Archaeological Tourism, incoming boom in Italy and Campania in 2022.
Corazza, Director of the Italian Office of the European Parliament: “It is not enough to innovate, it is important to make cultural heritage accessible and conserve it to put an end to years of shortages and bad investments”
Quality of the offer, digital connections, clarity on mobility are the news that serve to attract post-Covid tourists to Italy, who often return after having already visited the big cities and discover the small towns, but more often than not they arrive for the first time in Italy. What interests him is being faced with a country system. Simplifying, after two years of forced stop, is a must to speed up, entice and restart the movement. We must not be caught unprepared on these key elements; Tight deadlines and valid projects are fundamental.
All the participants in the European Parliament Conference with the Directors of Autonomous State Parks and Museums agree on this starting idea, in the first session on PNRR support for Destinations, which was held in Paestum as part of the XXIV Mediterranean Stock Exchange of Archaeological Tourism. Public administration and private companies met, specifically the Director of the Italian Office of the European Parliament Carlo Corazza, who responded to the invitation of the Director of the Stock Exchange Ugo Picarelli and, thanks to the solicitations of the Director of the newspaper Il Mattino Francesco De Core, provided the state of affairs of rail travel in Italy from the point of view of their observatory.
Not only innovation, but also classification, usability of goods, accessibility. Energize and conserve, suggests Corazza, to put an end to years of shortages and bad investments; the manager referred to Campania sites such as Paestum or Pompeii, where the dialogue is open directly with those who manage, since in addition to the PNRR there are regional funds. And on the Mezzogiorno he insisted: there are two legs that move the near future, the first is money, but the second is reforms: “You don't want to put water in a leaky basin, most of the money is going to the public administration”.
Director De Core spoke of an unmissable opportunity, a test for bureaucracy and for the South, a challenge to be won in the present and a train that will not pass again, providing assistance to Maurizio Mirone, who is International Sales Manager at Trenitalia, a bit like "the person responsible for the return of international tourism": "The Italian brand is very strong at the moment - confirmed Mirone - and arrivals far exceed expectations. We can talk about Revenge Travel - people forced to stay at home for a long time and who can't wait to leave - and American tourism has been an important return and is a very strong signal, which could lead us, also next year, to an absolute record of visitors from abroad. The segment that passes from business to tourism is also interesting.
Resources for 19 billion euros have been put in place – and he gives important examples – to invest in routes such as Naples-Bari, Palermo-Catania, or in streamlining the lines, for interventions on the stations, which are the calling card of cities and tourist destinations. As for the South, there will be 700 million for just over 50 stations. And then we will think about connections with the territories where the Frecciarossa does not reach, or tourist trains such as the Campania Express”.
All news welcomed by the Presidents of Federturismo Confindustria and Assoturismo Confesercenti Marina Lalli and Vittorio Messina, by the President Remind Paolo Crisafi, and by the Regional Director Campania, Calabria and Sicily of Intesa San Paolo Giuseppe Nargi, who announced large investments ("in condition to move 400 billion") to help the recovery of entities capable of engaging the PNRR funds and using them in the right way".
New opportunities for museums and archaeological parks, which are transformed into exceptional locations for wide-ranging cultural events with the aim of involving an ever-increasing number of visitors.
During the second session “Parks and archaeological museums compared”, directors of Italian and foreign museums and superintendents discussed new ways of enjoying cultural sites, focusing on the new opportunities offered by technological development.
The initiative was anticipated by the delivery by Ugo Picarelli, Director and Founder of the BMTA, of the “Paestum Mario Napoli” Award assigned this year to Carmelo Malacrino, Director of the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Riace Bronzes.
The importance of a comparison with colleagues to enhance the value of museums and archaeological parks was emphasized by Tiziana D'Angelo, Director of the Archaeological Park of Paestum and Velia, Raffaella Bonaudo, Superintendent of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the provinces of Salerno and Avellino and Marta Ragozzino, Regional Director of Museums of Campania, who were joined by Rosanna Romano, General Director for Cultural Policies and Tourism of the Campania Region, who said: "Our institutional activity is measured daily with models, experiences, methodologies that are always new and challenging. The data already show us the comforting trend of returning to the levels of tourist presences of 2019. It was not at all a given, we must be proud of it, but we must also continue to focus not only on the archaeological sites that are great attractions but also on the destinations that are the legacy of antiquity that for their beauty and value deserve to be known by the citizens of Campania, tourists and travellers".
From the regional to the international reality it is a short step, with a leap in the installations of the Bardo Museum in Tunis (currently closed) and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo. The respective directors explained the strategies designed to relaunch the image of the museums which, in the case of the Bardo, still carries with it the consequences of the attack in 2015.
“Museums and archaeological parks must not be simple places to visit, but places of high culture that can host cultural events and appointments – explained Fatma Naït Yghil, Director of the Bardo Museum in Tunis – Unfortunately, I had to face three major crises: the post-attack period, the pandemic and the closure of the museum, to which I responded by relaunching the museum's activity and organizing initiatives carried out in collaboration with several European countries, including Italy, restorations and renovations".
The speech by Ahmed Farouk Ghoneim, Director of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo, was preceded by a video illustrating the various activities of the museum, where the mummies previously kept in the old museum in Cairo were transferred.
“The parade of mummies of kings and queens who were transferred from the old to the new museum - he highlighted - It was part of the promotion of the museum which reached numbers such as 2500 visitors on a daily basis and is added to other activities such as the film on Tutankhamun produced by the Italians”.
Several directors of Italian museums have instead focused on a harmonious fusion between culture, landscape and well-being, such as Andrea Bruciati Director of the Institute of Villa Adriana and Villa d'Este, Eva degl'Innocenti Director of the MARTA of Taranto, Simone Quilici Director of the Archaeological Park of Appia Antica, Enrico Rinaldi Director of the Archaeological Park of Sepino, Francesco Sirano Director of the Archaeological Park of Ercolano, Filippo Demma Director of the Archaeological Park of Sibari.
The data on tourist presences in the archaeological sites of Campania also exceed expectations. This is what emerged during the Conference on ArcheoIncoming introduced by the Director General for Cultural Policies and Tourism of the Campania Region Rosanna Romano. The figures for the first quarter of 2022 are encouraging. Naples tops the ranking with over 721 thousand visitors, followed by Caserta with almost 146 thousand, then Salerno with over 136 thousand, Avellino with almost 35 thousand and finally Benevento with almost 16 thousand arrivals.
The occasion was a good one to present a guide to archaeological tourism in Campania, produced by the Region on the occasion of the Mediterranean Archaeological Tourism Exchange.
Gianna Mazzarella, President of the Tourism Section of the Industrial Union of Naples, spoke of a +10% of visitors compared to the already record year 2019.
The Director of the Archaeological Park of Paestum and Velia Tiziana D'Angelo confirmed the growth trend, with a +30% in August.
“The data tells us whether the strategies implemented are working or not - he said - but it should not be considered a point of arrival. As for visitors, the ratio between Paestum and Velia is 10 to 1 and the attempt is to help Velia grow also thanks to Paestum and the seaside resorts with their respective accommodation facilities; we have started a shuttle project that has achieved good success. It doesn't take much, just tell the destinations in the right way and get the information out of a circle that is too narrow. In total we had 156 thousand visitors in three months of summer. But the important thing is that they come back because one visit is not enough, the Park changes, evolves, and History is rewritten”.
Also participating in the meeting were Giuseppina Renda, Associate of Ancient Topography at the University of Campania, Luigi Vanvitelli, Edoardo Colombo, President of Turismo Italiae, a think tank of Cultura Italiae, Giuseppe Scanu, President of Fiavet Campania Basilicata, Leo Annunziata, President of Scabec, Marzio Piscitello, responsible for the Projects Area Unioncamere Campania.
In agreement with this opinion, the Councillor for Tourism of the Campania Region, Felice Casucci, concluded the conference dedicated to ArcheoIncoming by saying: "Among the various strategies implemented, excellent results were achieved by the billboards of musical and theatrical shows that had various archaeological sites as their stage. An action that, together with the enhancement of the Paths, food and wine or religious itineraries, cycle tourism and film tourism, are fundamental to increasingly and better position our region on the national and international incoming markets".
TOMORROW'S PROGRAM
Among the main initiatives scheduled for Friday 28 October:
Conference on Underground Archeology in Italy
intends to highlight the many places under our cities made by man, such as caves, crypts, catacombs, galleries, labyrinths, in order to identify contents and tools to promote an offer marked by beauty, uniqueness, emotional journeys, sustainability, where cities and territories are protagonists. The participation of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology with the Secretary General Monsignor Iacobone and of the Italian Touring Club with President Iseppi with Municipalities and Regions has the aim of launching an interregional project of the protagonist territories.
Presentation of the project co-financed by the COSME program of the European Union “EU DigiTOUR”, dedicated to SMEs and startups in the tourism sector to access a technical and financial support program.
An opportunity for a business audience (in particular tourism SMEs, policy makers, incubators, accelerators with programs dedicated to tourism startups) to learn about data, trends and projects on the topic of Digital Transformation and its relevance for the tourism sector; the event presents the EU DigiTOUR project, co-financed by the COSME program of the European Union and the technical and financial support opportunities dedicated to tourism SMEs. The second session focuses on the topic of training in the digital field with a high rate of interaction for a business audience and for students who want to increase their skills and experiment with them in the field.
The most relevant digital technologies for tourism will be explored in depth: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (AR; VR) and big data; Furthermore, Mentoring, workshops and a mini-hackathon will guide participants in the adoption and use of these technologies. The mini-hackathon open to students (high school and undergraduates) and professionals, tourism businesses and startups will use the CO*STAR (customer opportunity solution team advantages result) methodology, specifically designed for the creative development of innovative projects.
International Archaeological Discovery Award "Khaled al-Asaad"
The BMTA in collaboration with Archeo, the first archaeological monthly in Italy, since 2015 has rewarded the archaeological discoveries voted by the main international archaeological newspapers, media partners of the Exchange: Antike Welt (Germany), AiD Archäologie in Deutschland (Germany), Archéologia (France), as. Archäologie der Schweiz (Switzerland), Current Archeology (United Kingdom), Dossiers d’Archéologie (France).
The Award, in its 8th edition and named after the archaeologist of Palmyra who paid with his life for the defense of the cultural heritage, is the only worldwide recognition dedicated to archaeological discoveries and its archaeologists, who with sacrifice, dedication, competence and scientific research face their task every day in the dual role of scholars of the past and professionals serving the territory. Fayrouz Asaad, archaeologist daughter of Khaled and Mohamad Saleh, last Director of Tourism of Palmyra, participates in the delivery ceremony.
The 2021 Prize will be awarded for the discovery of the "golden city" founded by Amenhotep III, which resurfaced from the desert near Luxor in Egypt, to Zahi Hawass, former Minister of Antiquities and director of the archaeological mission.
The BMTA takes place from 27 to 30 October at the Cafasso tobacco factory, the Archaeological Park and Museum, the Basilica and is promoted by the Campania Region, the City of Capaccio Paestum, the Archaeological Park of Paestum and Velia, in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce of Salerno, the Province of Salerno and the Cilento Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park.
Entry to the BMTA is free, with online registration recommended to avoid queues. Furthermore, accredited visitors, thanks to the precious collaboration of the Archaeological Park of Paestum and Velia and the Regional Museums Directorate of Campania, benefit from free entry to the archaeological areas of Paestum and Velia and to the national museums of Paestum, Capua, Eboli, Padula and Pontecagnano. Also available, upon reservation, are free guided tours of Paestum and Velia on Friday 28th and Saturday 29th October.
Frecciarossa Official Carrier of the BMTA: for those who participate in the event and reach Naples or Salerno with Le Frecce, 30% discount on the base price of the train ticket.
Article published on 28 October 2022 - 12:13
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