The Local MeetForum dedicated to sustainable tourism was held in Gorizia, an event organized by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region at the Auditorium della Cultura Friulana. The meeting was attended by numerous experts and professionals in the field, including Damiano De Marchi, Project Manager Sustainable Tourism thematic area of the Venice Sustainability Foundation (VSF) and Professor of Tourism Marketing at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
De Marchi’s contribution was placed within Table G – Governance, coordinated by Michela Lautieri, where he discussed with other speakers such as Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, Gian Piero Brovedani, Elena Roppa, Francesca Pitacco, Serena De Lorenzi and David Pizziga.
During the meeting, De Marchi emphasized how any tourism development project must understand its impacts, both because of the importance of the phenomenon, such that it comes to affect the very root of the identity of territories, and because of the unavoidability of sustainable management of them.
In a pragmatic approach, this can be translated first of all into the identification of the strategic factors of integrated sustainability, deriving from them both the aspects of multidimensionality – environmental, social, economic, cultural, governance – and the aspects of influence on the determinants of the behavior of the different ‘users’ of a destination.
Next, in De Marchi’s opinion, it is necessary to ensure competent and context-appropriate interpretation in order to spread awareness to stakeholders and derive the most effective solutions.
Finally, De Marchi recalled how the Venice Sustainability Foundation (VSF), in pursuit of its mission, is tackling similar paths, starting from a general framework and arriving at specific and contextualized solutions for sustainable tourism management.
