Italy: Coops are helping tourism to go green

More than 100 million tourists travel around Italy every year, more than double the amount of the country?s entire population. This represents an inexhaustible economic resource, that according to Italy?s national statistical agency, the Istat, is fuelled mostly by hotels, agri-tourism and pre-arranged holiday-packs. The remaining offers are, statistically, irrelevant.

And yet there is a kind of tourism that is not sold as a consumable good, but that is based around values such as environmental sustainability, responsibility and local development. A new approach to time off that in the past has been run by NGOs but that today is taking on a more entrepreneurial stance, as social cooperatives are becoming involved.

At first sight there seems to be nothing new compared to the more mainstream offers by private companies. ?And yet there are significant differences? explains Gianni Scarpetti, who is researching Italian social cooperatives that work in the tourist industry for Cgm, one of Italy?s largest cooperative consortiums. ?Private companies just offer hotels or bed & breakfasts, perhaps at the cheapest prices. Cooperatives offers a whole range of added values, such as getting to know local products, being in touch with local communities, finding out about local culture?.

It is these differences that have probably slowed down the development of this type of tourism in Italy, explains Barbara Giardiello, president of a cooperative called Stranaidea. ?Applying this model to tourism in Italy has not been an easy feat? she says, ?and we have had to organise many focus groups with local populations to convince them that it was possible to eliminate the usual tourist operators?.

Three best practices shed more light on sustainable tourism in Italy

Le Mat development agency
Le Mat is an association, but since October they have joined forces with Legacoop socaili and Legacoop tourismo (Legacoop is one of Italy?s largest confederation of cooperatives) to create a development agency to promote sustainable tourism.

Made up of about 30 cooperatives, this pro-sustainable tourism agency aims to favour the creation of local networks that will be able to provide the tourist with a complete range of services. Why? To increase their competitiveness with mainstream tourism and encourage tourists to stay and return.
www.lemat.it

Progetto H
Progect H is by no means new to sustainable tourism, as it has been working since 1983 to promote tourism for all. Today 35% of its income comes from activities tied to sustainable tourism.

?We don?t just host our tourists? explains the cooperative?s president Francesco Sanna, ?we try to get people to know the local environment and culture as we believe that holidays should enrich you, not just relax you?. Specific examples of how you can get people to really know the territory? Orienteering. A new sporting discipline that may remind many of their days as boy scouts, as it involves following a sort of treasure hunt trail around the countryside. Sanna explains that orienteering presents a number of challenges as ?you must involve the whole community to pull it off?.
www.progettoh.it

Umbria opens its doors to the disabled
More information. This is the key ingredient to Foligno?s service centre, who has recently abandoned the idea of organising group holidays for the disabled in favour of a more innovative approach. ?Disabled people don?t need specifically organised holidays. They often like to travel alone and just wants to know how to get around and what is on offer where they are going? explains Mirko Speranza, president of the service centre.

The new approach is to create guidebooks, information websites and even an info point in Foligno. ?Our aim is to provide all the support that disabled people need to be able to organise their holidays independently. We comment on the services available and help service providers find out how better to meet the needs of the disabled? concludes Speranza.
www.umbriaaccessibile.it