Giorgio Palmucci - I am a manager of the Italian tourism industry. Currently President of Enit. Since the 1990s I have been engaged at the forefront of the associative life of the supply chain with the desire to be an active part of the tourist development of the Bel Paese. The approach to the world of tourism thanks to the experience gained in Confindustria Alberghi allows me to have a broad strategic vision, a transversal range of action and the tight timing typical of the managerial approach in terms of planning and operations. I took my first steps in the sector as a young man with positions of responsibility starting with multinationals such as Club Med, leader in the tourist villages sector in the world. I was general manager of Villages Italy and I join the General Management Committee for Europe. After Club Med, I become CEO and General Manager of Hotelturist S.p.a. hotel chain operating in Italy under the TH Resorts brand, creating the brand and reviewing the company organization. Founding member of Assotour and Assotravel, I join as a board member of the Italian Hotel Chains Association and of ASTOI. Elected president of Confindustria Alberghi, the main association representing 4 and 5 star hotels in Italy.You’ve chosen a terrific way of integrating images and text into your website. Move the image anywhere you want in this container and the text will automatically wrap around it. You can display events team members new products and more easily and creatively. To start add an image from the Image Picker and edit it as you would edit any image in the system. For example you can link the image to existing pages in your site a website URL a popup or an anchor. After you’ve chosen the image add your text. You can add text that describes the image you’ve selected or simply use the image for decorative purposes. \nYou’ve chosen a terrific way of integrating images and text into your website. Move the image anywhere you want in this container and the text will automatically wrap around it. You can display events team members new products more easily and creatively. To start add an image from the Image Picker and edit it as you would edit any image in the system. For example you can link the image to existing pages in your site a website URL a popup or an anchor. After you’ve chosen the image add your text. You can add text that describes the image you’ve selected or simply use the image for decorative purposes.
Get to know our team!
Interview #3 ENIT
EU ECO-TANDEM PROGRAMME | 20 July, 2021
Giovanni Bastianelli - I am the Executive Director of ENIT - National Tourism Agency. From 2013 to 2016 Director of the Lazio Region Regional Tourism Agency. From 2006 to 2011 Director of the Confcommercio Tourism Sector and National Coordinator of Confturismo. Advisor to the Minister of Tourism for relations with trade associations and companies. From 1994 to 2006 Director of the Tourism and Services Sectors of the Union of Commerce, Tourism and Services of Milan and Lombardy.
Maria Elena Rossi - Since April 2018 I have been Director of Global Marketing and Promotion of the Italian Government Tourism Board. I am in charge of the development, implementation and monitoring of national and international marketing plans for tourism, acting through 28 offices in 21 markets. Since 2010 lecturer at the University of Turin and the University of Eastern Piedmont. I have written and contributed to several publications. Previously, Maria Elena was Director General of the Regional Agency for the Promotion of Tourism and Agriculture of Piedmont, where I also developed and implemented the marketing strategy for the 2006 Turin Winter Olympic Games. For 5 years I was in charge of Public Relations for L'Oréal Paris in Milan. My tourism career started in the Netherlands and Paris, where I worked for two incoming tour operators. I speak 5 languages fluentlynd text into your website. Move the image anywhere you want in this container and the text will automatically wrap around it. You can display events team members new products and more easily and creatively. To start add an image from the Image Picker and edit it as you would edit any image in the system. For example you can link the image to existing pages in your site a website URL a popup or an anchor. After you’ve chosen the image add your text. You can add text that describes the image you’ve selected or simply use the image for decorative purposes. \nYou’ve chosen a terrific way of integrating images and text into your website. Move the image anywhere you want in this container and the text will automatically wrap around it. You can display events team members new products more easily and creatively. To start add an image from the Image Picker and edit it as you would edit any image in the system. For example you can link the image to existing pages in your site a website URL a popup or an anchor. After you’ve chosen the image add your text. You can add text that describes the image you’ve selected or simply use the image for decorative purposes.
Q2: In which ways is your organisation committed to sustainability? Which are your personal motivations to join the team of EU ECO-TANDEM?
Enit's strategy is based on sustainability as a tool to be made available and promoted for the growth of the sector. Enit is one of the oldest entities in the world. I would like to underline this because this longevity is symptomatic of the importance of the role of connection between public and private and of planning tourism promotion strategies through tourism bodies. It is no coincidence that Enit, which last year celebrated its 100th anniversary, determined the Italian recovery in the post-war period precisely through tourism, a decisive sector that affects over 12 percent of GDP. The connection function of Enit within the Italian System supports and determines the dialogue between operators in the private and public sector, acting as a bridge and synthesis of the moments of each to ensure the uniformity of the promotion tools and awareness of environmental awareness - assess the environmental situation of a company. More than ever, at this moment Enit is a control room to harmonize requests, proposals and debates, an ideal bridge between institutional representatives and the private world. The agency that historically played a role in reviving Italy after the war, has the know-how to tackle this emergency as well. The Italian lifestyle will come back stronger than before. The virus leads us on the path of exploiting resources. A model of tourism that favors sustainability is emerging and it is an opportunity for all operators in the sector to raise quality standards and carry out the renewal and adaptation that the sector requires. We need people who are able to rethink and reuse open spaces, for example, people who enhance and transform places for sharing, who know how to bring technology to the service of tourism and who are able to position the Italy brand on the web. It has always been a battle supported by ENIT and also contemplated in the Agency's three-year plan to distribute the flows over different periods of the year and to develop the promotion of lesser-known locations. It will be time for walks, for the rediscovery of naturalistic and open-air paths that require small groups. It will also be the time for the most exclusive experiences to be made accessible to all with the appropriate precautions. But tourism needs to be rethought to allow even those in difficult conditions to safely access places to enjoy Italy. It is time to position themselves in a competitive way on all segments that allow operators an economic recovery of expenditure and flows.
Q3: Why do you think sustainability represents a big potential for the tourism industry?
Because it favors growth in value, i.e. in a system in which the anthropogenic load of tourism creates concentrations and increases concern for the protection of the territory and its excellence, sustainable tourism represents a potential of the industry for efficiency and innovation and is an asset for the protection of the territory.
Q4: Why should a tourism SME join the EU ECO-TANDEM programme?
Companies have already joined the Eco tandem program by participating in the Academy. Over 500 companies have taken part in the project in both its training and educational versions, demonstrating great interest in the issue and learning the principles of sustainability shared at European level for value growth and protection of the territory.
Q5: Describe the EU ECO-TANDEM programme in three words.
Smart, inclusive and shareable
Q6: A last question! Which is your favourite type of sustainable vacation?
For Enit sustainable holidays are Italy all year round. To achieve a sustainability capable of distributing the flows from large hubs to small tourist pearls throughout the territory, not only during the high season but also throughout the year to discover unprecedented moments of well-being.
