Proposals related to slow tourism, sustainability, the beauty of the cultural and naturalistic heritage of Unesco sites and the consolidation of the cycling tourism product: at BIT 2023 the Veneto Region confirmed itself as an exemplary laboratory of innovation among Italian and international destinations
There is a region that is investing to strengthen its tourist appeal and to satisfy the trends of new travellers, increasingly in search of valuable, slow and sustainable tourism. It is the Veneto Region that presented the new projects in the BIT that has just passed.
The strategies and projects of the Veneto Region
As Federico Caner, Councilor for Tourism of the Veneto Region underlined: “Taking care of tourism today cannot disregard the consideration of all the factors linked to sustainability. Preserving and enhancing them means guaranteeing the development of Veneto destinations also through a better redistribution of tourist flows.
Against this background scenario, the Veneto Region and its 17 destinations have set up a series of activities contained in the regional programming.
From 2021, for example, the “Costa Veneta – Blue Zone” project was launched, created by the Venice Sands Business Network with the aim of achieving sustainable certification of the participating companies.
Also in this context, thanks to the European project “Take it Slow” coordinated and directed by the Tourism Directorate of the Veneto Region, the thermal area and the Euganean Hills has begun the process of candidacy of the territory as a UNESCO MAB Biosphere Reserve.
Thanks to the same European project, in 2022 the Region also launched a training program on sustainability issues in which 274 companies and political decision-makers participated; an initiative that simultaneously led to the publication of the Sustainability Manual.
Focus on cycle tourism and walking
The improvement of the cycle tourism offer, for example, is the objective shared by all the Veneto destinations adhering to “Cycling in the Land of Venice”. Among the results to be achieved there is the establishment of a permanent table of cycle tourism operators, the completion of the signs along the cycle paths of the REV (Venetian Hiking Network), the rethinking of the cycle path monitoring methods using more reliable technologies and the organization of the MTB and Bike Park offer.
Focus also on another slow product such as the Cammini Veneti. For the network of itineraries to be covered on foot which includes the Cammino delle Dolomiti, the Cammino Fogazzaro – Roi, the Via Romea Germanica, the Romea Strata, the Cammino di Sant’Antonio and the Via Claudia Augusta, a new Charter of Services will be defined .
As far as river tourism is concerned, however, the regional project envisages the creation of new business networks such as Slow Flow – Veneto Waterways.
Still on the subject of sustainability, all the new funding lines of the ERDF program will focus on the theme of the ecological and digital transition, with an investment of around 37 million euros for the regeneration of the accommodation sector with a view to green and digital transition; the goal of making hospitality facilities completely accessible to all is also part of the project.
In this regard, one of the first tenders for accommodation facilities, scheduled for spring 2023, will be aimed precisely at energy efficiency and water saving”.
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