“Apulian lifestyle” is in fact the umbrella brand of the multidisciplinary approach to socio-economic development desired by the Puglia Region and declined in local realities. A result favored by the culture of hospitality, training and investment in infrastructures, as remarked by Antonio Decaro, mayor of Bari and Luca Scandale, director of Puglia Promotion.
An investment that continues with funds from the PNRR, to guarantee infrastructures and routes – those that today are only in an embryonic state – and offer an en plein air tourism different from that purely linked to the sea and coasts, which includes cycling, food and wine and culture.
Cycling tourism makes seasonal, attracts many foreigners, spreads presences throughout the territory, extends the stay, contaminates, enriches. For this reason, regions such as Puglia, Veneto and Emilia Romagna have already decided for many years to invest substantial resources in this sector.
As witnessed by Davide Cassani, president of Apt Emilia Romagna, those who have invested in cycle tourism, also by equipping their hotels, have generated large economic margins. All the guests of the Puglia Bike Forum strongly reiterated this, both those involved in the four working tables (Bike hub, Bike hotel, Tour operator and Sustainable Mobility), and the speakers who alternated from the stage.
To be able to do this, however, as Pierfelice Rosato, professor of Economics at the University of Bari recalled, we need a strategy that allows us to “govern and systematize what already exists”: in a nutshell, create a regional network where operators can connect tourism, guides, accommodation facilities and so on, all focusing on training and skills.