Click here to read the first part of the interview.

Which is the tourist’s perception/condition? And what about the ones of the touristic operators?

The tourist could be an ambassador of its country or origin in the field of intercultural dialogue through tourism. By the way, it doesn’t seem to me that it happens, also where tourism practices are labeled as sustainable and responsible. A lot of marketing, little responsibility. For this reason, I’ve mentioned before the importance of education’s role: they have to teach us that tourism is a socio-cultural phenomenon! What we have been taught is that tourism is pure diversion, so we behave accordingly on vacation. How many of us have never thought to switch off the smartphone, for instance, in order to indulge in the luxury of getting lost – yes, getting lost  is a luxury today! – and to be in the condition of authentically depending on the contact with local people, with all that it concerns. This alone would change the perspective and the experience of travelling. The same is true for sector’s operators: it’s clear that if they study tourism in an Economics Faculty, in most cases  they will use adjectives such as “sustainable” and “responsible” for marketing reasons more than others. But also in this case, we can’t blame them: we have to do everything possible in order to make a new model prevail, in Universities, in local actors’ minds and in those who are involved in the tourism sector’s minds.

Which economic effects does the phenomenon “Peace through Tourism” have?

Indeed! eheheh! As you can see, economism pervades us, and  the economic aspect is the measure used to evaluate if something is valuable or not. But it’s ok, this is part of our life as well and so it is fair to also (also, not exclusively) answer this question. One of the main economic advantages that this approach could garantire is the visitor loyalty, due to the fact that the human factor is at the center of tourism experience and that authentic bolds are created. Fidelization is one of the most coveted results in many contests from every business! But in this case as well, we have to look forward, out of the box – As those good ones say! – and ask ourself:  Is the actual paradigm the right one? Earlier I mentioned overtourism in Venice. Now, it is clear that by solving the overtourism problem, Venice would become a livable place  once again (especially for Venetians, even before tourists!). But tourism revenues would also drop drastically and would have to find sustainable alternatives. Choices need to be made, and I personally believe that economic dependence on tourism is the wrong model.

What are the main challenges?

In the previous answers there are already many challenges: from education to the approach to the management of cultural heritage; from cultural diplomacy to the revision of study plans in universities. Just to name a few. Impossible? I do not believe it. Hard? Definitely: there are several status quo to review! We’re working on it! I like to think that if we have managed to take tourists into space, we will also be able to bring them back to Earth to build a better world together.

Twissen

L'articolo Peace Through Tourism Festival – Interview with Fabio Carbone PART 2/2 proviene da Twissen.

Twissen interviewed Fabio Carbone who provided us with an analysis of the interconnection between Peace and Tourism.

What does peace through tourism mean and what are the founding elements?

The concept of peace through tourism indicates a process of  creation and promotion of a peace’s culture and dialogue between people. Initially this association – actually nothing new – was based on the “theory of contact”, according to which the encounter between people of different cultures and geographical places, in itself, would lead to dialogue and greater understanding. Fortunately, today the debate is tinged with complexity: the idea that the only encounter between people leads to dialogue and understanding is in fact quite naïve, and constitutes an argument that is sometimes denied by more empirical evidences which demonstrate, on the contrary, how the experience in a destination may even reinforce in the visitor pre-existing stereotypes, rather than dispel them. And then just think of places such as Venice, Barcelona, ​​where the local population can no longer stand the presence of tourists, because of the wrong (or lack of) management of visitor flows: loss of identity, gentrification, overtourism, latent conflict. Between visitors and inhabitants … What sustainability? What responsibility? What peace? So let’s say that the process of promoting a culture of peace through tourism exists potentially, but there must be precise conditions for this to actually happen. We are therefore enriching the discourse with new, more complex, integrated approaches. I personally focus on the role of cultural assets and their management in the construction of dynamics that can lead to intercultural dialogue.

When and where was the necessity to concretize the union between tourism and peace born? 

I would not say there is a necessity. There is instead a potential, a possible causal relationship between tourism and peace (in a broad sense). But there are assumptions that need to be treated to make it happen. These assumptions deal with the involvement of areas such as – among others – education (formal, non-formal and informal); the participatory and integrated management methods of cultural heritage in order to enhance the awareness and self-esteem of locals even before the tourist arrives; and cultural diplomacy activities. First of all, it would be necessary to break free the very idea of tourism (which is  mostly taught in economics and business schools faculties, for example), from the chains of unrestrained economism, by bringing Man back, in a Kantian sense, to the center of the process of tourism development in each destination. To do that, we should, for example, think of inter-faculty tourism courses (economics / sociology / literature and philosophy / international relations, just to give an example!). Imagine, for instance, that I don’t work, unlike most of my colleagues, in a research center of an Economics faculty, but in the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations of Coventry University! And instead, as long as economism will continue to grip the idea of tourism, associating the word peace (as well as that of “sustainability”!) to tourism will be an intellectual exercise that is little more than useless. The work I carry out as ambassador of the International Institute for Peace through Tourism (New York) has the precise purpose of raising awareness in the public and private sector, as well as civil society (tourists and inhabitants of the destinations) on the existence of this alternative on which I conceptually work on in the academic field as a researcher.

Twissen

L'articolo Peace Through Tourism Festival – Interview with Fabio Carbone PART 1/2 proviene da Twissen.

Poland as a tourist destination has a strong leisure connotation. In 2016, the domestic and foreign tourism expense for this purpose was 80,4% of direct contribution to tourism, against 19,6% for the business travel segment. It is interesting to underline that 69,8% of direct contribution is given by the international tourism expense (PLN 44,5bn, namely 10,4bn euros). In fact, as highlighted in the “Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report” by the World Economic Forum, the destination can count on an interesting “International Openness” (26th out of 141 Countries). Further strength points are “Environmental Sustainability” (28th) and “Cultural Resources and Business Travel” (35th). The same report underlines the challenges that the Country is facing in “Priorization of Travel & Tourism” (99th) and the possibility of improving “Air Transport Infrastructure” (73rd).

As reported by the destination portal GotoPoland.eu, the number of international tourists in the Country has been growing since 2014. During that year, Poland welcomed 16 million international arrivals, with an average tourism spending of 400 euros per stay (480 euros in the business segment). The most important origin markets are Germany (about 3 million arrivals), Lithuania, UK and Italy. The number of Ukrainian tourists grew by 15% from 2015. Also the number of Chinese tourists has been rising with a more than 20% pace of growth, and spending more than 1000 euros per day, as they prefer staying in luxury accommodation facilities. On the other hand, Russian tourists had a 8% loss. The favourite destinations are Krakow, along with the historical-cultural site of Auschwitz, in Oświęcim.
In the month of March, the Prime Minister, supported by the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, stated to push on sport events as the key to enhance Poland as tourism destination, also considering the success of the European Week of Sport which held in September 2016.

In 2015, the Polish Government published the “Tourism Development Plan until 2020”. The most important goals are enhancing the destination competitiveness, reducing the fragmentation which characterises this sector through an integrated collaboration among the players of the industry and designing tourism products which involve both urban and rural areas. The Plan also foresees an intense online marketing, which aims to expand the popularity of the destination and the success of the promotion campaigns. Poland, along with Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary, joined the project called “Discover Central Europe“, which aims to promote this region of Europe to possible tourism flows.

According to the UK Foreign Travel Advice, Poland is a safe destination, with a low threat deriving from international terrorism and a low crime rate.

At Twissen we observed that tourism in Poland has interesting growth opportunities. As a result of the Government statements, new opportunities can be developed in the sport tourism and events segment. As Poland is a mature destination for the leisure segment, tourism products can be designed for business travels, as the Country has the appropriate resources to meet the demand of this segment.

Francesco Redi

President and founder at Twissen. Manager in Local Development, Tourism Policies,  EU Funds. He cooperates with several European universities, public bodies, development agencies, DMOs and enterprises.

L'articolo Poland, enhancing tourism through sport proviene da Twissen.