"Overtourism? Caused by the decision to make the Dolomites a UNESCO site."
After environmentalists, hoteliers, the same controversy. At the center of the discussion: the inclusion of the Dolomites in the UNESCO World Heritage list (since June 2009), "guilty" of having caused an increase in "hit-and-run" tourism, selfies, and quick visits to high altitudes. And what seemed like a great recognition and economic boost is instead turning out to be just a marketing ploy, essentially a boomerang. The UNESCO Dolomites Foundation is under fire for not implementing an effective management plan, as it had promised, together with local governments, nor has it ever truly involved the mountain communities. Not only that, the Dolomites 2040 management plan has remained on paper. Meanwhile, social media and social media phenomena have exploded: influencers, high-altitude nightclubs, promotional campaigns that trivialize the landscape. In the face of all this, the Foundation has remained silent. And now the hoteliers who have joined the Committee for the Protection of the Dolomite Passes have presented a document threatening: "Perhaps the time has come to renounce recognition." A challenge.
So, according to some hoteliers, the phenomenon of overtourism, with its miles-long queues at cable cars and on hiking trails, has exploded partly because of the Dolomites' inclusion in the World Heritage List. Some examples? " Lake Braies. Being the setting for the TV series "A Step from Heaven" has not only amplified the location's notoriety, making it a protagonist of social media videos," writes Osvaldo Finazzer, hotelier and president of the Committee for the Safeguarding of the Dolomite Passes, in the document. "It's a vicious cycle common to other places: the TV series suddenly makes an accessible location famous, and immediately afterwards, social media amplifies its notoriety, attracting tourists. The more videos, the more tourists arrive. At that point, the phenomenon, if left unmanaged, is likely to get out of hand, and within a short time, overtourism will occur. Then access is closed, and who is to blame? The tourists. But does the responsibility lie with those who supported the decision to set a TV series in a small village in the Dolomites? Of course, these are complex phenomena, and no one imagined this outcome, but there is a clear cause and effect and no one has assumed responsibility."
According to Finazzer, therefore, the Dolomites aren't the only ones affected by this marketing phenomenon: "It creates global fame for a geographical area. A superficial, postcard-like fame, captured on a cell phone and shared online. We see it as a short-sighted and short-sighted promotion policy for the area. And then people complain that instead of having a quality, respectful tourism industry, attracted by the culture of the valleys, we are being inundated by an unstructured, occasional flow of tourists, with little involvement in cultural offerings and little interest in authentically discovering the mountain heritage." So what should we do?
“Maybe it's time to reflect.”" The same thing is happening on the Amalfi Coast or the Cinque Terre : territories sold only as postcards, condemned to global fame and now victims and prisoners even with limited traffic zones, as is being hypothesized for the Dolomites. Perhaps we need to reflect: do we want to sell the postcard image of the Dolomites UNESCO site or do we want to build a quality tourism economy, with tourism that stays in the area, that walks the trails, that gets to know the identity and culture of the places?" insists Finazzer, who finally throws down the gauntlet: "Dolomites, Amalfi Coast or Cinque Terre. Perhaps the time has come to renounce the Dolomites UNESCO recognition, which has caused incredible damage in the Dolomites, and not just here."
The divided category: "Solutions exist"But is UNESCO recognition really one of the causes of overtourism, in some cases, or is it the fault of a lack of effective local policies? The challenge launched by some hoteliers to renounce recognition has divided the industry. Walter De Cassan, president of Federalberghi Belluno-Dolomiti, doesn't believe this is the solution to the problem of queues lasting miles to get to a mountain hut.
"UNESCO recognition was universal recognition of the value of our territories, which inevitably attracted tourism. The combination of the two generates fantastic potential, but like all economic and social phenomena, tourist flows also need to be managed. I believe we have all the tools to do so," reiterates De Cassan. "We must increasingly foster this process of governing and managing these flows, increasing the professionalism of tourism operators and developing integrated policies between public bodies and private entities (including local promotion consortia). But woe betide us if we weren't proud of this heritage of beauty and of the recognitions that also enable economic development."
La Repubblica
