New rules to counter illegalism, a clear regulatory framework to adapt hotels, economic incentives to attract investments especially in high-end structures, economic aid to hotels to help them adapt to the new regulatory indications. But above all, greater and more stable programming of events. In short, a change of pace to make Sicilian tourism a real holiday industry. These are the points developed by the regional councilor for tourism of the Sicilian Region Manlio Messina who in this interview tells us about some points of the bill for the reform of the tourism sector on the island. The text, which should arrive at the Sicilian Regional Assembly in a few days, aims, says the commissioner, “to modernize a sector on which no action has been taken for several years. The philosophy of the standard on which we have been working for more than a year is to put Sicily in step with other tourist destinations and above all to put tourism at the center of the action of this government and of the governments to come. Bring the sector from the current 10% of regional GDP to 30% ».
Finally, we could say. What is the situation today?
We have found a “do-it-yourself tourism”, a sector that has gone on exclusively thanks to the action of entrepreneurs. If today you find a quality 4-5-star or 3-star hotel, like other destinations, you will find it because the entrepreneurs wanted to do it, for a business purpose. Right now we have an industry made by entrepreneurs without support from the region and which has floated in the last thirty years. The region traces the furrow and entrepreneurs follow suit as it should be in a holiday industry. So far it has been the other way around. Tourism thrives on programming and we have never done programming. The sector has evolved over the years and is transforming further and the pandemic has accelerated the pace of this transformation. Today there is a lot of talk about experiential tourism, green tourism, slow: a tourism that is depopulating all over the world with peaks of 300% and we don’t talk about it.
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I do not think there is a great deal of promotional activity on this front.
To date we have private associations, small entrepreneurs, people of good will who have created the paths, the paths: we have and are working in this area. We have the Atlas of religious paths, now we will do the Atlas of paths and that of nature trails. But we are behind: we have not regulated anything. And now the hotels go in precise directions. Tourism is becoming more and more sectorial: we continue to live on the wave of the fact that Sicily is beautiful, there is a beautiful sea, there is the Valley of the Temples and this allows us to do tourism. This is no longer the case. It could have been fine until a decade ago. Tourism looks for offers, not in the sense of economic offers: events, services.
The theme of a season that is too short always remains.
We have two needs: the first is to institutionalize the events and make a cultural programming path; we need to extend the season. This allows us to seasonally adjust. It is not normal for hotels to close in Taormina in October. Sicily must create supply: if you create supply, demand arrives. If you do not have the offer the company does not respond. It must be us. Where no replies from the companies arrive, perhaps due to cartel operations or other, we must intervene.
Tourism also needs support and resources.
Absolutely yes. From the point of view of legislation, the real problem we have had to overcome is one: we have structures that are not adequate to national legislation. The entrepreneur must intervene where he can to adapt the structures, maybe he can’t do it for the rooms but he can do it in other cases. It is clear that an adjustment of this type must be supported and therefore we will foresee in the 2021-2029 programming important resources for the accommodation facilities whose competence, among other things, has returned to my department: until July of this year of competence of the productive activities. The paradox of those who preceded us was that of eliminating hotel facilities and funding for hotel facilities from the Tourism Department. Which is very wrong since we have the data and we know what really happens in the sector.