National policy on tourism and agri-tourism (Matera)

Editor's note 6Jun14: Sources D342-3

Tourism in Italy represents a key sector involving social, economic and environmental aspects. Besides the strategic role of tourism for the Italian economy, the related policies are relatively recent and have been fully developed in the last two decades. Though tourism is not mentioned in the Italian Constitution, it involves so many sectors at all levels of the national administration that the national administration has implemented administrative structures and agencies, such as the ENIT (national agency for tourism).

The national legal framework for tourism is represented by Law no. 135/2001 for development and promotion in Italy. This law establishes the Central State as the authority to supervise tourism policy and promotion and at the same time empowers the Italian regions ruling and administrating the tourism sector according to the administrative structure of the national administration.

Tourism policies is also regulated by Regional Laws defining Tourism Local Systems, drawing guidelines for the promotion and development of the sector and defining the roles of regional and local administrations, regional agencies and local associations.  Other laws relate to accommodation services and hotels, rural tourism, the Regional Tourism Observatory, tourism professions and quality branding for the tourism accommodation services.

At national level, the main objective is the development of strategies to overcome existing disparities between regions in the tourism sector through the planning of tourism development in accordance with national economic programmes and the principles of the European Union funds. Another important objective is the promotion of Italian tourism abroad and the development and financing of local tourism systems. At the national level, the Government is the main actor in implementing tourism policy, represented by the Department for Development and Competitiveness of Tourism of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. The main activities are supervising tourism policy and promotion, promoting co-operation and harmonization in local tourism development policies between regions and generally supporting the regions in terms of: programming and developing tourism activities at regional and local levels; promoting strategic marketing activities; managing European Structural Funds; performing tasks related to the regional tourism structures; performing tasks related to enterprises and tourism professions.

Agri-tourism laws were first introduced in Italy in 1983. According to the the legal framework "agri-tourism activities are defined as individual farmers or partnerships and associations of farmers with shared capital, offering third parties restaurant services and/or temporary lodgings which are directly connected with the farm’s activities in the agricultural, forestry or animal husbandry sector.". Regional laws which impose strict criteria and limitations on agri-tourism activities in the territory.

Farmers, farming family members and/or other farm employees with part-time or full-time work contracts may be employed in agri-tourism enterprises on the provision that contracts are made under the mansion of ‘agricultural worker’ and are stipulated under the same fiscal code, insurance and benefits regime as the law provides for this mansion. External workers are permitted exclusively for mansions involving complementary services or activities.

Agri-tourism activities can be carried out exclusively in pre-existing farm buildings which are of no longer use to the activities of farming. Funding is provided via the Italian regions under the European Union’s Rural Development Funds.

Implementation, impacts, effectiveness of tourism policy (Matera)

At the regional level, tourism policy is considered a key factor in the development of regional SES; in particular, regional environmental characteristics and rural cultural heritage are considered as main tourism attractions. Thus, the goals of regional tourism policy are related to the sustainable development of the regional SESs with the objective of introducing a feedback effect between socio-economic development, environment conservation, and tourism goods and services.

The main actor is the regional administration which drafts tourism policies and contributes to policy implementation through the tourism office of the Department of Productive Activities. Other actors involved in policy implementation are Provinces, Municipalities, the Regional Agency for Tourism Promotion (APT), Tourism Information and Assistance offices (IAT) managed by the municipalities and Local associations (Pro-Loco) which play a role in the promotion of activities according to general agreements with municipalities and APT.

The main instrument in the implementation of tourism policy is the implementation of the Triennial Tourism Regional Plan that addresses the development of the regional tourism sector and regulates the distribution of financial resources. In particular, the Triennial Tourism Regional Plan addresses issues such as the analysis of the current situation and trends of the tourism system; the identification of the priorities for the tourism sector to be developed according to market trends; the definition of promotion strategies; etc.

Tourism policies have been largely implemented in the Basilicata Region. Thanks to the territorial organization under Tourism Local Systems, tourism policy has been applied to all of the territorial entities including the Matera SES. The presence in the Matera study site of cultural, historical and environmental tourism attractors contributed to additional attention being paid to the implementation of tourism policies by the regional administration. Particular emphasis is given to “Sassi” of the Matera historic town (UNESCO World Heritage site) and the promotion of farm stay tourism.

Historical and cultural tourism has been developed in the last two decades, starting in 1993 with the inscription of the “Sassi” of Matera historic centre in the UNESCO World Heritage list. This provided a large number of tourists who were also interested in the environmental attractions in the area. The most important environmental attraction is represented by the regional nature park of “Murgia Materana” in the territory of the Gravina gorges.

The positive impact of environmental and cultural tourism policy is seen also in the distribution of farm stays throughou the municiplaities of the study site.

A negative unplanned aspect of the tourism activities is the increase of pressure on the coastal environment due to the increase in unmanaged urbanization (salinization, soil sealing, coastal erosion, trampling, sand dunes continuity disruption etc.).

The effectiveness of the actual cultural and environmental tourism policy at the Matera SES is illustrated by the presence of tourism accommodations and services distributed in the rural areas. As reported by the Regional Agency for Tourism Promotion (APT), the 70 farm stays in the Matera study site represent 24% of the total tourist accommodation structures in the region (hotels, B&B, camping, etc.). The possibility for farmers to expand their businesses to tourism accommodation and services represented a key policy to help farmers in the promotion and direct sale of their products and thereby contributed to a reduction in land abandonment. From an environmental point of view, farm stays also contribute to the environmental sustainability of agriculture through organic farming. Finally, farm stays also play a key role in the conservation of social and cultural traditions via the promotion of typical products and traditional activities.

Main policy instruments related to tourism (Matera SES)

Source: Authors

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