Booking, Vrbo, and others and makes them available for each Municipality.
Paytourist
This is a service that puts public administrations directly in contact with tourists, immediately becoming aware of critical issues and improvements to be made, through the satisfaction indexes expressed by tourists themselves. Many are the cities that are inserted and analyzed in the software and, among these, there is Bari.
The city has collected 1,340 reviews, reaching a satisfaction score of 4.40, or just over four stars out of a maximum of five.
What prevents the city from reaching the maximum rating of five stars can be summed up in a few key words: dirt, safety, connections and information.
Dirt
It is mainly foreigners who criticize the city for its lack of cleanliness. The comments take a picture of the dirt once you leave the historic center. Highly scrutinized are the flower boxes, which turn into improvised garbage bins, which no one bothers to clean. Bari, therefore, manages to keep the “good living room” clean, but fails to give an overall idea of cleanliness. Added to this is the dirt of the sea, which does not invite bathing.
Safety
Another critical issue concerns safety. Foreign tourists do not feel at ease, especially in the evening, always considering areas that differ from those of the nightlife. The degradation is striking, especially in the station area, and the presence of bivouacs and homeless people, a short distance from via Sparano.
Transport
Another big flaw is the connections. Once they arrive, tourists do not know where to turn to find connections to the surrounding areas. The places with the greatest difficulties are Castel del Monte, Matera and Alberobello, difficult to reach or with poor connections. Taxis, according to tourists, are very expensive and public transport is not precise. Despite the critical issues, visitors praise the beauty of the landscape, the friendliness of the residents who always welcome tourists with a smile, the goodness of the food and the freshness.
