Presentation of "Umbriatourism 3.0"

Agenzia Umbria Notizie, 17 March 2016

17 March 2016 Presentation of "Umbriatourism 3.0"

To promote and commercialise the Umbrian tourist offer beginning from three areas that characterise the region: its landscape, culture-events, and spirituality to be explored and developed by a sort of proposals-mosaic which dynamically highlight various proposals that refer to an increasingly emotional tourism: this is what the website “Umbriatourism 3.0” proposes. It was presented this morning at the Umbrian School of Administration in Villa Umbria in Perugia by the vice p[resident of the Umbria Regional Authority appointed for tourism, Fabio Paparelli. Also present in addition to the director of the School, Alberto Naticchioni, the managing director of Sviluppumbria, Mauro Agostini, the manager of the Tourism Service and integrated promotion of the Regional Authority, Antonella Tiranti, Sandra Placidi from Sviluppumbria, Massimo Zallocco from Inera srl".

“Today we are about to take the first major step towards a new strategy to promote our region. For it to be a success we will have to become a team, said the vice president Paparelli, also because the image of Umbria is the image of everyone, from all the Municipalities onwards. For this very reason, we have worked to a strict time schedule to modify what we believe represents the linchpin tool of our promotional activity, which is of course the website. Its new concept responds to a need for increasing simplicity and effectiveness with a new home page and a different organisation of the contents, but above all a system of promo-commercialisation available for the operators in the sector.”

The vice president then went into detail saying that “the strengthening of the website had been desired by many and the hope is that it can become the most complete and comprehensive window on the regional tourist supply as soon as the phase of selection and inclusion of the structures, or at least a consistent initial part.  For this purpose, he announced, we have programmed some meetings over the next few days throughout the territory to facilitate this process.”

Paparelli continued saying that ”according to the last report of the research centre on the media coordinated by Klaus Davi, the international press  has dedicated wide-ranging visibility to the region of Umbria with articles praising the natural and cultural riches and the food and wine and they highlight how although the classical locations are still the most popular, in recent years, however, there has been a marked preference by foreign newspapers to explore the more hidden and more evocative corners of the region.”

“In the eyes of foreign correspondents, he added, the most appreciated destinations are the villages not overrun by mass tourism, immersed in peaceful country paradises, where the tourist can find a harmonious mix of rural authenticity and modern comfort, the fascination of local tradition and the unmistakable flavour of local products.”

Vice president Paparelli then stressed that “although it was initially the European and American newspapers to dedicate good visibility to the green heart of Umbria, in recent years an increasing interest has been recorded by emerging nations, such as China with a strong increase in visitor numbers, Russia, India, the Middle East, Argentina and Australia.”

From the press analysis it was possible in the first couple of months in 2016 to identify the sectors of greatest appeal as graphs could be drawn up showing the most popular areas and 7 sectors which received the most comments from international press, with tourism and food and wine decidedly ahead, followed shortly behind by the artistic and cultural heritage of our region, considered by major newspapers such as the English Telegraph and the Spanish ABC. Vice president Paparelli concluded with a comment on tourist flows: “According to data published by the regional Observatory for tourism we saw a record December with + 13 per cent compared to last year, he explained. The January data was also very good even in weeks following the festivities with a +10 for arrivals and even + 15.4 on presences.”

The director of Sviluppumbria, Mauro Agostini, highlighted how for the success of tourist promotion “the relationship and close synergy between public and private organisations is fundamental.  Last year, he said, the new website was introduced and now a new piece has been added to the puzzle for promo-commercialisation, which represents a major step that comes after a period in which the Regional Authority had set out its policies on tourism after taking a close look at the internalisation of the businesses.”

The regional manager, Antonella Tiranti, pointed out that “the strengthening of the Umbria tourist website began with the need of the Regional authority and the operators to improve the showcase of their offers and give it better layout to encourage demand to move on to purchase without forgetting to measure the tourist data.

The Umbriatourism platform proposed is a sort of puzzle to which we will be able to add pieces, starting with the implementation of the tourist information and hospitality system, as well as a service information app, e.g. road signs. The various tourist operators, such as agencies, she added, will have to acquire and add information by processing a data bank available for Umbrian tourism. Not an improvised system, therefore, but a structured system with a space for the commercial offer which places the Regional Authority and companies in the system and offers something extra as regards the offer.”

Sandra Placidi, of Sviluppumbria, highlighted how behind the work which has led to the creation of new services there is a new political strategy which is triggered by the analysis of the users’ habits to then open up to promo-commercialisation. “The three distinguishing features of Umbria, the landscape, culture and spirituality, are explored by a sort of mosaic which for each of the themes dynamically highlights the various proposals.”

Lastly, Sandra Placidi added, promo-commercialisation allows th tourist to see the tourist packages associated with the place and to benefit from and book the guided tours knowing everything they can find and look for events the territory has to offer which can be booked directly on the website.”

Massimo Zallocco, of Inera srl, explained to those present all the technical details and the operational phase which will start with the forthcoming meeting across the territory.

Agenzia Umbria Notizie, 17 March 2016