A region that has always had nature and traditions as its selling points couldn’t fail to seize the opportunities represented by the new post-pandemic trends in tourism, as explained by Vittoria Poggio, Councillor for Culture, Commerce and Tourism of the Piedmont Region: “In the 2021 promotional campaign we had already used the so-called “5S”: Safety, Smart Approach, Sobriety, Solidarity, Sustainability, thus highlighting these particular characteristics of our region and directing the attention of tourists to open air experiences through villages, outdoor, beauty, and authenticity. At the same time, on these basis we worked on several projects of product development”.

Some examples include the Grand Tour Unesco, a route of over 600 km where natural, cultural, historical and artistic elements depict a world to be discovered slowly, on foot and by bicycle, or the two European cross-border projects with France in the west and Switzerland in the north. In particular, the project Green Train of the Alps that will develop slow tourism between Domodossola and Bern. And again, with regard to food and wine tourism, the initiatives of the Agriculture Department to promote the typical flavours of Piedmont, or the recognition of Piedmont as European Region of Sport 2022, in addition to incentives for mountain areas and the creation of Urban/Distributed Trade Districts. Not to mention that Piedmont has over 2,060 elements of landscape, historical and cultural significance, including the Savoy residences, the Sacred Mountains, and those palaces and castles characterizing the regional landscape.

“Piedmont has been addressing the conscious traveller for a long time”, adds the Councillor, “for example with a long-standing policy of promotion and dissemination of the European Ecolabel of ecological quality among accommodation facilities in order to stimulate the growth of a new model of tourism; communication initiatives give great consideration to the project Sustainable Villages and to those locations awarded with the Orange or Blue Flag for environmental sustainability. Hopefully, 2022 will be a year of rebirth for the tourism industry. It will probably still see a predominance of national and proximity tourism, although more European tourists are going to return with respect to 2021”.

Piedmont will be the protagonist among Italian destinations at BIT 2022, this April at fieramilanocity from Sunday 10 to Tuesday 12.