Italian tourism restarts from wine, from the territory and from people: without the incoming of foreign gastronauts, the Italians will turn the economy around
All accommodation has finally reopened its doors, and it is time to return – with the due spaces, of course – to conviviality, to the pagan pleasures of life which in Italy, in their holistic and cultural conception, are sacred. Good food and good wine, in the context of great architectural and landscape beauty, are the rituals that complete the universal image of the beautiful country. The image that is likely to remain unreachable for the millions of food and wine tourists in this fatal 2020, causing invaluable damage to the whole sector.
We talked about it with Donatella Cinelli Colombini, Tuscan wine producer, as well as professor of university Masters in wine tourism and a key figure in the Wine Tourism Movement in Italy. “The situation is very serious, – he explains – just think that 25% of the GDP of Montalcino and Montepulciano derives from tourism which also engages 33% of their population, to understand the extent of unease that is currently experienced in these countries “. In general, in Italy wine tourism gives seasonal work to over 30 thousand people, an economy driven by incoming tourism. “In Chianti, 82% of visits are made up of foreign gastronauts, in Val d’Orcia 58%”, he continues. Evaluating the first results of phase 2, it is possible to exclude the usual tourist flows in the countryside until next season without margins of error. The rules of distancing, the exuberant costs of airline tickets and the reduced spending capacity of a large portion of the world population resulting from the crisis do not feed hopes. However, the increase in national tourism is expected and companies, consortia, regional and local bodies are taking steps to give a valid and varied service in its offer. Francesco Moneta of The Round Table, communication agency for wine, food and their territories, told us about the birth of the new platform: “The New Wine Tourism”. Its aim is to relaunch wine tourism in a more captivating, more structured and more aware way of the territorial system. “In this particular period, wine tourism is a perfect form of enjoyment of free time: it is a tourism of proximity that can be organized in the open area with didactic harvest, picnics and tastings among the rows that also involve the agri-food excellence of the area, and it is economically sustainable, ”says Moneta, and we add that it is also ethically plausible as it would bring relief to our producers. A comprehensive information on the participating wineries and the services offered to tourists will be available shortly on the “Il Nuovo Enoturismo” website, including a collaboration with local restaurants. A little more skeptical on this point Donatella Colombini Cinelli: “As the medical authorities say, it is easier to organize relative safety in the factory than in the restaurant. The problem today is also the fact that if a worker in a winery contracts covid-19, by law it is an accident at work with all the consequences of the case “.
As we see, social distancing is also the enemy of professional synergies which, however, must be created and strengthened, with respect for the health of the individual but also of our iconic food and wine to be considered also as a machine economy. With all-Italian awareness, prudence and creativity, we must revive our heritage. “Today we must all adopt Gramsci’s motto: Pessimism of intelligence, optimism of the will.”
