Thanks to a collaboration with the TVO company, specialised in the management of the territory's cultural areas and the promotion of tourism in Eastern Venice and lower Friuli, VeGAL wished to propose to a specialised public a training service related to sustainable tourism, of quality and attentive to the most up-to-date development trends.
The initiative, carried out between October and December 2023, investigated policies, the available context and good practices concerning sustainable and accessible tourism, with a special focus on cycle tourism in the regional border area between Veneto and Friuli-Venezia-Giulia.
This geographical area in fact possesses a vast historical and natural heritage and a panorama of diversified initiatives, which can certainly be enjoyed by two-wheel enthusiasts.
This treasure needs to be protected and preserved by the institutions and the local community, to enable economic operators to promote it to tourists through initiatives such as tours and travel packages for lovers of open-air hiking. For this reason, it is essential that local professionals assimilate historical-geographical, economic and planning knowledge from experts in the field, and also have the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of visiting the main itineraries present, and learn about the services available.
Participants were thus able to meet with some of the sector's key stakeholders to reflect on current tourism trends and the challenges that await the sector in the coming years, to verify first-hand the potential offered by the area and the ways to derive economic and development benefits from it, while maintaining a high level of attention to environmental protection, event reproducibility and long-term sustainability.
The multidisciplinary course was composed of fifteen meetings, for a total of 60 hours and took place between 2 November and 14 December 2023.
The theoretical-practical meetings were attended by professional lecturers in the fields of national and regional tourism policies, sustainable tourism, publishing, tourism marketing and first aid, as well as people who have made cycling and discovering new ways of travelling and travelling 'slow' a real mission, developing projects in the field of associations and education.
In addition to this, the participants were able to experience the itineraries and cultural tourism heritage described through field trips, in particular the "GiraLemene" and "GiraTagliamento" tour routes, as well as moments of discussion and mutual exchange between operators in the sector in the form of workshops and group work, with the projects developed being returned to the entire class group.
