Local tourism supply and thematic itineraries
The cross-border area where the project is carried out has a strong tourist vocation and a strategic location in the border area between Italy, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. At present most tourist offers are concentrated on the coast, whereas the hinterland has a strong rural vocation. Moreover, the Upper Adriatic coast is known especially for some specific towns, but a comprehensive integrated strategy of communication and promotion is totally lacking. In this territory the main problem is the sustainable and lasting integration of tourism demand and supply, the development of tourist attractions and the involvement of local operators, the protection and enhancement of the local environmental and cultural wealth. In the cross-border territory there is the need to increase tourism supply, by organizing thematic itineraries and by simplifying and organizing local operators through a proper marketing strategy and a suitable promotional activity. The project aims therefore at consolidating the connections between the coast and the hinterland through thematic itineraries. In the pilot areas of the project, starting from the Venetian and the Slovenian coasts, a marketing initiative is going to be launched in order to enhance the local resources and services through thematic itineraries on the coast and in the hinterland. Lastly, the different enhancement patterns of areas, goods and itineraries will be compared, and the local skills and methods that are used in the local development of tourist attractions will be subject to transfer and exchange between Italy and Slovenia.