The summer just passed will certainly be remembered as one of the best performing seasons in the history of Ticino tourism. For a definitive balance sheet, it is still early, but from the positive results it is necessary to start again to calibrate the future offer and capitalize on the excellent results. To do this, you need the right products for the right tourists.
A year, 2021, in which Ticino, thanks to the new restaurants awarded by the Michelin guide in the Lugano area, has also become one of the regions with the most stars in the world in relation to the number of inhabitants. Nine starred, for a total of 10 Michelin stars, are now a heritage to be valued more and more because it allows to attract high-spending tourists all year round and for which the project by Dany Stauffacher, Ticino Land of Stars, is continuing precisely to supporting and exploring the starred food and wine world: a vehicle for regional development and economic growth, driving the entire tourism supply chain.
Spotlight on the gastronomic richness of our Ticino thanks also to the prize awarded last October at the S. Pellegrino Sapori Ticino event, as the best food and wine event of the year by the prestigious Food & Travel magazine, the Italian edition of the international magazine spread in 18 countries, which deals with food and wine, gourmet travel and high profile tourism. A special prize awarded during the evening of the 2021 Awards which took place at the San Barbato Resort in Lavello in the province of Potenza, in the presence of many authorities and experts in the sector. "Everything you wanted to know (and live) about food and didn't dare to ask: prestigious locations, the biggest names in cuisine, a 15-year history dotted with successes and events dedicated to taste capable of satisfying every palate" , this is the reason that made SPST patron Dany Stauffacher proud, who wanted to share the joy with all the actors of the Ticino area to pay tribute to the great work done together in all these years and thank all the important partners who believed in the project and have supported the event for over 10 years as Acqua Panna and San Pellegrino, UBS and Diners Club.
So many stars, so many excellences, so much quality, how can all this wealth be exploited, with a view to promoting tourism? We talk about it with Angelo Trotta, Director of Ticino Turismo.
The gastronomic element is fundamental in choosing the destination. Does having such an important number of starred restaurants therefore change something in terms of tourism? Could the new stars have an impact on tourism in our canton?
"Absolutely yes. An important number of starred restaurants can lead to changes in tourism and the new stars will undoubtedly have an impact on the whole sector, attracting new target visitors who choose a destination precisely on the basis of culinary excellence. The close link between food and wine and tourism was also recently underlined by the World Tourism Organization according to which, I quote "today's traveler has the opportunity to get in touch with the culture of the place he is visiting in a more active and engaging thanks to the medium of food ". Furthermore, according to the Swiss Tourism Monitor, food and wine is one of the main reasons that push tourists to choose Ticino as a destination for their holidays. Not to mention that around 30% of the visitors' budget is spent in this sector. The Ticino food and wine culture, a close relative of the Lombard one, has nothing to envy to the more renowned ones and the fact that our territory has such a large number of starred restaurants proves it ».
What role does luxury tourism play in Ticino Turismo's strategy?
“Just recently we started to work specifically on the luxury segment which is part of the 2030 Strategy (ticino.ch/strategia2030) also shared with the four regional tourism organizations. Our medium-term goal is to map the segment in as much detail as possible. Who are the customers of luxury? What are they looking for in Ticino? What can we offer them to continue to be a quality destination? Later, we could imagine dedicating more resources to the sector not only to promote those destinations that already today have a tourist vocation linked to luxury, such as Ascona and Lugano, but also to launch innovative tourism products ».
Studies from the ETH Zurich estimate that only in 2023 will the number of foreign tourists return to pre-pandemic levels. In all this, what role can food and wine play?
«It will continue to play an important role, but it will be necessary to be able to maintain if not increase the quality of the offer, find new formulas and continually“ surprise ”our visitors. Tourism organizations work closely with the food and wine sector.
Among the various activities for 2022, for example, we have decided to start a collaboration with Travelize, a French start-up that organizes surprise trips. The platform works like this: the tourist decides to buy their trip "in a poke". He will discover the destination of the journey and the related activities only once he arrives at his destination. This collaboration will give us the opportunity to create interesting packages also for food and wine.
Switzerland Tourism is also moving in this direction. Proof of this are various unpublished initiatives recently launched such as the “Tavole imbandite” project (all the details on the ST website). And the Confederation is doing the same, which, as part of the Innotour program, will launch new projects in 2022 to support the food and wine sector. An example is the Swiss Wine Tour which aims to offer all Swiss partners better visibility on the national and international wine tourism market ».
What are the new strategies, what are the activities you have chosen to focus on?
«The challenge for our destination is to effectively present and enhance the wide range of products available, as well as develop certain segments with particular potential. With this in mind, a collaboration has been launched with the Tourist Guides Association of Italian Switzerland, with the aim of strengthening the offer and promotion of guided tours. The idea is to network not only restaurants, wine bars and shops, but also wineries, typical and "secret" places, to create a truly unique experience for the visitor. Many proposals have arisen in recent years, thanks to the commendable work carried out by bodies and associations such as Amis da la forcheta, Mendrisiotto Terroir, Amici del Ticino and many others. In the future, the dialogue between tourism organizations and all the players in the sector will be intensified to stimulate and increase the offer present in the area. Another project in this area will be the “Ticino Gourmet Tour”, an initiative by Dany Stauffacher which will involve us. The aim is to give visibility to the gastronomic excellences of our territory that stand out for their ticines, authenticity and quality ».
You have also recently launched a project to enhance typical recipes. Can you tell us about it?
«The initiative concerns the enhancement of typical Ticino recipes through short videos and a new online recipe book. The project is led by Ticino Turismo in collaboration with the Bellinzona Higher Specialized Hotel and Tourism School. On a monthly basis, the recipes of the traditional dishes of our gastronomy, slightly revisited, are distributed through various channels. The format of the video-recipes is inspired by the one launched by the popular “Tasty” channel: the videos last a few tens of seconds, show the salient stages of making a dish together with short textual instructions. The background music, the shots, the color of the ingredients and the fluid editing all contribute to making this content interesting and enjoyable.
In addition to the monthly sharing of the videos on Social Media and on the website, we have started a collaboration with some starred chefs who have "revealed" some of their recipes. In total, over 40 will be published in four languages in the ticino.ch/ricette section ".
