Popular with the Victorians, Piedmont has made great strides to catch up with its better-known neighbours
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ompared
with regions like Tuscany and Lazio, Piedmont
was quite slow off the mark in promoting its tourist attractions, which
is all the more surprising when one remembers that Victorian travellers
from Britain savoured the genteel delights of resorts on Lakes Maggiore
and Orta. Since then Piedmont has broadened its visitor appeal, but
when Ettore Racchelli took
over as its minister for tourism four years ago, he promised to raise
the region’s profile further.
“When I began in 1998, I found myself in a difficult position,”
he recalls. “What I discovered was that there was a distinct lack
of a ‘tourism culture’. Tourism was simply considered as a
secondary activity for local businesses. A systematic programme of economic
and social development centred on tourism didn’t exist, so it was
impossible to attract and promote good investments in the sector.”
One
of Mr Racchelli’s main tasks since then has been to provide a suitable
legal framework in which tourism can develop, with both public and private
financial participation. Hundreds of millions of euros have been raised
to fund numerous new projects.
Already the results are visible, in terms of the number of foreign visitors
staying for at least one night in the region, as well as the amount
of money they are spending there.
In Italy, tourism is dealt with at a regional level, which reflects
not only the policy of devolution being pursued by the present central
government, but also the great regional diversity that is one of the
country’s most distinctive characteristics. Hence the need for
tourism promotion policies that are tailor-made for Piedmont.
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| Winter fun: outdoor activities are popular, especially skiing in the Susa Valley, which will co-host the 2006 Winter Games with Turin. The event will help drive infrastructure development |
Mr
Racchelli and his team are to a degree responsible for implementing
the policies they draw up, but they also have a Regional Tourism Agency
to work with. This is a private body, though the ministry is the major
shareholder. Several of the eight provinces of Piedmont, including Turin,
are themselves involved in tourism promotion.
“Tourism took off in Turin with the rise of Fiat in the 1970s and
1980s, when many two- and three-star hotels were built for all the people
who came from abroad to participate in meetings,” says Paolo Lubbia,
former director of the Regional Tourism Agency. “But by the 1990s,
people understood that it was necessary to invest in tourism, to realise
the worth of the region’s riches, such as the royal residences,
nature and gastronomy.”
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| The Mole Antonelliana in Turin is one of Piedmont’s most recognisable landmarks and home to the National Cinema Museum |
Based
in Turin, the hotel group Turin Hotels International (THI) operates
in the luxury hotel and restaurant sector in both Italy and abroad.
Its success is based on the selection of prestigious historic and artistic
sites for its hotels and a philosophy of high quality service, where
no detail is ignored.
Though Piedmont is unusual among Italian provinces in having no sea
coast, it makes up for this with a spectacular landscape and a number
of enchanting cities and towns. “We are trying to position ourselves
in the market with this mixture of products: art and culture, the mountains,
lakes and parks, and the hillsides of the south where wine is produced,”
Mr Lubbia explains.
The
most numerous foreign tourists come from the other three major EU member
states – Britain, France and Germany. These visitors still savour
the lakes, as their great-grandparents did, but the new generation is
distinctly more athletic. “We offer marvellous summer mountain
facilities,” says Mr Lubbia, “where you can enjoy many sports,
such as mountain-biking, rafting, hang-gliding and canoeing.”
Winter sports are popular, especially skiing in the Susa Valley, which
will co-host the Winter Olympics with Turin in 2006, bringing in many
new visitors. Plans for the Games are already well under way.
“The
big advantage that we will gain from this event is that Turin’s
name is going to be known all over the world,” says Mr Lubbia.
“In addition, we want to use the financial resources that the national
government has provided to build hotels, roads and all the infrastructure
we need.”
Some of the old luxury hotels need modernising and transportation needs
to be improved so people can travel more quickly from Turin to different
parts of the region. But Mr Lubbia is keen that people don’t wait
until everything is in place in 2006. “Our motto is: ‘Discover
Piedmont before the Olympic Games’,” he says.
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