Utente:SaraSampieri/Sandbox

Cultural Heritage Destination Management in Italy

Coliseum

Introduction

In recent years, tourism promotion has changed profoundly. However, in Italy, heritage protection has prevailed over valorization, making cultural heritage accessible only to a limited group of experts in the sector. For some time, however, the enhancement of heritage has been used as a tool to cover conservation costs, so also other countries, although not mainly characterized by a huge cultural heritage, have expanded their itineraries by adding new destinations. Therefore, if until now the protection had involved the conservation and use of an asset, tourism includes the cultural asset in a broader context where decisions are no longer only top down, but also bottom-up and which is not linked solely to the application of the legal rule, but also affects the economic sphere and its stakeholders. However, the commercial perspective linked to the cultural asset has also fueled some criticisms among those who saw tourism as a commodification of the cut for private rather than the public.

The background

Massimo Garavaglia, Italian Minister of Tourism (2021-22)

The study of tourism management has been more successful in recent years, but the perception of the binomial cultural heritage-tourism has not always been easily accepted because, especially in Italy, it is difficult to imagine the economic side of a cultural asset. In 2020 the new Italian government of Prime Minister Mario Draghi envisaged the establishment of the Ministry of Tourism by separating the powers and responsibilities of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage from those reserved for tourism promotion. The main problem of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage is of not having sufficient funds to manage such a vast heritage. Therefore, even if only to ensure the protection of the asset, it is necessary to identify new revenues. The creation of new ministries requires new professional figures. But, above all, it will be necessary to contextualize the property within the tourist destination of which it belongs.

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